Historic resources board says categories need clearer rules, discusses ordinance update and inventory publishing

Several board members told the Palo Alto Historic Resources Board they want a clearer, more consistent approach to assigning category rankings in the city's historic inventory and requested a plan to update the ordinance and the inventory.

One board member said the John Hudson Thomas building decision highlighted a mismatch between the inventory categories and council outcomes and urged the board to "face up" to the issue with a 12-month plan to realign categories. Another member asked whether the board should press the city's consultant, Page and Turnbull, for clearer definitions; the commenter said council often appears to default to the consultant's conclusions. Planner Switzer and other members responded that Page and Turnbull are intended to be objective evaluators and that council receives both the board's recommendation and the consultant's evaluation.

Board members discussed logistics for updating the public inventory. Members described converting the 2012 inventory to a more detailed database with fields for year built, builder and architect and said they would like a web interface that lets users filter by district, year built or other attributes. Staff noted that drafting or directing ordinance language is a council-directed initiative but said board members may prepare draft language to propose to council. Staff also said the city planned to hire an intern who could assist with consolidating and posting the updated inventory.

The board did not make a formal recommendation on ordinance language during this meeting but agreed to prioritize the inventory update in its work plan and to consider drafting proposed ordinance changes or educational items for future agendas.