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Palo Alto Historic Resources Board adopts new preservation awards bylaw, sets review process for 159 projects
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Summary
The board unanimously adopted a bylaw establishing a city preservation awards program and directed staff to split a 159-project list from the last decade among board members for review; categories and final award selections will be decided at a December follow-up.
The Palo Alto Historic Resources Board voted unanimously to adopt a new bylaw creating a city preservation awards program and moved to begin review of 159 potential award candidates drawn from the past 10 years of projects. The action, adopted as Article 8 of the board’s bylaws, passed on a 5-0 roll call.
The board adopted the bylaw to formally add three sections setting the awards’ purpose, evaluation criteria and presentation process. City staff told the board that the awards would operate on a five-year cycle, with winners for 2025 to be recognized in May 2026 to align with National Preservation Month.
Steven, a city planning staff member leading the agenda item, told the board the project list originally identified about 54 entries, briefly ballooned to roughly 440 when building-permit data were included, and then was pared to 159 after staff removed duplicate addresses and interior-only or non-historic accessory work. "We reduced that down to a 159," Steven said, describing the screening steps and promising staff would verify permit histories where board members had specific questions.
Board members debated bylaw wording and eligibility rules before the vote. One member urged changing the draft’s phrasing from "winning projects" to "awarded projects," saying "it's not really a contest." Members also recommended adjusting a clause to read that projects must be "in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior standards," language staff agreed to incorporate as part of final drafting.
After adopting Article 8, the board turned immediately to how it would evaluate the 159-record list. Members discussed award categories for residential and commercial work and suggested lenses such as preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, additions/ADUs and adaptive reuse for commercial projects. Several members argued for a "small projects" category to acknowledge modest but impactful efforts such as sensitive repainting, reroofing or window replacement.
To make the review manageable, the board voted to direct city staff to split the 159 projects into roughly 30–31 items per board member, organized by geography or street clusters, and to check conflict-of-interest maps before assignment. "I'll be looking at the conflict of interest maps," Steven said, describing staff’s plan to avoid assigning projects tied to board members' residences. The board approved that motion unanimously and asked staff to return with narrowed lists and recommended categories at the December meeting.
The board also approved minutes from prior meetings (Sept. 11 and Oct. 9) with a correction noted for the Oct. 9 minutes that mischaracterized an applicant's downgrade request as an "upgrade." Chair Roman adjourned the meeting after completing the agenda.
Next steps: staff will (1) divide and distribute the shortened project lists to individual board members for review under the agreed categories and (2) return to the Historic Resources Board in December for deliberation and candidate selection ahead of awards planned for May 2026.
