HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-13-13 HPC minutes of SAI? City of Saratoga
Ute' ti HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION
MINUTES
Date: Tuesday,August 13, 2013 /8:30 A.M.
Type: Regular Meeting
Place: City Hall/Administrative Conference Room- 13777 Fruitvale Avenue
1. Routine Organization
a. Roll Call
i. Present: Cappello, Marchetti, Marra,Nugent, Schuck, Shah
ii. Absent: Conrado,
iii. Staff: Cindy McCormick
b. Review of minutes from July 9, 2013 meeting. Approved 5-0 (1 absent, 1 abstained)
c. Oral Communication -Any member of the public may address the Commission
about any matter not on the agenda for this meeting for up to three minutes.
d. HPC direction to staff regarding non-agendized oral communications -
Commissioners may not comment on the matter but may choose to place the topic
on a future agenda. None
2. New Business
a. Quarry Update —The City Engineer, Neta Harvancik, provided an update. The City
owns the property and there is a joint open space easement with the Midpeninsula
Regional Open Space District and the Santa Clara County Open Space District. Iveta also
indicated that a Master Plan will be developed for the property.
b. Quarry Park History Focus Group - The HPC Vice-Chair indicated that the consultant
is gathering information rather than providing information, at this point. The City
Engineer, Iveta Harvancik, said that three groups were put together to come up with
ideas. The ideas included limiting what could be built on the site. The groups did not
want housing to be built, but felt that a recreation use would be OK. A summary of the
July 9th Quarry workshop was emailed to all of the HPC members on August 13th. Iveta
also indicated that there would be another meeting on September 10th at 6:30pm where
the consultant will provide a report on their findings to date. The report will not include
any historical or biological data. The consultant is still looking for people (including
residents and members of the Historical Foundation) with information on the historical
use of the property.
c. Saratoga Historical Foundation Board (SHFB) meeting — The HPC Vice-Chair
indicated that members of the SHFB would like to attend future HPC trainings if
possible. The HPC concluded that would be possible but there would need to be a limit
on the number of additional attendees due to room size limitation. The Chair also
indicated that the City Mayor, Jill Hunter, would like to see the Grover House and John
Henry House moved to another location if any projects are proposed on those properties.
Staff, Cindy McCormick, indicated that no projects had been submitted to the City as of
the previous week.
d. HPC Training update — The proposal from April Halberstadt was discussed. The HPC
decided to wait to make a decision on training since the Commission was already
certified for the period between October 1St 2012 and September 30, 2013. The next
required training will need to be completed by September 30, 2014. Commissioner Shah
indicated that she would contact Dennis Backlund from Palo Alto about possibly
providing some training.
e. Mills Act Overview — Staff provided an overview of the Mills Act program. The HPC
asked for clarification on who is tracking preservation of the Mills Act homes. The HPC
asked staff to bring back a report on which Mills Act properties have been inspected (if
any) and whether anyone had submitted a request for non-renewal. The HPC also asked
staff to provide the Commission with a schedule for future inspections. The HPC would
like to see the 5 year schedule called out in future contracts. The HPC would like future
applicants to start using the County form for application to the Mills Act program, since
Mills Act properties are recorded with the County.
f. Website: Continued to next meeting
g. 21164 Tollgate Road. Continued to next meeting
3. Old Business:
a. Heritage Inventory Update. Review photos taken by Commissioners and discuss the
architectural style, name, and age of homes added to the Heritage Resource Inventory.
i. 13685 Saratoga Vista Avenue- Year: 1950. Name: Butner House. Style: Modern
ii. 13764 Saratoga Vista Avenue (tank house only) - Year: TBD.Name: Tank House
Style: n/a
iii. 20365 Williams Avenue— Year: TBD. Name: TBD. Style: Craftsman
iv. 20200 Mendelsohn Lane- Year: TBD.Name: TBD. Style: "Spanish Revival"
4. Action Items Update
a. Demolition permit: Staff indicated that there are no regulations against demolishing a
property listed on the Heritage Inventory. However, a permit is required to "alter,
demolish, remove, relocate or otherwise change any exterior architectural feature or
natural feature of a designated historic landmark or structure within a designated heritage
lane or historic district.
b. John Henry House: Staff to provide update at September meeting. Staff indicated that no
permits had been applied for as of August 8th.
c. Grover House- Staff to provide update at September meeting
d. Quarry update - Staff to email Quarry update memo
e. Heritage Tree Recognition — The Chair will talk with City staff about honoring the
Heritage Tree property owners prior to the next Arbor Day. The Chair will talk with City
staff about tree tags that mark the Heritage trees.
f. Website update—City staff added the Heritage Tree Inventory to the website
g. HPC training—
i. Staff to find out when the last training was
ii. Alex to send California Preservation Foundation power point webinar presentation
of acronyms.
iii. Rina to speak with Dennis Backlund from Palo Alto about possibly providing some
training.
iv. HPC member to find out information on State Historic Preservation video regarding
historic districts
V. HPC member to talk to Beth Wyman about potential speakers
h. Historic District — Rina would like to do research on making the Village a Historic
District or Lane. Staff indicated that the Council was not receptive to this idea. However,
Rina indicated that she felt the Council was open to the idea at their January retreat.
5. Commissioner Comments
6. Adjournment