After years on the back burner, Paraiso Hot Springs development proposal is again seeking approval.

They say it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. But it’s taken almost 15 years since demolishing nine historic cottages without a permit for a Pennsylvania developer to officially ask for forgiveness.

In 2003, Thompson Holdings LLC tore down 12 cottages, nine of them deemed historic, at the Paraiso Springs Resort in the Santa Lucia foothills west of Soledad. On July 12, the Monterey County Historic Resources Review Board is set to vote on “after-the-fact” permission to do so, an essential step for Thompson to proceed with plans for a resort including a 103-room hotel, 77 timeshares, a visitor center and a spa.

History at the hot springs goes back to well before the 20th century, when it became a luxury resort and reportedly drew guests like sugar-beet scion Claus Spreckels and President James Buchanan. It was also a destination for Franciscan missionaries, and before them, the indigenous Chumash people.

At a Historic Resources Review Board hearing in 2013, attorney Tony Lombardo, representing the owner-developer, told how his client came to demolish the cottages: A man on his honeymoon walked onto a cottage porch and fell through the railing. Lombardo said Paraiso’s insurance carrier paid out $300,000 to him, and also told the company to demolish the dated cottages – or lose coverage.

The company bought the 235-acre property for $3.9 million in 1999, then closed it after the honeymooner incident and unpermitted demolition, which prompted county officials to issue a stop-work order.

The HRRB doesn’t make a final determination, but makes a recommendation to the county Planning Commission. County planner Mike Novo expects they’ll recommend approval, but may tweak the mitigation (as proposed, it’s a $10,000 contribution to the Monterey County Historical Society for an interpretive historical exhibit).

“The structures are gone, so what can you do?” Novo says. “If you recommend denial, all you’re doing is not allowing them to get a permit for what they’ve already done.”