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HAPB Minutes 11/18/2022 November 18, 2022 1 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COLLIER COUNTY HISTORIC/ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRESERVATION BOARD November 18, 2022 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, the Collier County Historic/Archaeological Preservation Board in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 9:30 A.M. in REGULAR SESSION at the Collier County Growth Management Division – Planning and Regulation, Conference Room #610, 2800 Horseshoe Drive North, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Vacant VICE CHAIR: Austin Bell Elizabeth “Betsy” Perdichizzi Barry O’Brien (absent) Vacant Candace Johnson Vacant ALSO PRESENT: Andy Youngblood, Operations Analyst Ray Bellows, Zoning Manager Tim Finn, Principal Planner Amanda Townsend, County Museums Director November 18, 2022 2 Any persons in need of the verbatim record of the meeting may request a copy of the audio recording from the Collier County Growth Management Department. 1. Roll Call/Attendance: Mr. Bellows said there won’t be a quorum, so they can’t vote, but board members can proceed informally like a workshop, and discuss items, go over the agenda and the board vacancies. Barry O’Brien is out sick and the other new candidate, Zachary Burch, is out of town. Notices were sent out to try to ensure there would be a quorum. We thought Barry and Zachary would be here or we would have canceled. Acting Chairman Bell called the meeting to order at 9:47 a.m. He noted that Board Member George Thompson had passed away unexpectedly since the last meeting. He was great to work with over the past few years and it will be a terrible loss. Ms. Perdichizzi said he was a fund of knowledge, was loyal and always here and she was sorry to hear about his passing. Mr. Bellows agreed he had very detailed knowledge, was extremely dedicated, brought a lot to the board and will be missed. Acting Chairman Bell said he would be acting/interim chairman and took roll call. Three members were present. 2. Additions to Agenda None, due to the lack of a quorum. 3. Approval of Agenda No vote was taken due to lack of a quorum. 4. Approval of Minutes: July 15, 2022 No vote was taken due to lack of a quorum. 5. Old Business A. Rosemary Cemetery (Plot W) historic designation [Amanda Townsend] Ms. Townsend thanked the HAPB for its patience and explained that she spent about six months as both the County Museums Director and manager of Roberts Ranch in Immokalee, and that prevented her from moving projects forward while she maintained operations. Immokalee Pioneer Museum at Roberts Ranch:  The manager position was filled by Helen Midney, who has a master’s degree in environmental education, has worked in the Immokalee community with the Guadalupe Center and with Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center.  She doesn’t have a historical background but has an interesting background and understands informal education and informal learning. Most importantly, she is from Immokalee and is well connected with the community. Rosemary Cemetery plots W and N:  She restarted work on acquisition of plots W and N and ordered title work for both plots.  Rosemary Cemetery was the cemetery for the Naples area starting in the 1930s and was originally plotted from U.S. 41 to the railroad tracks, which is now Goodlette-Frank Road, November 18, 2022 3 south of Pine Ridge Road. It ended up being an unpopular cemetery and no one wanted to be buried there.  There were some burials there and some graves were moved from St. Anne’s Church to Rosemary Cemetery, but the property changed hands a few times and pieces were developed and sold off.  In the 1980s, the portion of the cemetery where most of the burials occurred was gifted to Collier County, which has managed it as a historic cemetery.  Two other small outparcels where burials occurred remain under private ownership. Historic records aren’t great, but we know people were buried there.  The heirs of the property owners of record have no interest in owning those parcels, so we’re trying to gain ownership so we can manage them in the same way we manage the Rosemary Cemetery people know, which is in front of CVS, where there’s a fence and headstones that we put up for the names of people we know are buried there.  We want to do the same with the tiny outparcels. Plot W is in front of the Lee Asian Market on Pine Ridge Road and Plot N is at the corner of Pine Ridge and Goodlette-Frank roads, in the right-of-way in front of South Street Grill.  Although we don’t know who is buried there, the most reliable survey from 1944 shows those buried in Plot N are African-American.  She has board approval to move ahead with the parcels and now we’re working diligently on the title work. B. Vacancy status Mr. Bellows reported that:  The HAPB currently has three vacancies.  Ms. Perdichizzi will be sending in her application to renew her term, which ended last month.  If anyone knows of someone interested in participating on the HAPB, the next Board of County Commissioners meeting is on Dec. 13 and the BCC could vote on the four applications if they get them in quickly.  Four HAPB members are needed for a quorum. We have Austin, Zachary, Betsy (when she renews) and Candace.  Zachary Burch, Naples Airport’s communications and outreach director, filled a citizen-at- large position.  Ms. Perdichizzi holds a citizen-at-large position.  Acting Chairman Bell holds the history position.  Barry O’Brien, an engineer, holds the archaeology position.  The first vacancy, Mr. Thompson’s position, would be for someone with a law, construction or landscaping background.  