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HomeMy WebLinkAbout24633RESOLUTION NO. 24633 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, DESIGNATING THE AVERY FIELD CABIN RUINS, LOCATED ON A 1.56-ACRE PARCEL AT THE WESTERN TERMINUS OF SANTA ROSA DRIVE A CLASS 1 HISTORIC RESOURCE, SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS (APN 513-193-001). THE CITY COUNCIL FINDS AND DETERMINES AS FOLLOWS: A. Chapter 8.05 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code allows for the designation of historic sites and districts. B. The Palm Springs Preservation Foundation ("PSPF"), applicant, filed an application with the City pursuant to Section 8.05.070 (Procedures and Criteria for the Designation of Class 1 and Class 2 Historic Resources) of the Palm Springs Municipal Code requesting Class 1 historic designation for the parcel located at the western terminus of Santa Risa Drive (APN #513-193-001). The application included a historic resources report ("the report") prepared by the applicant dated November, 2018. C. In April, 2019, members of the Historic Site Preservation Board (HSPB) conducted site inspections of the proposed historic site, accompanied by City staff. D. On April 9, 2019, a noticed public hearing to consider Case HSPB #114 was held by the HSPB in accordance with applicable law. E. The HSPB carefully reviewed and considered all of the evidence presented in connection with the hearing on the project, including, but not limited to, the staff report and all written and oral testimony presented, and based upon its findings, voted to recommend that the City Council designate the Avery Field Cabin ruins as a Class 1 Historic Resource with the condition that the property owner protect and maintain the ruins in its present state of decay and that appropriate intervention and ongoing maintenance be required to both stabilize the resource in its present state, and protect it from vandalism, looting, graffiti or other man-made damage, (i.e. that it not be reconstructed, nor allowed to further decay. F. At said hearing, Mr. Jim Franklin, representing the property owner, Mr. John Beardsley noted their support for the proposed nomination. G. On June 19, 2019 a noticed public hearing to consider Case HSPB #114 was held by the City Council in accordance with applicable law. H. The City Council carefully reviewed and considered all of the evidence presented in connection with the hearing on the project, included, but not limited to, the staff report and all written and oral testimony presented. Resolution No. 24633 Page 2 THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS RESOLVES: SECTION 1: Criteria and Findings: Part "a". Pursuant to Municipal Code Section 8.05.070 (C,1,a) ("Criteria and Findings for Designation of Class 1 and Class 2 Historic Resources"), the City Council evaluated the application and made findings in conformance with the following criteria: Criteria for the Designation of Class 1 Historic Resources. A site, structure, building or object may be designated as a Class 1 historic resource, provided both of the following findings ("a" and "b') are met: a. The site, structure, building or object exhibits exceptional historic significance and meets one or more of the criteria listed below: The Avery Field cabin ruins exhibit exceptional historic significance as one of the last surviving physical remnants of an informal community of artists, writers and photographers whose combined artistic output helped bring awareness to the rest of the world of the beauty and unique qualities of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. (Criterion 1) The resource is associated with events that have made a meaningful contribution to the nation, state or community; The PSPF report asserts the Avery Field cabin ruins are associated with "patterns of events" that have made a meaningful contribution to the nation, state or community, however the Palm Springs Municipal Code criteria does not distinguish "pattern of events", but rather simply "events". Patterns of events are evaluated under Criterion 3 reflecting a particular period. Thus the City Council finds that the site does not qualify as a historic resource on the basis of Criterion 1. (Criterion 2) The resource is associated with the lives of persons who made a meaningful contribution to national, state or local history; The Avery Field cabin ruins are associated with nationally known photographer Avery Edwin Field. Field's photographic work during his tenure at the Mission Inn and in Palm Springs brought national awareness to the serenity and natural beauty of the Coachella Valley. The Field cabin was also a part of a collection of simple cabins, tents and shacks that were built by a group of like-minded artists, writers, and photographers who became known as "The Creative Brotherhood". This group of talented individuals created a loosely knit community of like-minded artisans who shared a love and appreciation for the commanding natural beauty of the Coachella Valley. As such the Field cabin ruins stands as one of the last surviving structures associated with this prolific and creative group of individuals which included painter Carl Eytel, write/explorer J. Smeaton Chase and George Wharton James, naturalist Edmund C Jaeger, writer Charles Francis Saunders, painter