■ HPRC told that parking area construction already to be delayed to accommodate preschool

By unanimous vote Thursday night, Benicia Historic Preservation Review Commission upheld the interim community development director’s approval of new parking lot designs for the Community Congregational Church at 1305 West Second St.

Jackie Mullikin, who currently operates Happy Hearts preschool at the church, filed an appeal Oct. 16 of Dan Marks’s Oct. 6 decision.

Mullikin said the construction noise, increased traffic, dust and fumes could affect children at the classroom building and outdoor play area she leases at the same address.

She asked the panel to add another condition of approval, that construction be delayed until she moves her preschool to Lighthouse Covenant Church, 1175 Church St.

Associate Planner Suzanne Thorsen said the church’s plans for its parking lot would improve circulation and modify dropoff areas, add lights and change landscaping.

Because the exterior changes are defined as less than 2,500 square feet of floor area, the church only needed administrative design review, rather than apply to the HPRC.

Marks’s decision included the conditions that the construction area be marked and barricaded, and that the church provide Mullikin with a written construction schedule. But he did not call for a postponement before the preschool move.

Thorsen told the commission that the church hasn’t obtained permits for its lighting, which it must do before construction starts, and that the church and its architect, Andrej Dekleva, already had agreed to postpone the project until Dec. 31, when the tenant is expected to leave.

But setting a time on the start of the construction is beyond the scope of design review authority, Thorsen said, and that also makes it outside the commission’s authority.

Regardless, Mullikin was free to appeal the administrative decision to the panel.

“Her concerns are understandable,” Thorsen said. But instead of a design or zoning issue, which the HPRC could address, she explained, “It’s a tenant-landlord issue.”

Commissioner Gilbert von Studnitz asked whether there was any reason to doubt the church would keep its promise to delay construction.

Church moderator Keith Reid said the church’s council agreed to delay construction until the date Mullikin was expected to vacate, Dec. 31, and sent that information to Mullikin in a letter.

“We put it in writing,” he said. “We fully intend to honor that.”

“What if they don’t move out when they’re supposed to?” Chairperson Luis Delgado asked.

“That would be difficult,” Reid said.

Commissioner Toni Haughey moved for denial of Mullikin’s appeal, which received unanimous commission approval.

“What if she is unhappy about this?” Haughey asked after the vote.

Principal Planner Amy Million said Mullikin could appeal the decision to the city Planning Commission.

Million also advised the panel that the task of its subcommittee on design review standards is to compose a letter the rest of the panel could use to ask the City Council for revisions of those standards rather than craft proposed revisions at this time.

In other matters, the commission set its 2015 meeting calendar.