On the Radar...

Houghton Donner House
The Mansion burned down July 19th, 2007 under "suspicious" circumstances. PAC*SJ had repeatedly made the City aware, as had others, that it was being broken into and used by vagrants. It was owned Barry Swenson Builders who have proposed building a 200+ units residential tower on the site. A nonprofit housing organization was working to relocate and rehabilitate the house and use it for its offices.
_{Updated July 2007}

IBM Building 25
To the deep disappointment of PAC*SJ and the National Trust, on June 5th 2007, the San Jose City Council voted to approve the rezoning and demolition of the historic IBM Building 25 and allow the construction of a new Lowe’s commercial facility. In spite of the Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, the Planning Commission, and the Historic Landmark Commission’s recommendations for denial, the vote was 8-1, with Nora Campos opposing and Forrest Williams abstaining. A request for possible re-location of a wing of the IBM building was deemed too expensive and difficult by Lowe’s. A second request for a $300,000 contribution toward historical preservation activities in San Jose was accepted by Lowe’s, as compensation for destroying this significant historical resource. An additional $600,000 revenue from sales and property tax, generated by the project in the future, may go toward historical inventory surveys of RDA areas.

All this follows the Superior Court (2004) and Court of Appeal (2006) decisions that the City of San Jose violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its previous decision to demolish Building 25 to make way for Lowe’s. But the legal battle is not over as there is an open writ on the case from the original litigation. The City must present its decision and findings to the lower court judge who will review it to determine whether or not the City has satisfied the deficiencies that led to the judgment in the first place.
_{Updated June 2007}

Moffett Field’s Hangar One
The Navy is considering numerous options. It has NOT ruled out "re-skinning" the frame. In fact, it is seriously considering a fabric cover, like the "tent" structures at the new Denver airport, suggested by some of the Save-Hangar-One members. The Navy will not, however, make improvements such as code compliance to make the hangar ready for reuse.
_{Updated June 2007}

Juana Briones House - Palo Alto
Regretfully, the judge hearing this case issued a decision which rejected the argument that a CEQA process must be followed prior to granting the demolition permit for the Juana Briones House. Although the battle to save the Briones House appears to be lost, the Juana Briones Heritage Foundation realizes that an important aspect of their work is to bring a wider recognition of Juana Briones as an exemplary California Latina pioneer. Toward that end, they have been granted an Official State Historical Marker that will commemorate her home site and rancho. It will be placed at the nearby Esther Clark Park. Hopefully the pediment of the marker will be composed of some of the original stonework extant at the home and that limited access will be allowed to the property for the purposes of an architectural and archeological investigation, compiling a photographic record and salvaging certain limited items from the house which could be used for museum display or archival preservation. PAC*SJ has requested that the City of Palo Alto do an EIR before they issue a demolition permit. Citizens are encouraged to voice their opposition to the demolishing of this house.
_{Updated March 2007}

Almaden Feed & Fuel Bar and Restaurant (AF&F)
The owner of AF&F property is proposing to tear down the former stage coach stop building on Old Almaden Road to make room for, what else, housing. A group, interested in saving the building and operating the viable AF&F business, wants it be be declared a city landmark. A back up plan, if the structure is deemed historic and the city won’t save it, is to move the building and the business to a site in the county. On 12/6/06, the supporters who want to save AF&F filed a protest to the Planning Department’s approval to demolish the structure. At the September HLC meeting, the commission had recommended the structure be rehabilitated, reused and listed as a Structure of Merit on the City of San Jose Historic Resource Inventory.
_{Updated December 2006}

Ballpark Site EIR
The Redevelopment Agency is requesting an additional $20,000 to do further research on the Sunlite Bakery Building which was overlooked in the original DEIR. It is not clear at this time whether further research will be done on other potentially historic buildings in the site area which PAC*SJ noted in our comments to the DEIR. Certification of the DEIR by the Planning Commission is now scheduled for the end of January or the beginning of February. If the site should not be used for a ballpark, PAC*SJ wants to make sure that the historic buildings on the site are properly analyzed so that they have a chance of being saved and incorporated into future development proposals.
_{Updated December 2006}

Carnegie Library on East Santa Clara Street
An addition is planned for the Carnegie Library building at 1102 East Santa Clara Street. The Design Review Committee of the Historic Landmarks Commission reviewed the proposed addition to the library at their November meeting. The addition, to the east and south of the existing building, is very modern in design consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, which state that an addition to a historic building should be differentiated from the old. The character defining features of the old library will be retained and the recessed areas will be used to visually separate the new building from the old building.
_{Updated December 2006}

Griffin House - Foothill College, Los Altos Hills
Judge Nichols has ruled in favor of the Friends of the Griffin House, who argued that the Foothill-De Anza Community College District did not address feasible alternatives to demolition or study traffic effects in its environmental impact report (EIR) to raze the 1901 mansion to make room for new offices. Nichols also said the district had not complied with state building code that requires a demolition permit to be obtained from the proper city, in this case Los Altos Hills. Nor did it have substantial evidence that a rehabilitation of Griffin could not feasibly meet the needs of the district. According to the EIR, restoring the Griffin House is infeasible because it would be too expensive, is physically impractical and would not centralize district administrative functions. Restoration was estimated at $4.7 million -- five times more than constructing new administrative offices, a community center and training buildings.

Friends supporter Jonathan Baer reports, "Now the challenge is to get the district to take a serious look at restoring GH - they can redo the EIR and, if the numbers justify it, tear it down.Law suit Background

The 8,947-square-foot Craftsman-style home was built for Del Monte Packing Co. owner Willard Griffin, who donated it and the 98-acre estate that became the Foothill campus to the district in the 1960s. It was designed by Frank Delos Wolfe and Charles MacKenzie and influenced the design of buildings at the college. Friends of the Griffin House raised $100,000 a decade ago to keep it from deteriorating further, but efforts to to raise restoration sufficient funds have failed, as did a recent public drive to find a private partner or foundation to get involved. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
_{Updated June 2006}

Babe’s Muffler
The city landmark, Babe, is being threatened with losing its home. The building which Babe stands in front of, Babe’s Muffler on The Alameda, is being proposed for demolition. A site plan to build housing is working its way through the city planning process. The building, unfortunately, is not a landmark, only Babe. Put your thinking cap on and try to come up with a creative solution for Babe’s future in case he loses his present residence.
_{Updated June 2006}

Montgomery Hotel
At the February Historic Landmarks Commission meeting the Commission forwarded a recommendation to the Mayor and the State Historic Preservation Officer supporting the nomination of the Montgomery Hotel to the National Register of Historic Places. Although the hotel has been relocated, it still qualifies because of its architectural importance. Yay!
_{Updated March 2006}

Coyote Valley Specific Plan (CVSP)
An overview of the CVSP was presented to the Historic Landmarks Commissioners at their retreat in January. It is anticipated that the NOP for the Draft Environmental Impact Report will be circulated in May. The CVSP vision for the historic resources in Coyote Valley is to create a “hamlet” of the identified significant historic buildings. This scenario will require moving some of the resources.
_{Updated March
2006}

Pellier Park
The revised plan for Pellier Park was presented to the community at a meeting on February 2. After much reworking, the Pellier Park subcommittee recommended support of the proposed plan. The park will consist of small lawn areas, prune-bearing fruit trees, grape vines and decomposed granite paths. The plaques from the demolished park will be re-installed in the new park. When Julian Street is realigned, additional land will be added to the park. The next steps for the plan are to go to the Historic Landmarks Commission and Park and Recreation Commission for recommendations, and then back to the community if the commissions make changes to the plan presented to them.
_{Updated March 2006}