The Wiscasset Historic Preservation Commission will need to be sensitive, transparent and objective when it fields property owners’ requests for projects, members and Town Planner Jamel Torres said at the panel’s first-ever meeting Nov. 5.

As with the planning board, decisions will have to be based on guidelines, not on whether or not the panel likes the project, Torres said. Voters created the commission last spring.

Torres offered to present a mock project request for the panel to practice on if none come in before next summer.

The panel made former Lincoln County Historical Association president John Reinhardt its chairman, Gordon Kontrath vice chairman and Wendy Donovan secretary. No contests arose; all the votes naming the officers ran 5-0.

In another of its first acts, the commission unanimously agreed to let members attend by Skype, when needed. Fowles was about to leave for Texas for the winter. “I would like to participate,” he said about upcoming meetings.

The commission set its meeting schedule for 5 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. The panel will not meet on months when it has no business to conduct, Torres said. 

Torres encouraged members to read the new ordinance that established the commission, and come to the next meeting, Dec. 3, with any questions on it. In other homework, members gave themselves the next month to review a draft of the applications property owners in the historic district would complete for work including demolition, construction and changes to a building’s exterior.

Some property owners welcome the commission’s review of projects, others do not, Reinhardt said. So the commission will need to be sensitive and extremely transparent in its work, he said.

“I want to make sure people see exactly the way we think,” he said.

Members said they want to educate people on old buildings’ fragility and how to preserve the buildings’ and the district’s historic value when making changes.

Change is a part of the life of a building, Blagden said. “A town scape is a living thing.”

She and other members praised Torres for getting the ordinance to a town vote after some of their own past attempts as residents didn’t make it to one.

“I’m very happy that this commission exists for the people of Wiscasset,” Torres said.

Old buildings are the jewels in the town’s crown, Reinhardt said.

“Old houses fascinate me,” fellow member Wendy Donovan said. “People need to be more aware of what we have.”

Fowles said he wanted to acknowledge one of the selectmen’s early appointees to the commission, Jennifer Spaur; she had a lot of passion for the work, but couldn’t be sworn in because she is not an American citizen, Fowles said.

“She would have been a great asset ... I think it’s a shame,” Torres said.

He agreed to invite Spaur to take part as a consultant. Consultants don’t have to be sworn in, Blagden said.

Also Nov. 5, commission members said it is important that district property owners know that the panel’s focus is on what can be seen from the street. “It’s not going to be what you do on the inside. It’s what they do on the outside that we’re interested in,” Reinhardt said.

Members voted to charge no application fee for the next year, then revisit the question.

Towns vary in what they charge, from nothing to as much as $100, Torres said.

The panel can determine which properties don’t contribute to the district’s historic value, and exempt them from review, Torres said. However, some members said that could risk changes that detract from the district.

If a gas station were exempt, it could put up a pink and purple, polka-dotted rocket ship, Blagden said.

At Blagden’s request, Torres planned to research how other towns with historic preservation commissions handle hardship claims. Blagden, who has served three decades on Wiscasset’s appeals board, said a property owner might offer any reason for using cheaper materials on a project. She questioned how the town could respond to the argument that the person needs to spend their $10,000 on a trip to England to see the queen.

The Dec. 3 meeting starts at 5 p.m. at the municipal building.