Coming Soon...

We've said it once and we'll say it again... Our little town is getting pretty famous! 

Early next month, two of everybody's favorite Saturday Night Live alumni will be in town filming for a major motion picture.  The filming for the Warner Brothers project will be taking place in two residential neighborhoods and in Old Town Monrovia.  There may be a little extra traffic and a little less parking during the first week of October, but, rest assured, the filming will wrap up in less than a week.  And once the movie is released, expect to see some of our downtown businesses prominently featured! 

Here's to the next score or two!

Historic Landmark No. 1
231 North Primrose Avenue

It's hard to believe, but the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) is celebrating it's 20th anniversary. 

On the evening of September 26, 1995 in the City Manager's Conference Room at City Hall, HPC convened it's first meeting.  The agenda included a discussion of meeting procedures, the upcoming work program and the always exciting Brown Act!  

OK, so the Brown Act is not all that exciting, but it is a very important law that every appointed and elected official must be well versed in to ensure transparency in conducting City business. 

That night, the Commission's first order of business was to select a chair and vice-chair for the Commission.  Scott Thomas, and Steve Baker, respectively were unanimously elected.

In 20 years, the Historic Preservation Commission has made very important contributions to the preservation of Monrovia's built environment.  So today we want to thank and acknowledge each of our current and former Historic Preservation Commissioners...all 21 of them.

Steve Baker                           1995-2005                

Donna Baker                          1995-2000, 2002-2015        

Kent Cornwall                         1995-2000

Anne McIntosh                       1995-2004

John Petrovich                        1995-2001

Tim Shea                               1995-2015

Scott Thomas                         1995-2001

Jimi Hendrix                           2001-                          

Coulter Winn                          2001-2008                            

Peter Fisk                               2002-2005                     

Penny Zuk                              2004-                           

Hany Malak                            2005-2007    

Marianne Lee                          2005-                                      

Scott Austin                            2007-2011              

Javier Gonzalez-Camarillo        2008-2014                     

David Palomares                     2011-2013

Sergio Jimenez                       2013-                                

Karen Bullis                            2014-                               

Nancy Burke                           2015-                                      

Mark Houston                         2015-   

Dan Ryan                               2015-  

                

Get Ready for Your Closeup, Monrovia!

Our little town in the foothills is getting to be pretty well known and the latest evidence of that comes in the form of reality television!  That's right, a property right here in Monrovia is going to be featured on HGTV's brand-new show "Vintage Flip!"  Not only that, but two of the Community Development Department's staff is going to be featured on the show.  Our planners are definitely multi-talented!

"Vintage Flip" follows a couple who enjoy buying, restoring, and reselling vintage homes.  As some of you may know, Monrovia's historic housing stock is pretty special and historic preservation has been an important component in the planning of this community for over a quarter century.  This community's passion for vintage homes was one of the driving factors behind our current and ongoing Neighborhood Compatibility Study. 

When "Vintage Flip" approached the City about this 1924 Spanish-style home in need of a little TLC, we thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to showcase our preservation efforts (not to mention our beautiful City and friendly staff!).  This home has terrific bones - just check out these cool original windows!  We kind of have a thing for windows around here!

To walk the vintage flippers through the process, planning staff helped them look at the history of the home and the development in the community.  Then, to offer design advice on site, Planners went "on location" to consult on the project.  By working collaboratively with staff, the vintage flippers were able to come up with a restoration plan that will bring this home back to it's former glory!

So, keep your eyes open for "Vintage Flip", Monrovia!  In the meantime, we'll be ready for our closeup, Mr. DeMille!

DRC Returns with a Vengence!

Have you ever wondered what happens when DRC "goes dark" for a meeting? 

Well, we now have the answer - the September 2nd meeting was jam-packed!  That's right, loyal readers, after a brief hiatus, DRC returned on September 2, 2015 with a whopping 15 items (though one was withdrawn).  And now, we will take you through each one of those items in minute detail.  Get comfortable, this could take a while.  Kidding!  That would be insane, right?  How about we give you a quick snapshot of the meeting?

On Wednesday, the DRC reviewed and approved (or recommended approval):

A Fence on Madeline
An Addition on Primrose
Some Beer and Wine on Myrtle (samples not included)
A College on Royal Oaks
A Wine Retailer/Restaurant on Colorado
Four Units on Mayflower
Some Gymnasts on Enterprise (well, not the actual gymnasts)
A Day Care on Alta Vista
A New Home on Walnut
A New Mausoleum at the Cemetery
A House on Norumbega (with lovely wood siding!)
A Sign on Myrtle
A Sign on Foothill
A New Façade on Colorado

And on top of getting all of that squared away, we think we may have just invented a new form of poetry!  That's the DRC for you - they are quite the multitaskers.

For more details on the meeting, the agenda can be found here.

Oh, for our new reader...Development Review Committee...D-R-C.