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Item 3 - Staff Report and Attachments 1 to 5 PREPARED BY: JOCELYN SHOOPMAN Associate Planner 110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6874 www.losgatosca.gov TOWN OF LOS GATOS HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE REPORT MEETING DATE: 05/25/2022 ITEM NO: 3 DATE: May 20, 2022 TO: Historic Preservation Committee FROM: Joel Paulson, Community Development Director SUBJECT: Consider a Request to Remove a Pre-1941 Property from the Historic Resources Inventory for Property Zoned R-1:10. Located at 16405 Kennedy Road. APN 532-15-002. Historic Review Request PHST-22-008. Property Owner: Fevzi and Sevil Karavelioglu. Applicant: Tony Jeans. Project Planner: Jocelyn Shoopman. RECOMMENDATION: Consider a request to remove a pre-1941 property from the Historic Resources Inventory for property zoned R-1:10 located at 16405 Kennedy Road. PROPERTY DETAILS: 1. Date primary structure was built: 1908 per County Assessor’s Database 2. Town of Los Gatos Historic Status Code: N/A 3. Does property have an LHP Overlay? No 4. Is structure in a historic district? No 5. If yes, is it a contributor? N/A 6. Findings required? Yes 7. Considerations required? No DISCUSSION: The applicant is requesting approval to remove the presumptive pre-1941 residence from the Historic Resources Inventory. The Santa Clara County Assessor’s Database lists a construction date of 1908. The property is not within a historic district or LHP overlay, is not included in the 1990 Anne Bloomfield Survey, and is not shown on the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. The applicant provided a letter of justification, which is included as Attachment 1. PAGE 2 OF 3 SUBJECT: 16405 Kennedy Road DATE: May 20, 2022 N:\DEV\HISTORIC PRESERVATION\HPC Reports and Attachments\2022\05-25-22\Item 03 - 16405 Kennedy Rd\Staff Report.docx DISCUSSION (continued): Town records are minimal: a plumbing permit in 1959, an electrical permit in 1965, a foundation repair in 1987, a replacement of an existing deck in 2013, and a re-roof permit in 2022 (Attachment 2). On September 26, 2012, the Historic Preservation Committee considered a request to demolish the pre-1941 single-family residence as an Other Business item (Attachment 3). As detailed in the meeting minutes, the members of the Historic Preservation Committee commented that based on the decay, structural, and foundation issues, and modifications made to the structure, the Committee could support demolition of the structure (Attachment 4). No formal Planning application was submitted, and the property has not since returned to the Committee for a formal recommendation. Additionally, the Letter of Justification letter states that all the original windows and doors have been replaced with vinyl and metal units of no historical value. The pictures in Attachment 5 show the current condition of the home. CONCLUSION: Should the Committee find that the structure no longer has historic significance or architectural merit due to the loss of integrity, the structure would be removed from the Historic Resources Inventory and any proposed alterations would not return to the Committee. FINDINGS: A. Findings - related to a request for a determination that a pre-1941 primary structure has no historic significance or architectural merit. In evaluating a request for a determination of historic significance or architectural merit, the Historic Preservation Committee shall consider the following: 1. The structure is not associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the Town; 2. No significant persons are associated with the site; 3. There are no distinctive characteristics of type, period or method of construction or representation of work of a master; 4. The structure does not yield information to Town history; or 5. The integrity has been compromised such that the structure no longer has the potential to convey significance. PAGE 3 OF 3 SUBJECT: 16405 Kennedy Road DATE: May 20, 2022 N:\DEV\HISTORIC PRESERVATION\HPC Reports and Attachments\2022\05-25-22\Item 03 - 16405 Kennedy Rd\Staff Report.docx ATTACHMENTS: 1. Letter of Justification 2. Building Permit History 3. September 26, 2012, Historic Preservation Committee Staff Report with Attachments 4. September 26, 2012, Historic Preservation Committee Meeting Minutes 5. Property Pictures This Page Intentionally Left Blank T.H.I.S. DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT P.O.Box 1518, Los Gatos, CA 95031 Tel: 408.354.1863 Fax: 408.354.1823 May 4th, 2022 16405 Kennedy Rd HPC Application This property was previously informally reviewed by HPC in 2012 when Maryam Tabatabeaei was contemplating purchasing it in 2012. At that time the HPC voted unanimously to allow it to be removed from the historic register so that it could either be demolished and rebuilt or dramatically remodeled, but as that was not a formal application, it was never actioned. In the end, Maryam decided that the task was too daunting and my client purchased it instead. He has taken a different approach until now and has survived by using bandages and patching + plastering over cracks [literally] until now. At this time he is planning to split his property into 2 separate parcels and designing a new home and ADU- type unit at what is now the far end of the property. He then plans to use some of the proceeds from that sale to rework this existing home in a significant way. I have included the plans for his proposal for interest only. The requirements of California SB-9 and the Town ordinance require that we ask for your approval at this time, rather than waiting until we are ready to physically start construction. In this request, I have relied in part on the previous application and spoken to the current owner to see what he has fixed structurally since the purchase and, apart from a new roof and some patchwork fixes, it would appear that not much has been done. So it remains in a pretty sorry shape both structurally and code-wise. I would ask that staff includes the paperwork from that application for you to review. Additionally, I looked at the house myself and noted that all of the original windows and doors have been replaced with a mixed bag of [now aging] vinyl and metal units of no historical value. Also much of the knob and tube wiring remains in place, which itself will require some significant interior rework to get anywhere close to code compliance. As such we are requesting that the home be removed from the historic register and be allowable for demolition or significant remodeling/rework. I will check the Sanborn Maps and other resources in the coming days, but I expect to find nothing of note. Thank you Tony Jeans. ATTACHMENT 1 This Page Intentionally Left Blank ATTACHMENT 2 This Page Intentionally Left Blank ATTACHMENT 3 This Page Intentionally Left Blank ATTACHMENT 4 This Page Intentionally Left Blank 16405 KENNEDY ROAD, LOS GATOS ZERO CLEARANCE AT SILLS AND SIDING HAS CAUSED ROT LEAKS AT DECKS HAVE CAUSED WATER DAMAGE ATTACHMENT 5 KNOB AND TUBE WIRING NEEDS REPLACING MORE KNOB AND TUBE AND DANGEROUS WIRING NO ORIGINAL WINDOWS REMAIN. VINYL REPLACEMENTS OTHER VINYL WINDOW REPLACEMENTS SOME METAL WINDOWS HAVE ALSO BEEN USED. SUMMARY: FROM THE ORIGINAL STRUCTURAL REPORTS FROM 2012, ONLY MINOR ESSENTIAL REPAIRS AND UPGRADES HAVE BEEN COMPLETED [EXCEPT FOR A COMPOSITION SHAKE ROOF – BECAUSE THE OLD ONE WAS LEAKING BADLY]. THE BUILDING REMAINS IN VERY POOR CONDITION – SUCH THAT IT WOULD BE COST PROHIBITIVE TO RETAIN THE EXISTING STRUCTURE AS PART OF ANY RENNOVATION. ADDITIONALLY, THE CHOICE OF MATERIALS [SUCH AS VINYL AND METAL WINDOWS] OVER THE YEARS HAS LEFT THIS HOME WITH LITTLE HISTORICAL INTEGRITY. THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE ORIGINAL 2012 REPORT REMAIN ACCURATE TODAY. THIS HOUSE IS HANGING ON BRAVELY, BUT IS BEYOND REPAIR.