March 28, 2013
Heard Craig Carriage House
205 West Hunt, St, McKinney
6:30 P M
http://www.collincountytx.gov/historical_commission/historical_com.jsp
Collin County Historical Commission
Collin County Courthouse
2100 Bloomdale Road
McKinney, TX 75071
Becky Airhart-Smith, Valdasta*
Michael Black, Vice Chair, Workshops
Janice Cline, Tax Abatement
Larry Collins, Grants
Naomi Emmett, Allen
Joy Gough, Secretary, State Markers
Carolyn Harvey, Celina
Linda Hess, Josephine
Donna Jenkins, County markers*
Eric Nishimoto, Liaison
Clyde Kerley, Treasurer
Carole Lowe, Preservation Celebration
Lolisa Laenger, Cruises
Diane Miller, Melissa
Janice Quick, Plano
Paula Ross, Chairman
Loydell Seward, Historic Assets Survey
Jan Thatcher, Plano
Absent*
I. Call to order
The March meeting of the Collin County Historical Commission was called to order at 6:30 p.m.
by Chairman Ross.
II. Public Comments
Pamela Nishimoto has resigned from the Historical Commission. She will be missed.
The next Historical Coalition meeting will be held April 18 at MPAC, the old courthouse, at 7 pm.
Information on the new 2013 grant program will be presented at this meeting.
The annual Historical Commission retreat will be held on September 21 at the Carriage House.
The Murphy Historical Society will hold a high tea on May 11 for Mother’s Day at Orchard Park
Senior Living Community in Murphy.
The Collin County Genealogical Society will hold a Civil War workshop on April 10 with Dr.
Richard McCaslin as speaker.
On March 4, Collin County Days in Austin was attended by 249 people from Collin County,
including eighteen representatives from Celina.
Lowe brought the latest issue of Preservation Magazine for the members to read.
Collin County Railroad Days will be held at the Allen Depot on April 6 & 7 and April 20 & 21.
Model trains will be on display. Admission is free.
III. Minutes and roll call
Hess made a motion to accept the minutes as presented. It was seconded by Miller and passed. The
volunteer hours for March were recorded.
IV. Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer of the Historical Commission is in balance with the county with a balance of
$41,089.00. There is money in the budget for members to attend professional meetings. Seward made a
motion to accept the treasurer’s report as presented. It was seconded by Lowe and passed.
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V. Committee Reports.
a. State Markers
The Historical Markers for the Wylie Cemetery and the Prosper Presbyterian Church have been
received by the county. Arrangements are being made for their installation. The Chambersville
Historical Marker was received last month.
Chairman Ross asked Bob Brinkman of the Texas Historical Commission if the application fees
could be rolled over for the two marker applications that were declined this year and applied to the
next application cycle. He agreed to roll over the application fees.
b. County Markers
A county medallion is being designed and priced that would be placed on the poles with the
county markers. This would make the markers more visible.
c. Cruise
The Collin County Historic Church Cruise was held on March 16. Twenty-five people registered
with 23 going on the Cruise. The evaluation of the Cruise showed eighteen enjoyed it very much;
nineteen said they would go on another Cruise; and five asked for a tour of historic cemeteries.
d. Preservation Celebration
The seventh Preservation Celebration will be held on April 27 in Allen. It will start with a brunch
at the Allen Senior Center at 9:00 a.m. and will move across the street to the Allen Christian
Church building at Allen Heritage Village at 10:00 a.m. for the ceremony.
Tables will be available for each Historical Coalition group to distribute brochures and share its
news and photos. Goodie bags with brochures and coupons will be available. The speaker will be
Rosemary Rumbley. Special recognition will be given for the 99th birthday of Ridgell McKinney.
Following the program, tours of Allen’s Historic Sites will be offered including a visit to the Allen
Water Station, Allen Depot and a driving tour, including a Munzee search.
The deadline for awards nominations was April 5. Invitations have been sent.
Next year’s Preservation Celebration will be held in Celina around the third or fourth Saturday in
May.
e. Education
Letters have been sent to the museums in the county for information to put in the new museum
brochure.
