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The City of San Diego Report to the Historical Resources Board DATE ISSUED: March 8, 2018 REPORT NO. HRB 18-013 ATTENTION: Historical Resources Board Agenda of March 22, 2018 SUBJECT: ITEM #5 – Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Update APPLICANT: City of San Diego LOCATION: Midway-Pacific Highway Community, Council District 2 DESCRIPTION: Review and consider the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Area Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey (Reconnaissance Survey); the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study (Cultural Resources Study); the Historic Preservation Element of the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan update (HPE); and the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) related to Cultural/Historical Resources for the purposes of making a Recommendation on the adoption of the Reconnaissance Survey, Cultural Resources Study, HPE, and the PEIR to the City Council. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Recommend to the City Council adoption of the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Area Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey (Reconnaissance Survey); the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study (Cultural Resources Study); the Historic Preservation Element of the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan update (HPE); and the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) related to Cultural/Historical Resources. BACKGROUND The City Council authorized the update to the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan in 2008. The following year, the City entered into a contract with GPA to prepare a Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey consisting of a historic context statement identifying the historical themes and property types significant to the development of the Midway-Pacific Highway community, and a survey report documenting properties which may associated with those themes in an important way. The information in the Reconnaissance Survey, along with the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study (AECOM 2015) was used to identify locations in the Midway-Pacific Highway community that may contain significant historical resources. The information in these documents was used to shape the Historic Preservation Element of the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Update (MPHCPU); inform other Plan elements, including Land Use; and prepare the Historical and Tribal Cultural Resources section of the PEIR. 9485 Aero Drive, MS 413 San Diego, CA 92123 T (619) 235-5224 sandiego.gov/historicplanning sandiego.gov The Reconnaissance Survey, Cultural Resources Study and HPE were presented to the Historical Resources Board as an Information Item in February of 2017. Information presented included an overview of the MPHCPU process to date, the results of the Reconnaissance Survey and Cultural Resources Study, and an overview of the goals and policies of the HPE. The Staff Report and meeting audio from the February 2017 meeting are included as Attachments 1 and 2, respectively. At the meeting, the Board was supportive of the documents presented, with only minor comments related to formatting, clarifications, and minor changes to language. No significant issues were identified for any of the documents reviewed. During public testimony, SOHO commented that a potential historic district or Multiple Property Listing (MPL) should be identified for both aerospace related resources and motor courts. Following the hearing, staff reviewed all comments received and completed edits to the Reconnaissance Survey and the HPE. In regard to the HPE, staff also added a Policy to the “Identification of New Historic Resources” section, HP-2.6, which states, “Evaluate the possibility of a multi-community or Citywide historic context statement and Multiple Property Listing related to the aerospace industry in San Diego.” Staff did not add a policy related to motor courts. While motor courts were historically more common in the plan area, only one extant motor court remains, which has been identified as a potentially significant resource. If the City does pursue a City-wide MPL related to motor courts in the future, Midway-Pacific Highway would certainly fall within the scope of such an effort. The Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Update Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) was posted for public review on December 20, 2017, with public review ending on February 20, 2018. Limited comments were received in regard to the Historical and Tribal Cultural Resources Section. Staff is currently preparing a formal response to comments, which will be incorporated into the Final PEIR. Because the MPHCPU schedule requires HRB review prior to the publishing of the final PEIR, the relevant comment letters received have been included as Attachment 8, and staff responses to those comments are summarized here. In regard to the built environment, the comment letter from SOHO reiterated their comments regarding the aerospace and motor court MPLs. However, the issue of the aerospace MPL was addressed through the additional policy in the HPE, and the motor court MPL was not included for the reasons identified above. The Midway-Pacific Highway and Peninsula planning groups provided very limited comments related to Historical and Tribal Cultural Resources, commenting only that the La Playa Trail should be more prominently included in the update. While the HPE currently addresses the La Playa Trail and the need to coordinate with organizations like the La Playa Trail Association on public outreach and education efforts, staff has added an additional policy to the “Educational Opportunities and Incentives” section of the HPE (HP-3.3) which states, “Explore options to better demarcate, either physically or visually, the La Playa Trail and inform the public of its location and history.” In regard to Tribal Cultural and archaeological resources, the comment letters from the Pala Tribal Historic Preservation Office and the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians note that the planning area is not within the boundaries of the territory that Pala considers its Traditional Use Area (TUA), nor within the Luiseno Aboriginal Territory. The comment letter from the Viejas Tribal Government states that the project area may contain many sacred sites to the Kumeyaay people, and requests that these sacred sites be avoided with adequate buffer zones. The letter also requests that all NEPA/CEQA/NAGPRA laws be followed, and that Viejas be contact immediately in regard to any changes or inadvertent discoveries. All applicable laws will be followed in regard to Tribal Cultural and archaeological resources. Furthermore, for future development projects implemented in accordance with the MPHCPU that could directly affect an archaeological or tribal cultural resource, the mitigation framework in the PEIR provides for a multi- step process to determine (1) the presence of archaeological or tribal cultural resources and (2) the appropriate mitigation for any significant resources that may be impacted by a development activity. This - 2 - includes the requirement for tribal consultation in accordance with AB 52 once a potential for impacting a resource has been identified during the earliest stage of the CEQA review process. Lastly, the comment letter from the San Diego County Archaeological Society (SDCAS) noted that the Cultural Resources Study states that the records search were most recently obtained in 2011 and this is in excess of the normal five years threshold for acceptability. However, a supplemental records search was conducted in 2014 to verify that no new sites had been recorded within the MPHCPU area. SDCAS also requested monitoring of any geotechnical testing of the West Point Loma Dump site. Again, the mitigation framework of the PEIR already addresses monitoring requirements for future development projects. Based upon a thorough review of the comments received, the addition of Policy HP-3.3 is the only change to the HPE, and staff finds that no edits to the Historical and Tribal Cultural Resources Section of the PEIR are required in response to public comment. ANALYSIS Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey The Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey prepared by GPA (Attachment 3) provides a project overview, including public outreach efforts; discusses the project methods and survey approach; discusses the criteria used for evaluating properties; provides a historic context addressing the themes significant to development of the plan area and the property types that reflect those significant themes; and identifies potential individual resources and potential historic districts which may be eligible for designation based upon the historic context. The following periods and themes were identified in the Historic Context: • Spanish Period (1769-1822) • Mexican Period (1822-1846) • American Period (1846-1970) • Theme: Transportation Improvements and Early Industrial Development (1882-1914) • Theme: Military, Aerospace, and Related Industrial Development (1901-1953) • Theme: Post War Commercial and Residential Development (1945-1970) Based upon the historic context statement and the reconnaissance-level survey, GPA and the City of San Diego identified 43 properties that may be eligible for individual listing, nearly all of which are non-residential. The vast majority – 36 – of these 43 resources relate to the theme “Post War Commercial and Residential Development (1945-1970). The Reconnaissance Survey did not identify any significant concentration of resources which may be eligible as a potential historic districts. In addition, the Reconnaissance Survey did not find and potential Multiple Property Listings (MPLs)