Benicia Historic Preservation Review Commission will hear proposals Thursday that would add a carport to one home on East G Sstreet and modify a detached garage on West I Street.
The panel will continue its review of the Downtown Historic Conservation Plan as well.
Loralee Campbell, who owns the home at 180 East G St., has asked the Commission to approve an 8 foot by 20 foot carport that would be built next to the east facade of the home.
The carport would be recessed about 15 feet from the front, or north facade, and the color and materials would match the home, Suzanne Thorsen, associate planner, wrote in her July 10 report.
she wrote that the home isn’t designated a s either a contributing or landmark building in the Downtown Historical Conservation District.
She is recommending approval.
She also wrote a report July 10 recommending approval for Peggy Houseman’s request to modify the north facade of an existing three-car garage at 117 West I St.
Houseman wants to eliminate a single garage opening and add a residential door and window, although he existing two-car garage opening would remain untouched, Thorsen wrote.
“The purpose of the improvement is to create a work room in the detached structure,” she wrote.
The house itself has good integrity, and exemplifies early residential neighborhoods that were developed off First Street, Thorsen wrote.
This home is considered a contributing building in the Downtown Historic Conservation District, but the detached garage was built in 1991 and doesn’t relate to the historic character-defining features of the home, an 1870-era single-story Italianate house,Thorsen wrote.
The panel also will continue talking about the Downtown Historic Conservation Plan, focusing on its strengths and weaknesses as well as its relation to the Historic Context Statement, which was adopted in 2011.
Although no update to the plan has been budgeted or scheduled, the Commission has considered revising the document a priority.
Among the Commissioners’ criticisms of the plan is that its language is “wishy-washy,” and it should be more plan and direct, with adequate flexibility for architectural designing.
This plan has conflicts with both the Downtown Mixed Use master Plan and the Secretary of Interior Standards, and those conflicts need to be resolved, they said.
In addition, the plan is written so technically that even some experts, let alone the average person without special training, have trouble understanding some of its provisions, particularly what is allowed and what is forbidden.
The glossary needs to be enhanced, and definitions need to be clear, the Commissioners said in previous meetings.
The Benicia Historic Preservation Review Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.
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