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BACKGROUND In December 2011, the City Council appointed a seven-member ad hoc Historic Preservation Task Force to review the current Downtown historic preservation policies, guidelines, and processes. After 12 Task Force meetings, four public outreach meetings, and one public workshop, the Task Force developed and recommended amendments to the General Plan, Downtown Specific Plan, Downtown Design Guidelines, and Pleasanton Municipal Code to modify existing historic preservation policies and design guidelines, implement story pole requirements, and address demolition by neglect. On January 21, 2014, the City Council approved amendments to the City's historic preservation policies and regulations. DISCUSSION Historic Resource Survey The City Council authorized staff to pursue a contract with a consultant to complete a comprehensive resource survey of the older residential structures in the Downtown Specific Plan Area to determine whether they would be considered "historic resources" per the January 2014 definition approved by Council: If a residential building in a residential zoning district built before 1942 is determined using the "Pleasanton Downtown Historic Context Statement" to be eligible for listing in the California Register, then it is considered a historic resource by the City. The 1942 date shall be revisited every 10 years to determine if a change is warranted. Due to commitments on other projects, staff had not been able to pursue this contract until recently. Staff has contacted a qualified consultant, Architectural Resources Group, Inc. (ARG) and received a scope of work and fee (Attachment 1, Exhibit A). Staff believes securing the services of ARG for the resource survey would be to the City's advantage in that this firm has extensive experience in completing historic resource surveys and has successfully completed the Downtown Pleasanton Historic Context Statement and historic resource evaluations for the City of Pleasanton. In this respect, ARG would not require the additional time other consultants may need. Staff believes ARG will provide the quality output required by the City and, therefore, recommends that the City utilize its services. A draft Professional Services Agreement with ARG has been attached to this report (Attachment 1). The consultant would be available to start January 2015 and it is anticipated that the survey would be completed by June 2015. After the survey is complete, an "open house" will be held to let property owners of the subject buildings, realtors, and other interested parties review and comment on the document. The findings of the survey will also be presented to the Council. Page 2 of 5