The Frankfort City Council passed the first reading of an ordinance rescinding Ordinance 15-02, which established the Historic Preservation Commission on Monday night.
The Council voted 6-1 to pass the ordinance which puts the future of the Historic Preservation Committee up in the air. Councilman Clarence Warthan cast the lone “nay” vote.
“Since we passed the UDO’s (Unified Development Ordinance), which covers a lot of those same ordinances, I did a restructure in the Building Services just the other day,” said Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets. “Don (Stock) is no longer the Building Inspector. It’s going to be a Building Services department. He’s g0ing to be planning and this other person will be Building Inspector.”
Sheets went on to say there was a concern that the HPC exceeded their authority.
“It’s not that we don’t want to keep the historic integrity of our city. We do,” said Sheets. “But they passed standards for those purposes and then they turn around and put a commission on top of that. And, it may or may not line up with all the standards.”
The HPC was passed by then-Mayor Chris McBarnes because they were having a riff with Nickle Plate Flats, a four-story apartment complex in downtown Frankfort. That five-man board eventually got down to one person before they were able to rebuild back to three. The current HPC has five members.
At the Council’s next meeting on September 11, there will be public hearing on the matter as well as a possible passage of the second reading.
In other news, after hearing from Eric Spencer of The Crossing, the Council voted unanimously to give $3,000 to The Crossing to be a co-sponsor for their big event each year.
“I think The Crossing is a very good thing for our community,” said Sheets. ” I think a lot of the kids in our community are getting their high school diplomas. What I really love about The Crossing is how they are giving work experience.”
Sheets was astonished at the amount of money brought in by the Sapphire Bay Aquatic Center. City Clerk-Treasurer Carol Bartley announced the amount was $121,900 and that included credit cards.
“That’s amazing,” said Sheets. “That’s not all of it for the season because we still will be open for at least a couple of more weekends. That’s pretty amazing to me. Someone said if we’d ever make $20,000 a year. A lot of years, we didn’t.”
Sapphire Bay will be now be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays.
From the Board of Works meeting, the BOW accepted a bid of $70,319 for Crenshaw Pacing to do the paving on the Pickeball Courts at Dorner Park. This will mark the second action in this sport in a little over a month’s time after the opening of the Pickleball and Tennis Courts at TPA Park.
Sheets also said she would like to see those courts at Dorner Park open yet this year, knowing full well that likely will not happen.
“Once they lay the asphalt, it’s so long before they can paint,” said Sheets. “After they paint, it’s so long before you can be on it. There is just a process we have to go through before it can open. It will probably be late fall. We’re hoping if we have to do it next spring to do with it the blooming of the daffodils.”