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The Historic Context Statement prepared for the Task Force identifies primary themes in the history of Pleasanton and connects those themes to the built environment by identifying property types associated with each theme. The local Historic District would essentially provide protection from demolition, any historic property that matched any of the identified important property types identified in the Context Statement, provided that it retained its historical integrity (i.e., that it had not been altered such that its character-defining features have been removed or destroyed). Important to any decisions on local standards or a Historic District is the time frame through which individual properties are determined to be historic resources. While the state standards use a rolling 50-year time period, the Task Force has been more inclined to set a specific date before which buildings would be considered a historic resource if they matched one of the property types identified in the Context Statement and retained their integrity. There is general agreement among the Task Force that either the start of US involvement in or the end of World War II (1942 or 1945) is the appropriate date for Pleasanton. The following are structures in the Downtown that have been either demolished or approved for demolition that may have been required to be saved if a local standards or a local Historic District had been established. III U., Old Stanley Blvd. Third Street 2. Definition of Demolition. Current State law and City policy prohibit the "demolition" of historic resources unless an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is prepared, and the City decides that there are more benefits to the community to allow demolition of a historic structure than preserving it. This process is expensive and time-consuming and has never been used by applicants or recommended by staff. The development review process for projects that involve substantial renovation and remodeling is made more complex by the fact that the City currently does not have a definition of exactly what constitutes a demolition. For example, does the preservation of just one wall of a home constitute a demolition? Two walls? A certain amount or percentage of linear feet? The Task Force has tentatively agreed on the following more flexible definition: "The removal of any physical element of a structure that upon removal, would substantially diminish the historic significance of a structure." Page 4 of 10