Jimmy Swinnerton and photographers Stephen H. Willard, Fred Payne Resolution No. 24633 Page 3 Chatworthy and Avery Field. The site qualifies as a historic resource on the basis of Criterion 2. (Criterion 3) The resource reflects or exemplifies a particular period of national, state or local history; The Avery Field cabin ruins reflect the "Early Development Period —1884 —1918" of Palm Springs. As noted in the PSPF report on page 27, during its early development period, Palm Springs attracted not only persons afflicted with respiratory ailments such as asthma and tuberculosis, but also artists, writers and photographers who were drawn to the areas' extraordinary natural beauty and solitude. These artists, most of whom were likely of limited financial means, established a loose -knit community of simple cabins and shacks along the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains from which they engaged their individual creative pursuits. These early local artists were instrumental in bringing both national and global attention to the unique characteristics of the up and coming resort that would become Palm Springs. The Creative Brotherhood flourished between roughly 1915 and 1923. The City Council finds that the Field cabin ruins are a rare surviving element from this early period in Palm Springs' history and thus qualifies as a historic resource under Criterion 3. (Criterion 4) The resource embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction; Although little remains of the actual construction of the Avery Field cabin, photographs depict the cabin as an architecturally creative structure with post -and -beam wood frame construction on knee walls of fieldstone and poured concrete, a low -slung barrel roof, clerestory windows and other functional features. The PSPF report explains that the Field cabin was most likely more elaborate than some of the other artists' cabins that sprouted up along the foothills of the mountain, it embodies the hand-crafted characteristics that many of these artists' cabins exhibited and thus the site qualifies as a historic resource on the basis of Criterion 4. (Criterion 5) The resource presents the work of a master builder, designer, artist, or architect whose individual genius influenced his age, or that possesses high artistic value; In its current state, only the rock fireplace and rock and poured concrete walls and concrete floor and rock stair steps survive, however the Avery Field cabin exhibits a certain degree of artistic value in the hand -laid characteristics of the stonework that survives. Although Field des not rise to the level of "master builder", on the basis of the description in the PSPF report of the cabin and the archival photographs, the structure exhibits a high degree of craftsmanship and artistry and thus qualifies as a historic resource on the basis of Criterion 5. (Criterion 6) The resource represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction, as used in Resolution No. 24633 Page 4 evaluating applications for designation of historic districts, for parcels on which more than one entity exists; or The Council finds that the Field cabin ruins do not qualify under Criterion 6. (Criterion 7) The resource has yielded or may be likely to yield information important to national, state or local history or prehistory. No information has been provided in the historic resources report on any pre -historic significance of the site thus the Council did not make findings associated with Criterion 7. SECTION 2: Criteria and Findings: Part "b": Analysis of Integrity. According to PSMC 8.05.070 (C,1,b), to be qualified as a Class 1 historic resource, in addition to the criteria outlined in Section 1, the Council must find that the site, structure, building or object retains one or more of the following aspects of integrity, as established in the Secretary of the Interior's Standards: integrity of design, materials, workmanship, location, setting, feeling, or association. The application includes an evaluation of the site relative to the seven aspects or qualities of integrity, as recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. The Council made the following findings in its evaluation of the site's integrity. 1. Location: The Avery Field cabin ruins remain in the same location that it was constructed, thus it retains integrity of location. 2. Design: As the report notes on page 29, although the Field cabin has fallen into ruin, the written narrative and photographic archives denote a cabin that, despite its small size, had a number of unique design characteristics including the clerestory windows and arched roof form. Given that little exists of the structure itself, physical existence of integrity of design is not present. 3. Setting: Encroaching development has altered the physical and natural setting in which the Field cabin is located. Although the rocky site immediately surrounding the ruins remains intact and with good integrity, the integrity of setting has been impaired by contemporary development nearby. 