APPENDIX 4.4 Cultural Resources Assessment Report CULTURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT REPORT
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APPENDIX 4.4 Cultural Resources Assessment Report CULTURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT REPORT SANTA CLARA SQUARE: RESIDENTIAL/MIXED USE PARCELS PROJECT CITY OF SANTA CLARA, SANTA CLARA COUNTY FOR IRVINE COMPANY 690 N. McCarthy Boulevard STE 100 Milpitas, CA 95035 ATTN: Carlene Matchniff Vice President, Project Management Apartment Development BY BASIN RESEARCH ASSOCIATES 1933 Davis Street, Suite 210 San Leandro, CA 94577 JUNE 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 2.0 LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 1-2 2.1 LOCATION 1 2.2 DESCRIPTION 1-2 2.3 AREA OF POTENTIAL EFFECTS (APE) 2 3.0 REGULATORY CONTEXT 2-5 3.1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA 2-4 3.2 CITY OF SANTA CLARA 4-5 4.0 METHODOLOGY 5-6 5.0 BACKGROUND CONTEXT 6-16 5.1 NATIVE AMERICAN - Prehistoric 7-10 5.2 NATIVE AMERICAN - Ethnographic 10-11 5.3 HISTORIC ERA 11-15 5.3A Hispanic Period 12 5.3B American Period 12-15 5.4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SENSITIVITY 15-16 6.0 PRE-FIELD IDENTIFICATION EFFORT 16-17 6.1 RECORDS SEARCH RESULTS 16 6.2 COMPLIANCE REPORTS 16-17 6.3 LISTED HISTORIC PROPERTIES 17 7.0 INDIVIDUALS, GROUP AND AGENCY PARTICIPATION 17 8.0 ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD INVENTORY 17 9.0 FINDINGS 18 10.0 CULTURAL RESOURCE IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES 18-21 10.1 DEFINITION OF IMPACTS 18-20 10.2 MITIGATION MEASURES 20-21 11.0 REFERENCES CITED AND CONSULTED 22-34 TABLE OF CONTENTS, con't ATTACHMENTS FIGURES FIGURE 1 General Project Location FIGURE 2 Project Location (USGS Milpitas, Calif. 1980 and San Jose West, Calif. 1980) FIGURE 3 Aerial View of Project Area (Google Earth) FIGURE 4 Santa Clara Square Existing Conditions (3/2/2015) FIGURE 5 Project Area - Quaternary Deposits (USGS Milpitas, Calif. 1980 and San Jose West, Calif. 1980; Witter et al. 2006) CORRESPONDENCE LETTER REQUEST TO NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE COMMISSION LETTER NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE COMMISSION RESPONSE LETTERS REQUEST TO NATIVE AMERICANS IDENTIFIED BY NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE COMMISSION MEMO RECORD OF NATIVE AMERICAN CONTACTS CHRIS/NWIC SEARCH RESULTS (No Confidential Information Included) SEARCH 1 File No. 13-1113 dated 2/04/2014 SEARCH 2 File No. 14-0433 dated 11/05/2014 1.0 INTRODUCTION This Cultural Resources Assessment Report (CRAR) for the proposed Santa Clara Square: Residential/Mixed Use Parcels Project (Project) located within the City of Santa Clara, Santa Clara County provides the results of a records search conducted by the California Historical Resources Information System, Northwest Information Center (CHRIS/NWIC); a limited literature review; Native American Heritage Commission consultation; a field review; and, a discussion of potential impacts and proposed mitigation measures. The intent of the CRAR was to determine if significant cultural resources under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) could be affected by the proposed project. 2.0 LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 2.1 LOCATION [Figs. 1-3] The Irvine Company plans to redevelop an approximately 33 acre project site known as the Santa Clara Square: Residential/Mixed Use Parcels Project is located south of U.S. Highway 101 between Bowers Avenue on the west, the San Tomas Creek Trail on the east and is north of the Central Expressway, City of Santa Clara, Santa Clara County (United States Geological Survey [hereafter USGS], Milpitas, Calif. 1980, 7.5' quadrangle topographic map, T 6S R 1W, part Section 28). The project site consists of various parcels bisected by Scott Boulevard. The three parcels in the northern portion include the future Main Street on the west (to be constructed), Augustine Drive on the north, Montgomery Drive and part of Octavius Drive on the east along with a portion of the San Tomas Creek Trail [Fig. 4]. Coronado Drive and an existing office property are included in the parcel south of Scott Boulevard [Fig. 4]. The 2010-2015 Land Use Diagram in the City of Santa Clara 2010-2035 General Plan designated the project site Light Industrial in Phase I: 2010-2015 and Phase II: 2015-2023, and High Density Residential in Phase III: 2023-2035. The construction of the proposed project will implement Phase III of the City of Santa Clara 2010-2035 General Plan within the Central Expressway Focus Area (SC/PD 2010:5-21, Fig. 5.2-1, 5-23, Fig. 5.2-3, 2010:5-43, Fig. 5.4-1). The project area comprises five development parcels with three apartment construction phases: Apartment Phase 1 - bounded by Augustine Drive on the north, Montgomery Drive on the east and Scott Boulevard on the south. This phase is adjacent to the east side of southern portion of the Augustine-Bowers Office Park Project (SC/PD 2009). Apartment Phase 2 - bounded by Augustine Drive on the north, Octavius Drive on the east, Scott Boulevard on the south and Montgomery Drive on the west. Apartment