3A Public Hearing 2008 1201 - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 25, 2008 Mayor Tony Santos City of San Leandro 835 E 14'' Street San Leandro, CA 94577 Dear Mayor: RE: Historic Commissioners Committee RECEIVED N 0 V 12 RECD In June of 2004 my husband and I (Earl & Danice Friend) purchased the historic Daniel Best house. This has been quite a learning experience regarding the steps that we are required to take when making any exterior changes on the property. Which, we have attempted to do with cooperation from the Historic Commissioners for the most part. The first encounter was when I filed an application for the Mills ACT which was denied because according to Mr. David Bohne the Mills ACT does not include maintenance of the property. However, the following year I found the paper work from when we purchased our home referencing the Mills ACT that included maintenance of the property. I then wrote a letter to Mr. Bohne who took offense to the letter (copy is enclosed # 1) thus had Mr. Elmer Penaranda present during our meeting in his office to discuss the matter. Mr. Bohne, would not review RESOLUTION NO. 2004-063 (copy enclosed #2) that is signed by the City Clerk. Instead Mr. Bohne gave me an unofficial letter with no signature titled Historic Preservation Fund Policy Statement (copy enclosed #3). Which he stated does not include maintenance work. In addition Mr. Bohne informed me I could fill out another application for the Mills ACT but he would not approve it. There have been several times that I along with Mr. Bruce Bolinger (Project Designer) have met with the Historic Commissioners. The fust of several meetings and phone calls was regarding the Gardener's cottage conversion to my office. They were quite accommodating including one meeting they did not have us scheduled but listened to our request. In turn I sent both Mr. Bohne and Mr. Penaranda a thank -you card for being so accommodating on such short notice. October's 2007 meeting is when resistance by the Historic Committee members was initially noted and inappropriate comments were made. This project entailed converting the Carriage and Blacksmith's cottages to residential use (rentals). One comment in particular was from Ms. Donna Reed stating "I thought she (referring to me) wanted privacy why would she want to have people living that close to her". In the end they did approve the conversion.