Heritage Preservation Board · meeting of Thursday, Oct 23
At 295 Magnolia, a 532-square-foot awning wins board blessing — with a color condition
The owner of the Backstage Wine building at 295 Magnolia Avenue asked the Heritage Preservation Board to sign off on a permanent awning of roughly 532 square feet over the front patio, replacing the temporary pop-up canopy that's been standing in for it. The building sits inside the Downtown Historic District, though the structure itself is not on the city's historic inventory.
“As long as it's not like the current easy-up white tent that's such a glaring white color that they have now.”— Heritage Preservation Board member, on the color condition
Staff asked the board to take public comment and forward a recommendation of approval to the Planning Commission. Staff noted the awning's lowest point would sit 8 feet 8 inches above grade, and that the fire department is still reviewing the fabric for fire-code compliance.
Board members were untroubled by the structure and focused almost entirely on color. "As long as it's not like the current easy-up white tent that's such a glaring white color that they have now," one member said. Another allowed that the existing setup "is not something that catches my eye going up and down the road... many times. Now if it were some garish color, that would be a different story" — a worry a colleague summarized as "fuchsia pink or something."
The board voted 3-0 to recommend approval, conditioned on the awning being a muted, earth-toned color compatible with surrounding buildings. The recommendation now goes to the Planning Commission.
Heritage Preservation Board · meeting of Thursday, Oct 23
Five more history markers move ahead; a Coast Miwok acknowledgment stalls out
Following the first five installed markers, board member Marilyn presented draft text and photos for five new historical markers — covering Baltimore Canyon Park, a boardwalk/houseboat community, Piper Park, the Bon Air Hotel and art colony on Corte Madera Creek, and the Greenbrae brickyard and quarry site. The board reached consensus, with no formal vote, to proceed with fabricator KBO at the same price as the first batch, about $20,595.51.
“I'm backing off this one big time. I'm not getting into this at all — they're getting into the tribes.”— Heritage Preservation Board member, on the stalled Coast Miwok signage
Money would come from two pockets: roughly $23,000 left in the city's marker account and the $26,496.37 Larkspur History Fund held by the Larkspur Community Foundation, started by Helen Highcamp. Staff said the spending falls within the City Manager's authority and no board motion was needed, but suggested "it may be cleaner to have KBO invoice two separate amounts to the two entities," and will check whether the City Council must formally accept the foundation gift.
Details still to work out: placement coordination with Public Works over buried utilities, BCDC review for the Remillard shoreline site, and photo clarity. One member asked for a dot or arrow on the shoreline image, "since there's no building, just shoreline." A quote in one draft drew praise — "I love that. The quote really snags your interest right there." Marilyn reported the archives turned up no photo the city has permission to use from the 1971 filming of <i>Dirty Harry</i> at what is now Larkspur Landing; a member suggested a one-line mention plus a QR code linking to a map and to pages of "Larkspur Past and Present" online.
A separate effort fared worse. A board member who had been pursuing signage acknowledging Coast Miwok history reported running into conflicting claims over who speaks for the tribe's history, between a representative named Jason Desler and a contact at the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. "He said, 'Do you want to put up the true history?' And I thought, uh oh," the member recounted, before concluding: "I'm backing off this one big time." A colleague noted a bronze marker placed in 1972 near the old Lucky Shopping Center already acknowledges the Coast Miwok, but has tarnished green and is unreadable, and asked whether Public Works could clean it.