Council Votes to Remove Professorville Home from Historic Inventory

After 1.5 hours of debate, the Palo Alto City Council unanimously voted Monday night to allow two Palo Alto homeowners to remove their residence from the city’s Historic Inventory -- the second such permission granted in 12 years.

“Being on the inventory should mean something,” said council member Karen Holman, who still felt it was “troubling” that the homeowners were not aware that their 116-year-old Professorville property was on the list before they purchased it 4.5 years ago. “This home has gone through great changes that diminish it’s historic integrity.”

Now the homeowners, Christopher Pickett and his wife Rebecca Geraldi, are free to modify the building without consulting the city’s Historic Resources Board, said the council.

On August 15,  Pickett stated that his home at 935 Ramona Street no longer qualified for the title due to the renovations it underwent since it was surveyed in 1978, and requested its removal from the inventory. Yet on September 21, 2011, the HRB unanimously recommended denial of the project.

The Queen-Anne style home is one of 500 homes that the city has placed on the inventory since 1980. The home was a Category 4, the least restrictive of designation on the inventory list, according to the HRB report. While it underwent $500,000 worth of renovations between 1974 and 2005, it had to receive HRB approval first.

Pickett, along with Geraldi, also contracted the private Garavaglia Architecture, Inc., who concluded that the building had been “extensively altered,”  they wrote in a report which a Garavaglia representative presented to the city council.

“On the interior, no original materials remain,” stated the report. “After passing through the front door, the history, age and design of the 1895 cottage is non-existent.”

Historic homes in Palo Alto are worth 10 to 15 percent less than other homes, according to council member Larry Klein. They’re also “subject to a strict environmental review that can translate to a lot of time and money,” he said.

Two of the four categories Palo Alto uses for historic preservation (Category 1, exceptional building, and Category 2, major building) receive several benefits, such as exemption of on-site parking requirements, said city advance planning manager at a Sept. 21 council meeting about the proposal. Yet Category 3 and 4 homes, or “contributing buildings” do not qualify for the exemptions.

Pickett and Geraldi did their homework about the process of removal and historic homes, concluded council member Greg Schmid. Yet he called on the city to continue assessing and valuing the character of the city’s many historic homes.

“I take history very seriously,” said Schmid. “It’s very important part of community. Important that we get people of Palo Alto to think what history means to us.”

Other Council Agenda Items

Weeds were officially declared a nuisance in Palo Alto after no objections were raised. The council voted unanimously on a resolution which stated that “weeds...are anticipated to develop during calendar year 2012 upon streets, sidewalks, and parcels are private property.”

If the weeds are not removed by the property owners, then the weeds will be “destroyed and removed” by the County of Santa Clara Department of Agriculture and Resource Management.

The city also swore in its new public works director, James Michael Sartor. He took to the podium to thank the council members and list initiatives he planned during his tenure, including “repairing aging infrastructure,” closing the landfill, and opening parkland for Palo Alto residents to enjoy,” and “building an enhanced sustainability office” in the city.

Sartor was selected for the position in December from nearly 100 applicants. He first began working with the city as the assistant director of engineering in 2002.