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Neighbors urge enforcement after repainting at 334 Garcia Street
Summary
Residents told the Historic Districts Review Board that absentee owners repainted the century-old 'Pink House' at 334 Garcia Street in defiance of stop-work orders; neighbors asked the city to require restoration to the historic pink color and to enforce penalties for working through red tags.
Public commenters urged the Historic Districts Review Board to enforce restoration of a historic house at 334 Garcia Street after what several speakers called unauthorized and deliberate repainting.
Todd Anthony, who said he lives on the 300 block of Garcia Street, told the board that the property’s owners worked through a stop‑work order and repainted the building from pink with brown trim to a dark brown with bright white trim. “The violation at 334 Garcia Street erased 100 years of history,” Anthony said, asking the board to mandate immediate restoration to the original pink color and to set a precedent for enforcement.
Neighbors described the house as a locally known landmark. Raymond Herrera and John Penn Lafarge recounted the house’s history and its architectural and cultural significance to the neighborhood. Jennifer Berkeley read a decades‑old survey noting the building’s architectural importance and urged preservation.
Online commenter Stephanie Benonato asked staff to look at other visible changes in the historic zone, including large solar panels and an exposed mini‑split unit, and urged consistent enforcement of visual compatibility standards.
City staff told the board that staff had issued red tags for unpermitted work at the property, and that staff has directed the contractor and owner to return the color to the pink recorded in the inventory. The board did not take a separate enforcement vote at this meeting, but staff said they were following up on the red‑tag violation and would report back.
The board’s procedural discussion emphasized that owners may not remove, alter, or demolish significant features without prior approval, and that enforcement with the building division and additional staff action was appropriate when work occurs without permits.
