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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-01-1989 HPC Minutes CITY OF SARATOGA HERITAGE PRESERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES DATE: Wednesday, March 1, 1989 - 3:00 p.m. PLACE: Warner Hutton House, 13495 Sousa Lane, Saratoga TYPE: Regular Meeting I. Routine Organization A. Roll Call Present: Koepernik, Heid, Cameron, Landsness Artshes, Voester Absent: Mitchell Staff: V. Young Others: M. Kenrich B. Approval of minutes of 2/15/89 M/S Cameron/Koepernik to approve the minutes of 2/15/89 as submitted. Passed unanimously. C. Posting of Agenda Pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda was posted at City Hall on 2/24/89. D. Oral and Written Communications Chair Heid distributed Constitution Bicentennial information he had received. Young reported on the Colyar plaque presentation. She also mentioned that the Parks and Recreation Commission would soon be exploring the possibility of a heritage tree program and would be soliciting input from the Commission. II. Old Business A. Heritage Ordinance Revisions Young noted that the ordinance would be heard by the Council that evening, and distributed an updated draft from the City Attorney regarding the membership qualifications. Chair Heid noted that the requirement for a non-resident in the professional category to work in the City had been omitted; there was consensus to ask staff to add this back in. There was also consensus to ask staff to query the Council about removing the two-term limit from the ordinance. III. New Business A. HP-16 - Application for Heritage Resource Designation, 20600 Lomita Avenue, Hannah McCarty House Young gave a brief staff report, highlighting the completeness of the application and the photographs submitted. There was discussion on a discrepancy in the date of construction; it should be 1877. There was discussion on the selection criteria for designation; it was noted that the property met criteria (a), (b), and (c) for inclusion on the Inventory. M/S Landsness/Ansnes to accept the application and recommend to the City Council approval of the designation because the property meets criteria (a), (b), (c), and (e) of Section 13-15.010 of the City Code for designation of a heritage resource. Motion passed unanimously. B. Review subdivision application for 20271 Merrick Drive Young gave a brief staff report and showed the plans for the 3-1or subdivision, noting that property is listed on the Inventory; she encouraged the Commission to focus their comments on the historic preservation issues. Mike Kenrich, 20270 Merrick Drive, spoke to the Commission as a concerned neighbor. He expressed his interest in seeing the house preserved and was attending this meeting to learn of the Commission's purpose and activities. He noted that the proposed residences for the new lots were to be single-story but still would have a significant impact on the neighborhood. After a significant amount of discussion, Commissioners expressed their opinions as follows: Ansnes - The Inventory listing includes the structure and the property surrounding it. Any new construction will have impacts. She noted the difference between this application and the Lomita Avenue subdivision was the location of new residences; this one would be in front of rather than behind the historic house. Koepernik - New garage should be in keeping with historic house. Lot configuration and sizes are problematic; new house sizes should be similar to others in neighborhood (1600-2000 sq. ft.). Major trees should be protected. Cameron - Concurred with Koepernik's comments; felt that the Commission's role is not to support development per se, but to provide positive advice on how to make development as compatible as possible with historic structures. Voester - Concurred with Ansnes; new lots will impact historic integrity of entire property. Setbacks for new residences should be increased to provide adequate yard area typical to a historic farmhouse. Landsness - Abstained from discussion because of friendship with owners. Heid - Protection of the house is most important. New residences must enhance the historic house and not impact neighborhood. Concurred that setbacks need to be increased. After achieving consensus on the above items, there was a unanimous recommendation (Landshess abstaining) to forward the following concerns to the Planning Commission for consideration: 1) The tank house portion of the structure should be preserved as an important historic feature of the site. However, demolition of the existing garage is acceptable since it is of more recent construction than the residence. 2) The new garage proposed for the northwest corner of the residence should be designed to be compatible with the existing residence in size, style and materials. 3) Additional space should be provided around the farmhouse to reflect its traditional agricultural setting and to protect the mature trees. This could be accomplished by adjustment of the proposed lot lines or by increasing the setbacks for the new residences, particularly along the property lines that are contiguous to the farmhouse lot. 4) Construction of two new residences and a new cul-de-sac on the property will impact the view of the farmhouse and will result in the removal of several mature trees. If approved, the new homes should be designed to be compatible to both the farmhouse and the pattern of existing neighboring residences in terms of size, style and materials, and the access road width should be minimized. Special consideration should be given to the protection of mature trees on the site which add to its historic ambience. 5) The Commission believes the property meets the criteria for designation as a heritage resource; the owner should be required to submit an application to begin processing this designation. IV. ITEMS INITIATED BY THE COMMISSION A. Follow-up on historic district project Chair Held distributed material on the original 1949 state landmark application for Saratoga; the packet included a map of potential boundaries for a heritage district in the Village, based on the original application and locations of Inventory properties. There was consensus to use this as a starting point for discussing a heritage district; Young was directed to obtain a cleaner copy of the original material. Chair Held was thanked for his work. B. Miscellaneous Commissioners Artshes and Voester reported on the networking event they attended at De Anza. It was a valuable event with good contacts made. Young will follow up on Sanborn map research. Commissioner Cameron reported that he had attended the Planning Commission meeting of February 22, and that the Christiano application on Wardell Road had been approved. V. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m. "Happy Birthday" was sung to Commissioner Landshess and good cheesecake was eaten by all. Respectfully submitted,