Report to the Historical Resources Board
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The City of San Diego Report to the Historical Resources Board DATE ISSUED: March 9, 2017 REPORT NO. HRB-17-022 ATTENTION: Historical Resources Board Agenda of March 23, 2017 SUBJECT: INFORMATION ITEM A – Draft Old Town Community Plan Area Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey, Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study and Historic Preservation Element APPLICANT: City of San Diego Planning Department LOCATION: Old Town Community Planning Area, Council District 3 DESCRIPTION: Review the Draft Old Town Community Plan Area Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey, the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study and the Historic Preservation Element from the Draft Old Town Community Plan Update. No formal action will be taken by the Historical Resources Board. BACKGROUND The City Council authorized the update to the Old Town Community Plan in 2008. The following year, the City entered into a contract with GPA to prepare a Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey (Attachment 1) consisting of a historic context statement identifying the historical themes and property types significant to the development of the Old Town 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 Old Town community that may contain significant historical resources. The information in these documents was used to shape the Historic Preservation Element of the Old Town Community Plan Update (OTCPU), and inform other Plan elements, including Land Use. The first working draft of the Old Town Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey was released in February 2011. That same month, Historic Resources staff presented the draft and the preliminary findings to the Old Town Community Plan Update Advisory Committee, and received some comments and questions (Attachment 2). Staff returned to the Advisory Committee one year later with a revised draft and received only minor comments (Attachment 3). Later that year, in September 2012 Historic Resources staff and GPA presented the draft survey and findings to the Historical Resources Board as an information item (Attachment 5) while the survey was underway. As an information item, no action was taken by the Board; however, comments and questions from the public and Board were welcomed. Following the presentation by staff and GPA, minor comments and questions were received from members of the Board (Attachments 6 and 7). Since 2012, minor revisions and corrections have been made to the Reconnaissance Survey, but no major changes have occurred. The revised draft was published in February 2017. 1222 First Ave, 4th Floor, MS 401 San Diego, CA 92101 T (619) 235-5224 sandiego.gov/historic sandiego.gov The Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study (Attachment 7) was first released in March 2012 and was presented to the Old Town Plan Update Advisory Committee over the course of two meetings in March and June of that year. Similar to the Reconnaissance Survey, staff received only minor comments and questions regarding the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study (Attachments 3 and 4). Outreach to the Native American Heritage Commission and consultation with local tribal representatives also occurred, as described in the Study. A Public Review Draft of the OTCPU which included a Historic Preservation Element (HPE) was released in September 2015. A revised draft of the OTCPU was released to the community in mid-February 2017. Given the volume of information and documentation associated with a CPU, staff is providing the HRB with an opportunity to review and become familiar with the Reconnaissance Survey, the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study and the HPE for the OTCPU in advance of the adoption hearing process scheduled for later this year. HISTORIC RESOURCES RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY The Historic Survey prepared by GPA 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. Historic Context The Historic Context Statement presents an overview of the history of the Old Town community, with a specific emphasis on describing the historic themes and patterns that have contributed to the community’s physical development. It presents the history of the community’s built environment from the Spanish Period to the present in order to support and guide identification and evaluation of historic properties throughout the community, as well as to inform future planning decisions. It is important to note that the Reconnaissance Survey is intended only to address extant built environment resources. Archaeological resources are addressed in the Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study. The following periods and themes were identified in the Historic Context: . Spanish Period (1769-1821) . Mexican Period (1821-1846) . American Period (1846-1970) Theme: American Transition Period (1846-1872) Theme: Early American Development and Industrialization (1873-1929) Theme: Automobile, Early Tourism and Preservation in Old Town Theme: Great Depression and World War II (1930-1945) Theme: Post World War II (1946-1970) Detailed Reconnaissance Survey A reconnaissance-level survey, as defined by the National Park Service, is a “once over lightly” inspection of an area. In contrast, an intensive-level survey includes a detailed inspection of the survey area in order to identify “precisely and completely” all historic resources in an area. The Reconnaissance Survey for the OTCPU is more detailed than a reconnaissance-level survey, but without the degree of documentation required for an intensive-level survey. The purpose of this survey is to identify potentially historic properties within the community plan area for consideration in the community plan update process and for possible future designation. - 2 - Fieldwork for the Old Town Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey began in 2010 and was completed by GPA, with oversight from the City’s historical resources staff. GPA conducted a detailed, property-by- property inspection of the entire community plan area, evaluating all built resources constructed prior to 1970 – a total of 143 properties - for potential eligibility to the National, State and local registers. All properties identified as potentially significant – either as an individual site or as a feature of a potential historic district, were documented and a California Historic Resource Status Code was assigned to each property. Public outreach began early in the process and has been ongoing. Information received during the preparation of the Reconnaissance Survey was considered and incorporated as appropriate into the results and recommendations of the survey. Based upon the historic context statement and the reconnaissance-level survey, GPA and the City of San Diego identified 21 properties that may be eligible for individual listing. Reflecting a mixture of uses, the majority of these resources relate to the themes Early American Development and Industrialization (1873-1929) and Automobile, Early Tourism and Preservation in Old Town, with 8 properties identified for each theme. The Reconnaissance Survey identified one significant concentration of resources which may be eligible as a potential historic district. Located north of Juan Street and east of the Presidio Hills Golf Course, the George Marston Potential Historic District is an intact grouping of 25 residential properties (24 contributing and 1 non-contributing) constructed between 1938 and 1955 in the Minimal Traditional and Ranch styles. The potential district appears eligible under HRB Criterion C related to the themes under the Great Depression and World War II and Post-World War II, as outlined in the context statement. The potential district is named after George Marston, who was responsible for the creation of the unnamed subdivision. The appropriate naming of the district will be fully examined and established consistent with the historic resource naming policy once the district is intensively surveyed and its history and possible significance is better understood. The Reconnaissance Survey did not find and potential Multiple Property Listings (MPLs) present in the Old Town community. However, should a City-wide context and MPL ever be developed for a resource type present in the Old Town community, those properties could certainly be evaluated within that City-wide MPL. PREHISTORIC CULTURAL RESOURCES STUDY The City contracted with AECOM to prepare a constraints analysis and cultural resources sensitivity analysis for prehistoric resources in support of the community plan update for the community of Old Town. The Prehistoric Cultural Resources Study provides a discussion of the environmental and cultural setting; defines archaeological and tribal cultural resources; summarizes the results of archival research and outreach to the Native American Heritage Commission and local tribal representatives; analyzes the cultural sensitivity levels within the community; and provides recommendations to best address archaeological and tribal cultural resources in the Old Town Community. The Prehistoric