A house that occupies the same land as the original European settlement of Petaluma will be demolished, probably later this month.
The Beck house in Cedar Grove Park is too dilapidated and has been too modified over the years, stripping it of any historical value, Petaluma planning commissioners conceded this week.
In a unanimous vote, the board, which included two members of the historic preservation committee, approved a demolition permit for developer John Barella, who owns the seven acres nestled between the Petaluma River and the railroad tracks just off Lakeville Street.
"As much I hate to see houses go away, I'm willing to change my opinion on this one," said Terry Kosewic of the preservation committee.
Kosewic earlier had urged other committee members to reassess the age of the house and its potential historical connection to Petaluma's beginnings. Archeological reports in 2002 and 2006 estimated the house was built in the 1930s, but Kosewic and others believed it was older based on design elements and building materials.
A review by architectural historian Kara Brunzell of Napa determined the house was more likely built in the first decade of the 1900s.
"We have pretty good evidence that suggests it was renovated extensively and its square footage roughly doubled in the 1950s," she said. "There's nothing to indicate the house is significant historically.
"Even if we find it was ... it's in very poor condition. It doesn't really have integrity at this point."
The house — named after Chris Beck, for whom a concert arena at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa is named — was occupied until about four years ago. Since then, city officials said, the overgrown seven acres on which it sits has become a squatters' camp.
Several buildings on the land are open to the elements, have mounds of trash inside and out, are strewn with graffiti and garbage, and have trashed appliances inside. Homeless people and others have lived on the land for several years, police said.
Barella, the former North Bay Construction Inc. owner, was ordered by the city last year to clean up the property and protect the Beck house and the Bloom-Tunstall houses from further neglect. Barella blamed his inaction on the city delaying necessary permits.
The Bloom-Tunstall house, built in the 1860s, can't be demolished. It is partially boarded up, but squatters routinely break in, city officials said.
Other derelict structures on the property built after 1945 can be torn down without city permission.
Barella's representative, Vin Smith, said Thursday the Beck house and the others will likely be bulldozed in the next couple of weeks.
"The outcome was what we were hoping for," he said. "John's hoping to get the site cleaned up and secure."
The site has been considered for several housing developments over the years. But access problems have been an obstacle, worsened by the Sonoma-Marin commuter rail agency's plan to close or consolidate private crossings over the tracks.
The crossing at Lakeville Street is Cedar Grove Park's only access point. Without that crossing, used by Clover Stornetta Farms to park its truck trailers, the land is inaccessible.
Smith said no developments are currently planned.
(You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.)
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