4. Materials: Resolution No. 24633 Page 5 The wood frame elements of the Field cabin have been lost over time, leaving only the stone fireplace, concrete floor, fieldstone and poured concrete knee walls and stone steps. Thus its material integrity has mostly been lost. Aside from the photographic images of the cabin, little remains of the material integrity of the site. 5. Workmanship: The surviving remnants of the Field cabin, namely the fieldstone fireplace and stone and poured concrete walls along with the photographic record of the structure convey a hand- crafted quality about the structure and the workmanship that went into its construction. Thus, despite the loss overtime of the wood frame components of the cabin, the surviving stonework conveys integrity of workmanship. 6. Feeling: Although encroaching development has impaired the overall natural open quality or feeling that was once present when the cabin was built, the stone ruins of the Field cabin partially convey the hand-crafted feeling and artistry with which it was constructed. 7. Association: As noted on page 31 of the report, the Field cabin ruins may be the only verifiable extent remnant of the series of cabins built in the foothills behind the present-day Tennis Club that are associated with members of the Creative Brotherhood (1915 — 1923). This rare historic resource is associated with some of the earliest settlement and development of Palm Springs and as such retains integrity of association with the early development period of Palm Springs (1884 — 1918). ECTION 3. Definina historic characteristics and non-contributina features: The physical character -defining historic features of this resource include the following: 1. The rock fireplace. 2. The rock and poured concrete knee walls at the perimeter of the cabin ruins. 3. The concrete floor. 4. The stone steps east of the cabin leading from what presumably was part of the Tahquitz Ditch up to the cabin. The non-contributing features include the following: Those portions of the site which are not part of the immediate rocky hillside within which the cabin ruins are located. The portions of the Baristo Wash adjacent to the cabin ruins are said to have been the location of the Tahquitz Ditch, however no structural remnants were observed during the visit to the site. If such structural remnants are uncovered in Resolution No. 24633 Page 6 the vicinity of the cabin ruins they should be documented and photographed and made a part of the historic archival file for the site. SECTION 4: Conditions that apply to class 1 historic resources: 1. An archival file shall be maintained in the Planning Services Department documenting the historic significance of the resource. 2. The resources may be qualified as `historic' at the federal, state, and/or county level. 3. Requests for alterations to Class 1 and Class 2 historic resources shall require a Certificate of Appropriateness and be evaluated and processed pursuant to Municipal Code Section 8.05.110 ("Demolition or Alteration of Class 1 and Class 2 Historic Resources"). 4. A marker explaining the historic nature of the site will be installed at the site in a location viewable from the public way. Maintenance and/or replacement of the historic marker if damaged or stolen shall be the responsibility of the property owner. 5. If designated a Class 1 historic resource, the parcel on which the historic resource is located will be eligible for application by the property owner of a Mills Act Historic Property Preservation Agreement ("Mills Act contract) to be executed between the City and the Property Owner. The property owner shall be responsible for all fees associated with such application. 6. Compliance with all rules and regulations for Historic Sites and Historic Districts under Article IV of Chapter 8.05 of the Municipal Code shall be required. 7. The City Clerk shall submit the Council Resolution to the County recorder for recordation within 90 days of the effective date of the Council's resolution. 8. The property owner shall protect and maintain the ruins in its present state of decay and provide appropriate intervention and ongoing maintenance as required to both stabilize the resource in its present state, and protect it from vandalism, looting, graffiti or other man-made damage, (i.e. that it not be reconstructed, nor allowed to further decay). SECTION 5. Environmental assessment: The City Council finds that the Class 1 historic site designation is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical changes to the environment, directly or indirectly. Based upon the foregoing, the City Council hereby designates the Avery Field Cabin Ruins, located on a 1.57-acre parcel at the western terminus of Santa Rosa Drive a Class 1 Historic Resource (HSPB #114). Resolution No. 24633 Page 7 ADOPTED THIS 19t" DAY OF JUNE, 2019. David H. Ready, Esq., P . City Manager ATTEST: 6.w thony J. ej MC City Clerk CERTIFICATION STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE) ss. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS) I, ANTHONY J. MEJIA, City Clerk of the City of Palm Springs, hereby certify that Resolution No. 24633 is a full, true and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Springs on the 19th day of June, 2019, by the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers Holstege, Middleton, Roberts, and Mayor Moon NOES: None ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tern Kors ABSTAIN: None IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Palm Springs, California, this day of 4, �' , � , --I- � ony J. MMC City Clerk