The second vacancy would be for a citizen at large.  The third is for Patricia Sherry’s position, someone with a finance or real estate background.  The BCC prefers that the HABP support candidates who closely fit those descriptions, but there is wiggle room. Applicants who didn’t fit the descriptions weren’t forwarded to the BCC, even though the HAPB supported them and needed to fill the seats. 6. New Business A. Cultural Resource Assessment – The Immokalee Expansion East Property Mr. Bellows said there are two types of cultural assessments. One is a cultural assessment, which has been submitted for this property. In the other instance, if, for environmental reasons, a property was previously excavated, it doesn’t make sense to have an archeologist look at a site, so they ask for a waiver. November 18, 2022 4 Acting Chairman Bell said everything looks cut and dry. There’s no potential impact and no sites within two miles. Everything was very thorough and very well written. Mr. Bellows asked if anyone wanted to see the assessment or question the applicant, who is here. Ad Almeda (in the audience) said Maranda Kles is online (Zoom) and drafted the survey. Maranda Kles, vice president of Archeological Consultants, said they reviewed the overall conditions, type, background and historical research on the site, considered the soil and the overall location and found nothing. Acting Chairman Bell thanked her for the thorough report. Mr. Bellows said they will table this until the next meeting, when they should have a quorum and can take action. B. Reordering of the Historic and Archaeological Preservation Guide Booklets Mr. Bellows said they will proceed with this item and take a vote next month because we’re running out of guidebooks, which are very popular. Ms. Townsend said people love them and they fly out the door. Kudos to Rebecca Schwann, who no longer works for the museum. Her redesign makes them look very attractive. Mr. Bellows noted they need to work quickly to get more printings of the guide because it takes time to get them from the printer. C. Welcome New HAPB Members Acting Chairman Bell welcomed Ms. Johnson to the board. Mr. Bellows reported that:  He and Tim will send her an email about HAPB rules and procedures and historic/archeological probability maps.  Archeological probability maps are used by county staff on any submitted rezone application and building permit. Staff compares the site with the maps.  If it’s a known archaeological site, the applicant must prepare a cultural assessment, which involves a detailed study to ensure that construction doesn’t interfere with or damage any historically significant artifact or historic structure, if there is one onsite.  A key part of the HAPB’s duties is ensuring new development doesn’t interfere with historic resources.  Cultural Resource Assessments are very detailed in trying to assess any historic qualities.  Some areas of the county are full of artifacts, such as Chokaloskee and some of the undeveloped areas near low-lying environmental areas. Those are typically where we find a lot of archaeological sites.  Much of the urban area west of 951 is already developed, so we don’t find too many archaeological sites that haven’t been reviewed or impacted already, but they’re still required to check them. There are some vacant sites that haven’t been developed where there’s a high probability of archaeological artifacts. Those are the kinds of sites we want to preserve and require an assessment.  The HAPB also considers historic designation requests involving sites where structures are historically designated as significant in Collier County. Those applications are brought to the Board of County Commissioners for a vote to get them designated historic locally.  Five sites also have made it to the National Register of Historic Places. Hopefully, they all made it through Hurricane Ian. Ms. Johnson asked Mr. Bellows if he could send her the HAPB application link, in case she knows of someone who would be interested. November 18, 2022 5 Ms. Perdichizzi asked him to send her the link to reapply. Ms. Johnson noted that reading through the document will give her a firm understanding of the HAPB’s framework. Mr. Bellows said they will have the historic booklet ready by the next meeting and will give her one. In the meantime, he’ll send her all the information so she can get a better understanding of the rules and procedures and where historic sites are. We have a historic and archaeological webpage. Go to www.colliercounty.gov, select zoning services and the HAPB information and the booklet are links on the site. We will send you the rules and procedures and the Sunshine Law requirements, which says you can’t discuss historic and preservation board issues with other members outside of the meeting. That information also is on the webpage link. D. Election of Chair and Vice Chair (No vote was taken due to lack of a quorum) 7. Review of Project and Activity Log The Board reviewed the “Collier County Historic and Archaeologic Preservation Board Project & Activity Tracking Log.” Acting Chairman Bell noted that they covered Rosemary Cemetery and the vacancies and all other itmes have been deemed inactive for now. He asked for any other comments. Ms. Townsend reported that:  We finished our special preservation project and are now working on design specifications for the moderate restoration activities that need to be done on all the small structures.  She’ll probably come back to the HAPB with a request for a Certificate of Appropriateness for another round of TLC for all the small structures there.  