Historic Preservation Commission members hold unpublicized meeting

Some of the members of the Historic Preservation Commission held a meeting that was closed to the public Sunday afternoon.

Typically, the commission holds public hearings on the second Tuesday of every month and administrative meetings on the fourth Thursday of every month.

But a meeting was held at 4 p.m. Sunday at 145 Gorman St., and The Capital was shut out.

"This is not a meeting of the HPC, so therefore it's not open because it's not a public meeting," HPC Chief Lisa Craig said.

"There's no decision. There's no legislation. Members of the community wanted to speak with the chair. It's really just to clarify some questions community members had."

In an email obtained by The Capital, HPC Chairwoman Sharon Kennedy invited Craig, William Kardash, Historic Annapolis President and CEO Robert Clark, Mike Farmer, Annapolis attorney Christopher Ledoux, Chuck Walsh, Inner West Street Association President Don Lamb Minor, Historic Annapolis Senior Vice President Donna Ware and Ward One Residents Association President Elly Tierney to a, "small group discussion."

In the initial email, sent Oct. 9, Kennedy wrote: "Hi all, We are getting very close to having our next draft of the historic district ordinance reading for discussion. I am also preparing the document you all requested outlining the rationale for the proposed changes by line. My goal is to have a second public hearing as part of the November hearing. As those individuals that were most interested in the changes, I would like to have a small group discussion with you in advance of larger distribution to assess how well we have responded to the concerns voiced in August."

In a follow up email sent Oct. 14, Kennedy requested the group not share the documents with anyone not included in the email.

"Since this is an evolutionary process and the next round of public documents will reflect our conversations on October 25th, I ask that the documents I am sending out stay confidential," she wrote.

City Public Information Officer Rhonda Wardlaw said she was not previously aware of the meeting.

"I knew nothing about the meeting," she said.

"I did talk to Lisa and she said she contacted the assistant city attorney who said (using the conference room at 145 Gorman St.) was fine. I'm going to be looking into what the purpose of the meeting was."

"I know there wasn't a quorum. I do understand that there is going to be a public meeting in early November that is going to be publicized."

The next commission meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at City Council chambers with a closed session beginning at 6:30 p.m.

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