The county museums are being contacted to determine if they plan to hold summer camps in
2013. Three new camps are scheduled for this year – genealogy, cemetery restoration, and a
children’s’ bus tour of McKinney. The Heard-Craig Museum may or may not have a camp.
A cemetery preservation workshop will be held on June 15 in Chambersville. It will include lunch
at the Chambersville Methodist Church Fellowship Hall with hands-on work at the Chambersville
Cemetery across the street. Rusty Brenner, owner of Texas Cemetery Restorations will be the
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speaker.
f. Grants
The 2013 grant program will be presented at the April 18 Historical Coalition meeting. Grant
applications will be available.
The mandatory grant workshop at the Allen Depot on May 4 will start with a light brunch at 8:45
a.m. and will last until 1:00. Three speakers will give talks about their grant application
experiences: Barbara Johnson of the Heard Craig Museum, Candace Fountoulakis of the Young
Family Cemetery Association, and Kelly McGuiness with the City of Allen, with Larry Collins
giving the final talk on the Historical Commission’s 2013 Grant Program. A light lunch will also
be provided. Sample applications will be available. The workshop is mandatory for any group that
will be submitting a grant this year. Collins anticipates about 40 attendees for the workshop.
There are 9 final grant report presentations to be given for the 2012 season.
g. Tax Abatement
The current county tax abatement guidelines were used this year. The changes approved by the
County Commissioners in December will be implemented in 2014.
The number of properties approved for tax abatement for 2013 was 127. The approved list of
the 127 properties has been presented to the County Commissioners for its final approval. The
2013 tax abatement season will be behind us once the approval letters are sent to the applicants.
As they currently stand the new county tax abatement guidelines for 2014 state that:
1.
A property must have been built before 1930.
2.
Properties in historic districts must have individual recognition.
3.
Properties that do not have state or national recognition can apply for county tax abatement by
submitting a history of the property to the Historic Assets Survey to be included on the
interactive historic map.
Cline asked the Central Appraisal District to provide the Commission with a list of the properties
in Collin County that were built before 1930. The list was 45 pages long. Liaison Nishimoto
suggested that we do not send public notices to all of the properties that are eligible for tax
abatement under the new guidelines. The county is not under any obligation to notify properties of
eligibility. The program should develop gradually. The 1930 date is the main objection by the
county Historic Preservation Officers to the new guidelines.
The Tax Abatement Committee and the Historic Assets Committee met to determine the
application procedure needed for tax abatement and approval. A meeting with Judge Self was
suggested. Tying the tax abatement application in with the county historical marker program was
also suggested. Nishimoto suggested that tax abatement should stand alone and not be tied to the
county marker program. He will talk to the Judge about a meeting to discuss the 1930 date and the
application procedure. The approval letters will be rewritten to remove all mention of the 2014
changes.
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h. Historic Assets Survey
The application process of the Historic Assets Survey is changing as more people are
volunteering. City and local organizers are being used instead of quadrant captains. The new
procedure has Seward receiving the final applications from the local organizers. She forwards
them to Jim Ryan. Ryan assigns a site number to each application and adjusts the format. He
forwards the applications to GIS on a quarterly basis. After the applications are received by GIS
another 2 or 3 months may pass before the sites are added to the interactive map.
The GIS department has not been adding the general descriptions and bibliographies from the
application template to the map. As a result, several of the earlier map entries to not have site
information. A special effort is being made to add narratives to these sites. The goal is to have a
narrative for every site on the map.
A training session was scheduled with Ted Wright of the Historic Preservation Group.
i. Museum brochures
The Education Committee is awaiting responses from the county museums before starting on the
revised brochure. The deadline is the end of the month.
j. Contact list
A copy of the contact list will be sent to the Commission members for corrections and additions.
k. Lakes Trails
Lakes Trails will meet on April 17 in Cleburne. Ann Gifford of Allen is also a member of the
group.
VI. Adjourn
Send Eric photos and information to put on new posters.
Historical marker books will be given to the award recipients at Preservation Celebration.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:42.
Collin County Historical Commission March 2013 minutes
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