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Historic Resources Board votes to post Oakland "RehabRight" guide to Salinas website, forms subcommittee
Summary
The Salinas Historic Resources Board voted to add the City of Oakland’s RehabRight home rehabilitation guide as an on-line resource and created a subcommittee to evaluate additional local guidance and similar guides for the public.
The Salinas Historic Resources Board voted to add the City of Oakland’s RehabRight home rehabilitation guide to the city’s website and formed a subcommittee to develop Salinas-specific guidance.
Board members approved a motion to post the Oakland guide after staff confirmed the City of Oakland had no objection to Salinas linking to or paraphrasing the guide, provided Salinas credits Oakland on the website. "They have no problem and are actually happy that we're interested in using it," Planning Manager Grant Leonard said, referring to prior contact with Oakland staff.
The board framed the posting as a resource link rather than formal adoption of policy. "So just to clarify, we wouldn't be adopting these, but we can certainly add it to our website as a resource," Leonard said. Board members emphasized that posting the guide is an immediate, practical step while a longer effort to produce a Salinas-specific guide would follow.
During discussion, members praised RehabRight’s visual examples, “do-it-yourself” tips and style-identification sections, and compared it to other existing local guides (Spreckels, Carmel, Monterey County) and national standards. Former chair Larry Hirahara called it “a great resource” and recommended including it on the HRB web page. Several members said the guide would fill an immediate information gap for homeowners who lack local instruction on maintaining historic properties.
The board agreed to create a subcommittee to evaluate RehabRight alongside other guides and to draft recommendations for future action. Board member Salinas agreed to lead the subcommittee, joined by member Michael Masgay and two volunteer architects, with the group to review additional resources (including Page & Turnbull survey outputs) and report back to the board.
Votes at a glance: the board approved (1) the minutes from the June meeting (motion passed, one abstention), (2) the annual election of Michael Masgay as chair and Eloise Shim as vice chair (motion passed unanimously), and (3) the motion to post the RehabRight guide to the city website (motion passed unanimously).
The posting was described repeatedly as a recommendation to add an external resource link rather than creation of a binding local standard; the board said it would review and potentially develop a separate, Salinas-focused guide over a longer timeline.
The board said it would revisit the topic at a future meeting to consider additional guides and the subcommittee’s recommendations.
