Commission plans workshop with preservation experts

Published 5:37 pm Monday, May 9, 2016

Washington’s Historic Preservation Commission is planning to meet with State Historic Preservation Office staff in a workshop Aug. 2.

The workshop’s purposes are to indoctrinate new commission members to their roles and serve as a refresher course for veteran commission members. Discussion about having the workshop occurred during the commission’s May 3 meeting. The commission also discussed possibly meeting with the City Council to determine what the council wants the commission to accomplish in the coming months.

Emily Rebert, the city’s community development planner, told the commission the workshop would provide the SHPO staff to tell the commission “what we can and cannot do.” The commission develops and enforces guidelines regarding properties in the city’s historic district.

“I think it would be a good idea to meet with the City Council,” Rebert said.

“It might be a good idea for the City Council to be here for the workshop,” commission Chairman Edward Hodges.

The commission discussed having that joint meeting Sept. 6, but did leave the door open for the meeting to take place on another date.

SHPO provides technical assistance to local historic preservation commissions. John Wood with the SHPO’s Greenville office likely would conduct the workshop, according to Rebert. Wood is a restoration specialist. Scott Powers, a preservation specialist and supervisor of the Greenville office, could take part in the workshop. The Greenville office recently provided advice to the commission regarding fences in Washington’s historic district.

The commission, among its duties, issues certificates of appropriateness for major works in the historic district and recommends to the City Council properties to be designated as historic districts and landmarks. The commission also selects recipients of the Rena K. Terrell Awards, which recognize preservation efforts in the city.

The commission is accepting nominations for the next round of awards. Nominations may be mailed to the City of Washington’s Planning and Development Department, Attn: Emily Rebert, emailed to erebert@washingtonnc.gov or submitted by calling 252-946-0897.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.