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Cunningham's offer came in higher, so she knows what the inside looked like. What they have done <br /> with it is very nice, and they have done a lot to protect the home. <br /> Councilmember McGovern referred to Attachment 1; the resolution, and it talks about the zoning of the <br /> property as R-1:6500; one family residential. Then it states that the replacement of the existing home is <br /> allowed pursuant to Pleasanton's Municipal Code, etc. She asked if staff was talking about 215 or 205 <br /> Neal as the existing home. To her, everyone calls this a shed, but if it is an existing home, then there <br /> are two homes and not a shed on the property. Mr. Dolan said there are two homes on the property, <br /> and someone is living in the shed. Councilmember McGovern said to her, this is a livable home and is <br /> considered by the City a home. <br /> Councilmember McGovern said people who know her well knows she really respects the historical <br /> homes in the community. When they last voted to have one demolished, it was 103 years old; she <br /> fought hard to keep it. There were all kinds of reasons people said it should come down, but to her it <br /> should not. The flavor of this community and this character is that there is a history of 103 years old, <br /> and there are many communities that do not. Pleasanton should be relishing it and showing it to their <br /> children. When doing the Alviso Adobe, they had to build buildings back that had been knocked out, <br /> and they lost the flavor and history as to where the Adobe was sitting. This carriage house is part of this <br /> main development of the Hall family. It is an accessory building to the history of that home, and this to <br /> her should be maintained. She thinks that if they built behind it and kept the facade of the front, this <br /> would be a way to add to the home. She thinks it is worth saving. She thinks the DSP does 2 things; 1) <br /> it tries to protect the flavor of the downtown, but 2) it encourages the knocking down of historic homes <br /> for more density. This is exactly what happened on Old Stanley and when a historic committee meets, <br /> they should look at the fact of not removing these historic homes just because we want to add density <br /> to the downtown. She also thinks that with the DSP, she stood on the street at the home when it had <br /> story poles last weekend. In looking at the block, there are 4 houses—the new Mr. Harvey home, the <br /> Hall home, the home at 205 Neal and the home on Second and Neal Street. There is a big home being <br /> built on the end, a small historic home next to it, and you take the smallest one out and put another big <br /> home. This changes the whole streetscape of the street because it varies from new home, old home, <br /> new home, old home and right now it looks like a historic block. She actually believes that the design <br /> standard of the DSP Policy #17 which talks about avoiding excessive lot coverage and maintaining <br /> appropriate separation between buildings does not do that in this case. She also thinks garages in the <br /> area are supposed to be done behind the house. She worries about the house that also backs up to <br /> this property because she did go in the backyard and it gives a feeling of a tunnel, and this definitely <br /> changes the character of that person's home. With this, she does not support the demolition of the <br /> carriage house based on those facts of the DSP and the Design Review Criteria. <br /> Councilmember Sullivan said there is a real problem in town; they have a historic downtown we want to <br /> maintain and keep in good repair because that is the soul of the downtown. But, little by little, house by <br /> house, they are destroying this. It seems like every couple of months, this seems to happen. The City <br /> Council has a priority to develop some historic preservation guidelines or ordinance, and this is what <br /> their focus should be on and finish before looking at any more of these applications. Ms. Shapiro talked <br /> about every time a new regime comes in, the rules change. Back when he was on the Planning <br /> Commission in 2000, that Planning Commission actually adopted a Historic Preservation Ordinance. It <br /> never went anywhere; it ended at the Planning Commission and never got adopted. So, the most <br /> important thing to him is get some good guidance in place before looking at any of these projects <br /> because they are slowly tearing down the downtown and replacing it with historic look-alike buildings. <br /> On this particular project, he feels it clearly is too big for the site. They have tried to come up with 100 <br /> different reasons as to why it is okay, 3 variances, and possibly a 4th variance, and he questioned how <br /> rational it was for everybody to share their backyards. It clearly does not meet the two standards, as <br /> well which are so important to the downtown. He could not make any findings to say they are complying <br /> with this. <br /> City Council Minutes Page 19 of 26 February 7,2012 <br />