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Comments on Historic Preservation Policies November 10, 2013 Page 3 Policy 6. New residential building design, including the design of replacement buildings for buildings constructed before 1942 which are approved for demolition, should draw upon the primary exterior features of the Downtown's traditional design character in terms of materials, colors, details of construction, and setbacks and should utilize one of the following architectural styles found Downtown dating from pre-1942: Gothic Revival, ltalianate, Victorian (Queen Anne, Stick, and Folk), Bay Tradition, Craftsman, Prairie, Mission Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, Mediterranean Revival, Minimal Traditional, Vernacular Forms, and FHA Minimum House. (underlining added) -Major change. The City has never before mandated historic (pre-1942) design downtown. -Changes downtown character. Variety, not government mandated design, is what gives downtown its diverse and appealing character. Downtown is the one neighborhood in town that was not built to a government or developer design template, and it glows. -Makes most existing buildings non-conforming. The vast majority of buildings in downtown do not conform to the mandated pre-1942 design style. Imposing an imitation history design mandate will burden home improvement, and prevent natural updating to solar, energy efficiency, better materials, and other homeowner preferences. Recommendation: Rather than "should draw upon" and "should utilize", the language in Policy 6 could be softened to "are encouraged to draw upon" and "are encouraged to utilize". 3. Any Façade Modification is a (prohibited) Demolition. -Proposed standard: "Policy 2: . . . Demolition of a residential building for purposes of historic preservation shall be defined as the removal of the front façade or the most visible facade from the street, including changes to the roof and roof line. The front or most visible façade shall be considered the forward most ten feet of the structure. . . ." -Facade easement. This definition effectively creates a government easement on the front building façade of the entire downtown. The "People" own the façade design, which makes the property owner a supplicant in any effort to improve his property, entirely at the City's mercy, which will seldom be granted. -Discourages property improvement. If applied literally, the property owner desiring to change a window or a door, or possibly even door hardware, would be subject to a 45 day notice and comment period for the public to weigh in on the "demolition". -Commercial demolition. Commercial demolition is similarly prohibited in Policy 3. The Commission should explore what definition of"demolition" will be applied to commercial demolition?