19 - Laserfiche WebLink

Adjustments to the Focus of the Task Force The overwhelming response from the Downtown commercial property owners was that they did not support any inclusion of commercial properties into a Historic District (Attachment 5). Based on the feedback provided by the residents and property owners of commercial properties in the Downtown area, the Task Force has reconsidered its position of creating a Historic District that would incorporate the commercial areas of the Downtown. Therefore, if the Task Force forwards a recommendation to establish a local Historic District, the draft District Map (Attachment 3) will be modified to reflect the elimination of the commercially zoned properties within the Downtown area. DISCUSSION The Task Force has focused its discussion on several areas where it found the City's overall approach to historic preservation to merit additional review and potential changes. These include the following: 1. Inadequate Standards of Significance. The current practice cif using eligibility for the California Registry allows too many historic buildings to be demolished. 2. Definition of Demolition. Because historic buildings are generally not allowed to be demolished (whatever the standard is or will be), it is essential to have a good definition of what comprises a demolition. 3. Design Review. The City's current lack of design review authority for exterior changes to the first floors of historic residential buildings has and can allow inappropriate changes to be made to such buildings 4. Implementation of Existing Policies and Guidelines. Existing policies and guidelines in the Downtown Specific Plan and Downtown Design Guidelines are either not clear or not adequately enforced. 5. Clarity of Process. There is not enough clarity in the processes for doing a project in a historic area or to a historic structure. 6. Incentives. There are no realistic incentives for those required to do historic preservation. Each of these issues is discussed in more detail below. 1. Inadequate Standards of Significance. The Task Force feels that the City currently allows or could potentially allow too many older buildings to be demolished because our standards of significance, based on State Criteria, are not strict enough to preserve all historic buildings that are important to Pleasanton. Current policies only protect historic properties from demolition if the structures are eligible for the California Register of Historic Resources, a relatively high bar. One way to address such a problem is to implement local standards through a local Historic District. Page 3 of 10