Existing Conditions
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CHAPTER 2 EXISTING CONDITIONS DRAFT MAY 2012 Chapter 2 | EXISTING CONDITIONS CHAPTER 2: EXISTING CONDITIONS This chapter summarizes existing land uses and facilities, significant resource values, local and regional plans, and State Parks systemwide plans that influence the management, operations, and visitor experiences in Old Sacramento State Historic Park (OSSHP). This information provides the baseline on which implementation of the General Plan will be performed and also presents the environmental setting for environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), where applicable. 2.1 REGIONAL LAND USES AND FACILITIES OSSHP is influenced by its location within the Sacramento metropolitan area, by the surrounding Downtown Central Business District, and by its position within both the State Parks’ Capital District State Museums and Historic Parks (Capital District) and the 28‐acre Old Sacramento Historic District (Old Sacramento). 2.1.1 REGIONAL LAND USES OSSHP is an important historic, cultural, and recreational resource, preserving one of the oldest areas in the City of Sacramento (City) and is a contiguous part of greater Old Sacramento, a national and state historic landmark district. Today, Old Sacramento represents the commercial scenes from the mid‐ to late‐19th century, spanning the Gold Rush and Transcontinental Railroad era. It is a popular tourist destination, providing shopping, dining, and entertainment experiences; museums, historic attractions, and living history programs; and special events that give visitors a glimpse of Sacramento’s rich and vibrant past. As part of the Downtown Sacramento Central Business District, commercial, entertainment, cultural, and recreational uses and facilities in Old Sacramento contribute to the status of the Downtown as the business and cultural center for a diverse, six‐county Sacramento metropolitan area. Exhibit 2‐1 shows the geographical relationship of Old Sacramento to the surrounding cities and counties of the region, a broad area with over two million people. The Downtown Central Business District includes government, retail, business, arts, entertainment, and cultural land uses that serve and attract residents, workers, and visitors throughout the region. Mixed‐use urban commercial corridors (on main city arterials such as 16th Street and J Street) and mixed‐use, medium‐density residential neighborhood areas surround the Central Business District and form the local population base nearby to OSSHP. New, planned urban mixed‐use projects, adjacent to the park on both sides of the Sacramento River, such as the Railyards and Sacramento Intermodal Station facility, the River District, and the Docks Area project in Sacramento; and the Bridge District and the California Indian Heritage Center (CIHC) museum in West Sacramento will bring additional residents and demand on existing parks and cultural and recreational resources in the city. OSSHP, Old Sacramento, and the Sacramento riverfront are significant cultural, recreational, park and open space resources for Downtown Sacramento and have potential to be a greater attraction and amenity for Sacramento while connecting to the city’s historic roots as a Gold Rush commercial river port and railroad town. Old Sacramento State Historic Park and California State Railroad Museum General Plan and EIR | Page 2‐1 Chapter 2 | EXISTING CONDITIONS DRAFT MAY 2012 Exhibit 2‐1: Regional Area Map Page 2‐2 | Old Sacramento State Historic Park and California State Railroad Museum General Plan and EIR DRAFT MAY 2012 Chapter 2 | EXISTING CONDITIONS 2.1.2 RECREATIONAL RESOURCES Recreational resources, surrounding and influencing Old Sacramento include national historic trails, connected to the Pony Express route and the western migration of early American pioneers to California; neighboring, regional urban corridors; other state park facilities; City and County parks and trails; and local Downtown area museums and attractions. FEDERAL PARKS AND RECREATION RESOURCES The Pony Express National Historic Trail and the California National Historic Trail, national park sites managed by the U.S. National Park Service, served in the 19th century as overland routes that connected the eastern United States to Northern California. The Pony Express National Historic Trail designates the route of the first express mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento during its 18 months of operations (April 1860 to October 1861), when it briefly was the nation’s most direct means of east‐west communication before development of the first transcontinental telegraph. The Pony Express located its western terminal at the B. F. Hastings Building in OSSHP and generally followed the route of present‐day U.S. Highway 50. The California National Historic Trail was a network of trails that many prospectors and farmers took to the goldfields and farmlands of California during the 1840s and 1850s, in one of the greatest mass migrations in American history. It includes more than 1,000 miles of trail ruts and traces that commemorate the struggle of early American travelers and settlers to California. Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento is located along one of these historic trail spurs. The Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (Stone Lakes) includes the North Stone Lake Unit, which borders the railroad right‐of‐way of the Sacramento Southern railroad line, owned by State Parks. The approximately 18,000‐acre wildlife refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in collaboration with other agencies, conservation organizations, and private partners with lands and interests in the refuge. The refuge includes seasonal and permanent wetlands, woodland riparian corridors, grasslands, and the last remaining freshwater lakes in the Central Valley, and conserves and enhances habitat for a variety of plants, birds, fish, and other wildlife species that are native to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (Delta) and the Central Valley. Stone Lakes is also protected habitat for federally‐listed, endangered species including the Swainson’s hawk, sandhill crane, giant garter snake, and longhorn elderberry beetle. Located within the Pacific Flyway (a major north‐south travel route for migratory birds in America), the refuge provides resting and feeding grounds for migrating shorebirds and wintering grounds for waterfowl. Together with the neighboring Cosumnes River Preserve, Stone Lakes forms an expansive landscape that serves as a key habitat corridor along the Delta for a variety of wildlife and provides a buffer from development in the surrounding urban areas. STATE PARKS AND RECREATION RESOURCES OSSHP, including the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM), is a state park managed by the Capital District. The Capital District facilties preserve and interpret different periods of Sacramento’s history: from early Native American occupation to Gold Rush settlement, and interprets the influences that have shaped the development of Sacramento as the State Capitol. Old Sacramento State Historic Park and California State Railroad Museum General Plan and EIR | Page 2‐3 Chapter 2 | EXISTING CONDITIONS DRAFT MAY 2012 In addition to OSSHP, the Capital District manages several other state historic parks and museums, located within a short distance of OSSHP: the California State Capitol Museum, Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park, Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park, Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, the Woodland Opera House (through an operating agreement with the City of Woodland), Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park, and the California State Indian Museum at Sutter’s Fort, as shown in Exhibit 2‐2. The California State Indian Museum has plans to move and integrate with the future California Indian Heritage Center (CIHC), a newly designated state park in the City of West Sacramento. The California State Capitol serves as both a museum and the state’s working seat of government, and has been home to the California Legislature since 1869. The State Capitol and Capitol Park occupy several Downtown city blocks, encompassing the area between 10th and 15th Streets and L and N Streets. Between 1975 and 1981, the State Capitol underwent a major renovation that restored much of the building’s original look. The Capitol Park gardens that surround the Capitol building feature trees from around the world. The California Indian Heritage Center will be a new California State Park in the City of West Sacramento, overlooking the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers. The final draft General Plan and Environmental Impact Report was approved and certified in July 2011. The CIHC is proposed to be constructed in four phases that will be implemented over approximately 15–20 years. The main CIHC facility will house exhibits, a library, archives, and collections that will present a statewide perspective on California’s diverse Indian cultural legacy. The facility will partner with tribal communities to collect and present traditional and contemporary California Indian artistic and cultural expressions. An artist‐in‐residence facility will support Native American artists and allow visitors to view their work, as it is created. The CIHC grounds will maintain and restore the park’s natural character, using native plant species, except in programmed areas such as demonstration gardens. Spaces for special events will be developed near the main facility, overlooking the Sacramento River, and a plaza will be developed on the landside of the levee that bisects