Salinas >> A proposed Paraiso Hot Springs resort would be required to include reconstruction of three of the nine historic Victorian visitor cottages demolished without permission nearly 15 years ago by the current developer if the county’s Historic Resources Review Board has its way.

By a unanimous vote, the board agreed to recommend to the county Planning Commission that an after-the-fact demolition permit for the cottages, and any subsequent project approvals for the massive resort, be contingent on building three of the most historically significant cottages along with other conditions of approval.

Last month, the board asked Paraiso developer Thompson Holdings Inc. to voluntarily agree to reconstruct some of the cottages. The developer declined to do so in a letter to the board last week from attorney Anthony Lombardo, claiming the cottages had lost much of their historical integrity before being demolished in 2003.

Board member Kellie Morgantini said the intent of requiring the cottages to be rebuilt, despite the fact they will not be considered historic, is not to sanction the developer for the demolition.

“This is not to punish, but to somehow preserve the historic idea of the area for the public,” Morgantini said.

In addition to rebuilding the cottages, the developer would be required to provide an interpretive trail system on the Paraiso site, along with a historical context statement. The developer would already be required under a project environmental impact report to establish a digital historical display on the site and online as part of a series of mitigations.

The board did not agree to recommend downsizing of the project as called for by Landwatch, which argued the new resort should better reflect the historic size of the previous resort.

The proposed project calls for removing 18 more non-historic structures and 185 protected oak trees to build a 103-room hotel, restaurants, meeting and conference rooms, and 77 timeshare units, along with a “hamlet” including a day spa, stores, artists studios, and other amenities, as well as a spa and fitness center, and a vineyard and wine pavilion on the 235-acre site in the hills above the Salinas Valley near Soledad and Greenfield.

Jim Johnson can be reached at 831-726-4348.