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Mr. Jonathan Lowell November 25, 2015 Page 5 of Jim DeMersman from the Historic Society, Chris Bourg from Pleasanton Heritage Association (PHA), and Peter MacDonald, Executor. We got City Planning Staff comments on the 75% draft of the "309 Neal Street Core Historic Structures Report & Feasibility Study" ("Historic Study") and forwarded the recently completed 90% draft to Planning Staff for their comments. The final Historic Study was released to us on November 16, 2015 (Attachment 5). The Historic Study is comprehensive and an excellent history of the home. The property is not in the Downtown Specific Plan area, thus not subject to many City historic guidelines and design guidelines, but we have directed that the Historic Study apply all those policies to its analysis and recommendations because the house and surrounding houses are historic and maintain their downtown ambience. Generally, the Historic Study finds much of the home to be aged and obsolete, requiring substantial upgrades to plumbing, electrical, roof, interior etc. The Historic Study makes specific recommendations on how to rehabilitate the exterior of the home in the historically authentic way, including repair of the historic windows, rather than replacement, wherever possible. In accordance with the City's policy, the eventual owner would be allowed more freedom to modernize the interior as needed. The Historic Study recommends the exterior façade materials and dimensions of the barn be preserved, but allows more leeway for updating, given the poor condition of the structure and cracked foundation. One possibility discussed would be to make the second floor of the barn into a second dwelling unit. That would require moving the new foundation about 6 inches further from the property line —to meet the minimum 5 foot setback for second units. The Historic Study includes drawings of several possible configurations of additions to the home or barn that could be acceptable, generally at the rear of each structure. To comply with Secretary of the Interior's Standards, any addition is required to be identifiably different in style from the core structure, but under City policy is required to look similar enough —while still identifiably different in style —to maintain a coherent whole, which can be achieved by using different board widths, and other detailing variations. Although the Historic Study uses an example of a two story addition on the back of the home, the Estate would plan to restrict the buyer (unless the City keeps it) to only a one story addition, in deference to neighbors and to avoid unnecessary massing. If the City determines to allow sale of the property for private re-use as a home, the Estate would convey the property subject to a historic preservation easement— generally requiring that the buyer follow the restoration recommendations from the Historic Study. •