Saratoga's Heritage Preservation Commission returns Tuesday to a plaque marking the former Paul Masson Champagne Cellars and to a question its members raised in August: how much work owners of historic-listed buildings can do without the commission seeing it first.
The commission meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the Linda Callon Conference Room at City Hall, 13777 Fruitvale Ave., with remote viewing on Zoom.
A marker for the Champagne Cellars
At the August 25 meeting, the Saratoga Historical Foundation presented proposed wording and vendor quotes for a point-of-interest marker, and asked that it stress the architectural significance of the building that once stood there, according to the draft minutes. Commissioners wanted the text to say more about Masson himself and his vineyard.
Commissioner Bill Cooper suggested putting the plaque in the north end of Bellgrove Park, where a visitor would face the spot the building would occupy if it were still standing. Cooper and Commissioner Margarete Minar took on the rewrite and are scheduled to report Tuesday.
Cooper and Commissioner Chen Xie will also update the panel on interpretive signs for the Bellicitti Barn. In August, members asked for shorter text and said they would like the barn opened more to the public; staff told them any use of the property goes through Public Works and that spending would likely need approval in the capital improvement budget.
Maintenance versus alteration
Staff plans to share its interpretation of the code section that governs ordinary maintenance and repair, Section 13-25.020. In August, commissioners said properties on the city's Heritage Resource Inventory had been repainted or altered without commission review, and asked how the city could enforce its preservation code and village design standards.
Staff said then it would check with the city attorney on whether exterior paint changes need approval.