Logan Square Preservation

Meeting Minutes

May 21, 2020 via ZOOM

 

The May 21, 2020 meeting of Logan Square Preservation was convened via ZOOM Video Conference at 7:00 pm. 44 members participated in all or part of the meeting. Ron Kaminecki hosted the meeting with President Andrew Schneider presiding.

Several guests involved in the Boys & Girls Club project were welcomed to the meeting including Ben Helphand of Neighborspace, Chris Dillion of Campbell Coyle, and Kris Lucius. The minutes from April were approved with one correction, the Hairpin Arts Center was mistakenly referred to as the Hairpin Lofts and the record was corrected.

Agenda items

  1. Shana presented details of the Boys & Girls Club garden project. Kris & Barnaby were thanked for developing the plan, Andy spoke of the history of the idea of the garden and some photos of the work in progress were shared. Ben Helphand explained the Neighbor Space concept and history as well as their role of being a silent partner in the land trust, would take title and preserve the space in perpetuity. Neighbor volunteers help maintain the space and fundraising plans are TBA. Questions were raised about specific design elements of the garden and discussion followed.
  2. Presidents Report-The Grace Church rebuild is underway and the Park District has approved staffing for their component of the project. The Square redesign should be finalized later this summer, bid out in the fall and construction underway in the spring of 2021 per Alderman Waguespack and CDOT. A time capsule is to be rescued from the Bethany Presbyterian Church. Some interesting old Masonic material was donated. The Landmark District extension to North Avenue is also in the works and needs property owners to endorse the idea to really move forward.
  3. Bruce discussed the treasurers report which was shown on screen share.

Committee Reports

  1. Beautification-In addition to the garden project mentioned above, the committee will announced that there will be no formal tree planting project this year. Openlands is monitoring and maintaining the trees previously planted.
  2. Preservation & Restoration (Zoning)-Kate Paris outlined several projects being reviewed including 2440 Richmond-not approved, 3027 Logan-the ZBA meeting has been postponed until physical meetings can resume, 3508 Medill-not approved, 2901 Milwaukee-a large project that will have a public meeting-not approved in current form, Pipeworks-no action, Diversey & Mozart-no news there either.
  3. Archival-Matt discussed receiving the Masonic documents and postcards, is working on an online catalog of the items in the LSP archive and discussed the archival process.
  4. Outreach-Steve said the Logan Square Arts Fest is cancelled this year, a substitute event may be announced later. The LSP website and store were reorganized, the newsletter was discussed and a few t shirts have been sold.

Old Business-The marijuana dispensary CBA has not yet been signed.

New Business-Matt discussed the Postcard project where historic postcard images would be displayed near the area in the photo as a fun and interesting thing for people to see and engage in. More details to come.

 

The meeting was adjourned.