Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Rain-damaged walls, according to the owner of this house at 241 University Ave., began to crumble during a remodel, which sent him back to the Planning Commission for a demolition permit.

Preservationists take aim at rules

Committee works on definition of demolition

By Jeff Kearns

James Kennedy's house at 241 University Ave. had been approved for a remodel and for the addition of a second floor. But a funny thing happened in the process of remodeling.

According to Kennedy, as workers began the project, the walls started to crumble. The more the workers dug into the walls, the homeowner said, the more rotten wood they found, thanks to water which had leaked through the roof over the years.

Then, Kennedy said, the stucco on the outside of the house began developing cracks. Eventually, the front of the house fell off, and the house was effectively demolished, even though some of the sagging walls still stand.

But the Historic Preservation Committee isn't laughing about the demolition. Committee member Jim Lyon, in fact, is working on a rewrite of the demolition ordinance that would give it a few more teeth.

"We're looking at how to clarify what a demolition consists of and the penalties for an unlawful demolition," Lyon said. "With 241 University, they started out doing a remodel and got too far into it, then there was nothing left. Builders get overzealous; it's happened a few times."

Construction on the University Avenue house was stalled for months after the front of the house fell off, because all accidental demolitions must go to the Planning Commission for a demolition permit.

Although the demolition was deemed accidental, it had not been approved by the commission, so Kennedy was penalized by having to pay double the application fees. At its meeting on Aug. 12, the Planning Commission allowed the project to proceed.

The house, historic preservationist Lyon noted, had been identified as a contributing structure to the Edelen/University historic district.

But Kennedy insists the house couldn't have survived because it was already too badly damaged. "When you're doing remodels on old homes, sometimes they're not able to withstand the stress, and that's what we found," he said. "You don't know until you get inside if it's going to be able to survive."

Lyon said the rewrite was something the Town Council singled out for a review last year, and the Historic Preservation Committee started working on it in April. The committee will be talking with Planning Director Lee Bowman about clarifying some ambiguous issues, Lyon said, and about how best to define a demolition for historic structures and other buildings in town.

The committee will also be taking a closer look at penalties. Currently, builders who demolish a house without permission must pay double the normal application fee when they come back to the town to file for their demolition permit. "It certainly hasn't deterred anyone," Lyon said.

Susan Burnett, of the preservation committee, agrees. "We need to be tougher with things that get demolished," she said. "Our [historic] resources are just dwindling. We're losing some of our smaller houses and then big houses are going up in their place."

The city of Palo Alto recently revised its historic preservation rules, which had earned the scorn of many homeowners there who thought the laws were far too strict. The city also set up a new appeals process for homeowners fed up with the approval process for demolitions or remodels on historic homes.

The Los Gatos Historic Preservation Committee may take up the revised ordinance as early as Aug. 27 at 5:30 p.m., but most likely won't discuss revisions until the next regularly scheduled meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 5:30 p.m. Eventually, any new ordinance will be passed on to the Planning Commission and Town Council.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]