Phase 3 - bounded by Office 3 on the north, San Tomas Creek Trail on the east, Scott Boulevard on the south and Octavius Drive on the west. Apartment Phase 3A - bounded by Scott Boulevard on the north, San Tomas Creek Trail on the east, and business parks on the south and west. 2.2 DESCRIPTION The proposed Santa Clara Square: Residential/Mixed Use Parcels Project intends to compliment the adjacent office campus to the north and retail properties to the west by building an integrated, 2 walkable, live/work/play community. The project plans to demolish existing buildings within the approximately 33 acre project site. Construction of the infill, mixed-used development project would result in approximately 1,800 apartment homes, 40,000 gross square feet (gsf) retail space, 4,500 gsf leasing space and 38,000 gsf amenity space. Project site components include: dining for the residents and employees of Santa Clara Square as well as the community at large, related parking for residents, guests and overflow retail; infrastructure improvements (i.e., sewer, water and storm drainage); and, an open space and park system with access to the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail. 2.3 AREA OF POTENTIAL EFFECTS (APE) The Area of Potential Effects (APE) includes all areas where direct or indirect impacts may occur within the four development parcels. The horizontal and vertical Area of Potential Effects (APE) of the proposed project site consists of the maximum area of surface and subsurface disturbance with anticipated excavation depths of at least ten feet below the present ground surface depending on the locations of existing and project-related utilities. Construction staging areas and temporary construction work spaces (including equipment, laydown of materials and storage of excavated materials) are anticipated and would occur within the project site. The use of these areas will not result in any subsurface impacts. 3.0 REGULATORY CONTEXT Cultural resources include prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, districts, and objects; standing historic structures, buildings, districts, and objects; and locations of important historic events or sites of traditional and/or cultural importance to various groups. The analysis of cultural resources can provide valuable information on the cultural heritage of both local and regional populations. Cultural resources may be determined significant or potentially significant in terms of national, state, or local criteria either individually or in combination. Resource evaluation criteria are determined by the compliance requirements of a specific project. 3.1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA This report has been prepared to meet applicable California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Historic Preservation Goals and Policies of the City of Santa Clara’s General Plan for historic properties (cultural resources) which require the identification and evaluation of cultural resources that could be affected by the project. The California Register of Historical Resources (Public Resources Code Section 5024.1) is a listing of those properties that are to be protected from substantial adverse change, and it includes properties that are listed, or have been formally determined to be eligible for listing in, the National Register of Historic Places, State Historical Landmarks, and eligible Points of Historical Interest. A historical resource may be listed in the California Register of Historical Resources if it meets one or more of the following criteria: 3 It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional history, or the cultural heritage of California or the United States; It is associated with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national history; It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction, or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic values; or, It has yielded or has the potential to yield information important in the prehistory or history of the local area, California, or the nation. Historical Resources Public Resources Code Section 21084.1 stipulates that any resource listed in, or eligible for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources, is presumed to be historically or culturally significant. Resources listed in a local historic register or deemed significant in a historical resource survey (as provided under Public Resources Code Section 5024.1g) are presumed historically or culturally significant unless the preponderance of evidence demonstrates they are not. A resource that is not listed in or determined to be eligible for listing in the Public Resources Code, not included in a local register or historic resources, or not deemed significant in a historical resource survey may nonetheless be historically significant (Public Resources Code Section 21084.1). This provision is intended to give the Lead Agency discretion to determine that a resource of historic significance exists where none had been identified before and to apply the requirements of Public Resources Code Section 21084.1 to properties that have not previously been formally recognized as historic.