Benicia Historic Preservation Review Commission will hear a staff report Thursday on one of its top priorities, disclosures of historic district properties.

The commission also will hear a homeowner request to replace some aluminum single-pane windows with energy-efficient vinyl-clad, multi-pane ones.

Associate Planner Suzanne Thorsen will report her findings on the commission’s priority to ensure that during title searches, historic properties are identified so prospective buyers of a property will be informed of that status.

The commission has looked to secure such notification since 2006, when the panel asked staff to research policies in other cities about how potential buyers are told that a property is situated in a historic district.

After hearing options provided by city employees, the commission sought to follow the approach taken in Vallejo, where historic properties are noted in sales paperwork.

Vallejo “records a resolution on properties with historical landmark buildings as well as those within a historic district,” Thorsen wrote.

When the Council adopted the Downtown Historic District Survey in 2009, the document included the address and parcel number of all surveyed properties, not only landmarks and contributors but also those considered non-contributors to the district’s status.

Thorsen wrote that the survey, indeed, was recorded.

However, the commission has questioned whether that recording was done effectively, and at multiple meetings HPRC members have asked why Vallejo historic properties are flagged and Benicia properties are not.

Benicia employees spoke with staff members in the Solano County Assessor-Recorder’s office as well as representatives of North American Title and Placer Title Company of Solano County, Thorsen wrote.

After those conversations, the city was assured the resolution “was duly recorded and does in fact appear on a title search,” she wrote.

But she also was told by Michael Fortney, title officer of Placer Title Company, that the responsibility of identifying any resolution associated with a parcel is that of the person conducting the title search or preparing the title report. That person also needs to tell potential purchasers about liens and other encumbrances, Thorsen wrote.

Her written report includes four examples of a title search of four parcels chosen at random and provided by Placer Title Company. Each is tagged with the letters “RSL” that connects it to the Benicia resolution, Fortney explained to Thorsen.

The window request before the HPRC is for 159 West F St., which is in the city’s historic downtown district but not considered a contributor to the area’s status, Principal Planner Amy Million wrote in a Jan. 14 report.

The item is on the panel’s consent calendar, which means it and minutes of past meetings may be approved without comment by a single vote.

Larry and Cathy Bienati submitted the request for their single-family home, which Million said was built before 1886, based on historic Sanborn maps, Solano County Assessor’s Office records and historic photographs.

By 1913, the home had a one-story rear addition as well as a second-story expansion, after which a basement was added.

The front façade has been altered, a second-story porch and entrance have been removed and an addition to the west has been built in the past 20 years.

The home has not been listed as a historic structure, and during the city’s 2004-09 historic survey update the building was not examined or considered for inclusion, Million wrote.

“The building has been modified significantly since its original construction and does not possess enough integrity to be considered historic,” she wrote, explaining that the window composition choice would be “considered appropriate.”

Though the 14-window upgrade won’t change the configuration of the house and the Bienatis are replacing windows that, as Million wrote, “are clearly not original due to their material,” the homeowners are required to submit their project to the commission because they are changing the type of material that makes up the windows.

“The window replacement plan does not propose to modify the size of the existing windows or the architectural form of the building,” Million wrote.

While the Downtown Historic Conservation Plan doesn’t encourage using vinyl windows in new construction or historic buildings, she wrote, “this building fits neither one of these categories.”

The Historic Preservation Review Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.