Saratoga News

Planners to decide on Pollard House

Owner seeks a varience

By John Pancharian

Still under renovation, the historic Pollard House sits on blocks 30 inches in the air while its owner awaits city approval to complete the repairs. The Planning Commission will likely decide the issue at its July 8 public hearing, which is sure to attract the attention of local heritage buffs, who have watched the issue with interest.

Gary Campbell, the owner of the venerable Victorian, has applied for a variance to city zoning codes which would allow him to exceed usual building size limits. The neighborhood in which he lives at the end of Marion Road is zoned with a cap of 4,830 square feet of buildings on any parcel, but the Pollard House, along with its equally historic accessory buildings, total about 6,200 square feet.

The proposed addition of an attached 1,200-square-foot garage along with about 1,000 square feet of living space to the main house would place the property well over the building limit, even though Campbell plans to demolish the old garage.

City planning staffer Heather Bradley, who prepared the staff recommendation to the Planning Commission, said for the variance to be granted the property would have to meet three conditions. First, there must be some special circumstances relating to this property. Next, were a variance granted, it must not represent a special privilege for Campbell alone. And lastly, the proposed variance must not be detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the surrounding properties or their owners.

"There's no reason why this house should be allowed to be bigger than any other house in the neighborhood," Bradley said, but added that staff will recommend a variance for the accessory buildings. This would allow Campbell to add the garage and living area, but only if he scales the plans down by about 470 square feet. "I have a feeling the Planning Commission will probably agree with staff," Bradley said, adding that the property is unique for its historic agricultural use.

According to Campbell, that unique use dates back to 1876, when the Rev. W.D. Pollard, for whom the house was named, planted the first orchard trees in Saratoga. Pollard completed the original house in 1892, along with a barn and a bunkhouse for orchard workers. Campbell built a new barn when the original was destroyed by falling tree limbs in February, but the bunkhouse still stands, now sporting new timbers and roofing. He intends to add a duck pond and a putting green to the property, as well as more apricot trees.

"What our story is about is maintaining the last of the parcels," Campbell says, as he displays a 19th-century map of Marion Road showing only 13 parcels; today there are 31. He says he wishes to preserve the old-farm-land feeling of the place in contrast to the surrounding subdivided suburbia, and he still greets visitors with "Welcome to Foothill Farm."

Campbell enthusiastically shows off artifacts discovered under the old house during repairs. These include an archaic, bolt-action .22 rifle; a very old, flat boot; an aged cast-iron wood chisel and tins of Prince Albert tobacco.

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