We have received an American Rescue Plan Act grant for Roberts Ranch that will allow us to design and construct a re-creation of the half-acre vegetable garden and a restoration of about 1.25 acres of the citrus grove.  We can use ARPA funds for that because the produce from the garden and grove will be used as a food forest for the community of Immokalee.  It’s uncertain yet if we will need a permit or a COA, but we’ll show the HAPB the plans and keep the board informed.  Roberts Ranch will eventually need a master plan. We want to add some pathways and lighting to make it more friendly for visitors, particularly visitors with mobility issues. We’ll make it more accessible without losing the ranch’s character. We couldn’t pass up the ARPA opportunity and we don’t have the capacity to manage three projects at once, but we’ll get to that.  We finally received our state grant award agreement for the MarGood Cottages, so that will go to the Board of County Commissioners on December 13. Then we can get started.  Unlike what we did with Roberts Ranch, where we bundled architecture, engineering and construction in one grant, we got a small matching grant for MarGood, so the plans and specifications are complete and ready to go.  We’ll probably re-engage MLD Architects LLC for construction admin and then we’ll be able to bid that out job and start. November 18, 2022 6 A discussion ensued and the following points were made:  It doesn’t appear that MarGood sustained any damage during Hurricane Ian. A Park Ranger assigned to the Marco Island area checked and took photos. There’s nothing more than the significant deterioration they’ve already had. Nobody slid off piers.  The project covers the four cottages on the small outparcel to the park. The HAPB already issued an overall COA when we completed design.  The site was designated historic by the HAPB 10 years ago, so it requires the county to submit a COA to ensure the level of changes maintain the site’s historic nature.  Ms. Townsend said she’s been chasing state funding since the COA.  Roberts Ranch, MarGood, Rosemary Cemetery and Pepper Ranch all have historic designations.  There are five county museums in four political jurisdictions with historic designations; there’s one historic designation in each city and two in the unincorporated area of Collier County.  Three museums are on the National Register of Historic Places – the Naples Depot, the Museum of the Everglades and Roberts Ranch.  Among the five museums, only Roberts Ranch has a historic designation from the HAPB because it’s the only one in unincorporated Collier County.  There are other historic county properties, two owned by parks, as well as the MarGood in Goodland, Pepper Ranch in Immokalee and Rosemary Cemetery.  Chokoloskee residents have talked about a cemetery there. Ms. Townsend believes it’s historic and privately owned.  The HABP can see if they want to seek a historic designation. They’d have to go through the HAPB. There is a county process where they can submit it on their behalf, but the BCC usually won’t approve it without the HAPB review.  When the county lists privately owned cemeteries, they don’t list the address or post/publish a photo.  Ms. Townsend said she recently received a letter from a resident interested in doing a service project on a small cemetery on Main Street in Immokalee that’s across from Robert’s Ranch and is overseen by the county Parks & Recreation Department. It was gifted to the county by the Episcopalian Church and the church ladies group is working on that project.  This isn’t the Brown Cemetery, which is privately owned.  The county needs to research it to see if it’s appropriate for a historic designation.  Once the county acquires Plot W and N, Ms. Townsend will continue the designation process through the HABP. Ms. Townsend and Acting Chairman Bell detailed current and upcoming museum exhibitions. [See exhibits listed at: https://colliermuseums.com/exhibits ] Ms. Townsend also reported on upcoming county centennial events:  Collier County will celebrate its centennial on May 8, 2023.  There are many events planned leading up to that date.  She’s worked closely with the county communications team on publicity.  www.collier100.com features more than 100 photos with descriptions.  Each of the five county museums will feature a centennial exhibit.  There will be popup exhibits and activities traveling to various elementary schools.  A celebration is scheduled in Everglades City (the original county seat) for Monday, May 8, 2023.  A county centennial emblem was created and anyone who wants to participate can request use of it and download it.  Historian and author Lila Zuch prepared a centennial publication with the centennial emblem. November 18, 2022 7  The museums plans to put its PastPerfect Museum Software database online so residents can view photos and community histories.  Marco Island Historic Society already offers its archives online.  Ms. Townsend expects to put the full database of more than 10,000 photos online, which can be searchable by time period. 8. Public Comments: None 9. HAPB Comments None 10. Adjournment The next HAPB meeting will be held on December 16, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. Ms. Johnson noted that she will be traveling that day. Mr. Bellows said it’s important to fill the board positions by then to ensure a quorum attends. There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the acting chairman at 10:26 a.m. HISTORIC/ARCHAEOLOGICAL PRESERVATION BOARD __________________________________ Austin Acting Chairman Bell, Interim Chairman These minutes were approved by the board on ___________________, as presented (check one) _______, or as amended__________.