The Historic Preservation Committee last week reaffirmed its position that the Kerful Dry Cleaners building should not be torn down to make way for a proposed European-style mall.
Diane Ogilvie, who owns the building at 226 W. Main Street, first submitted plans for an inn, shops and townhouses on the site in 1993. Last October, the Historic Preservation Committee voted to recommend that the Los Gatos Planning Commission deny Ogilvie's plans to demolish the structure on the grounds that it's historically significant and worth saving.
The committee upheld that vote at a Jan. 4 meeting after reading a report by a consultant Ogilvie hired to study the building's historical significance. The report states that the building doesn't meet any of the criteria developed by the state's Office of Historic Preservation to designate historical landmarks.
According to Assistant Town Planner Erwin Ordonez, the committee deadlocked 2-2 when the issue was put to another vote.
"That means the committee's original recommendation will stand," Ordonez said.
Ogilvie was not available for comment after the Jan. 4 meeting.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 10, 1996.
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