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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-05-12- HSPB minutesCITY OF PALM SPRINGS HISTORIC SITE PRESERVATION BOARD Meeting Minutes Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Large Conference Room, City Hall, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California 92262 BOARD MEMBERS Present at this Meeting Present FY Year-to-Date FY 2008-2009 Excused Absences Sidney Williams, Chair X 9 1 Brian Strahl, Vice Chair X 10 0 Sheila Grattan X 10 0 Tom DeLeeuw John Gilmer Barbara Marshall X X X 10 10 10 0 0 0 STAFF REPRESENTATIVES: Craig Ewing, Director of Planning Loretta Moffett, Administrative Assistant Recording Secretary 1. The regularly scheduled HSPB meeting was called to order at 8:16 a.m., Tuesday, April 14, 2009 by Chair Sidney Williams. 2. ROLL CALL: Present: T. DeLeeuw, J. Gilmer, S. Grattan, B. Marshall, B. Strahl, and Chair S. Williams. Staff in attendance: Director Craig Ewing and Loretta Moffett. 3. POSTING OF AGENDA: The Agenda was available for public access at the City Hall exterior bulletin board (west side of Council Chamber), City Clerk’s office, and Planning Services’ counter on or before 4:00 p.m. Thursday, April 9, 2009. 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS: NONE 5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Minutes of the March 10, 2009 Meeting – there was one CORRECTION on page 3. Two Board members commented that Minutes did not accurately report or mention important information re Agenda Item 8.A, and did not give some Board member reasons for voting as they did. They stressed the importance of having Minutes that accurately reflect project discussions and Board member and public comments. Director Ewing advised that the meetings are recorded and televised and CD’s and cassette tapes are available for anyone who wishes to of the meetings and topics. Moving forward and because of staff reductions, Action Minutes will be provided that will list the items, motions, and actions. Discussions will not be captured on paper, but will be available on tapes and CDs. Tape cassettes will be kept in the Planning Historic Files for six months and CDs are kept indefinitely with the monthly meeting agendas and materials. M/S/C (Grattan/DeLeeuw) moved to approve the March 10, 2009 HSPB Meeting Minutes as corrected. Vote - 6 Yes, 0 No, 0 Absent, 0 Abstentions. HSPB Agenda Item #5. Historic Site Preservation Board Page 2 of 5 Minutes from the April 14, 2009 Meeting 6. REPORT FROM THE CHAIR: Chair Williams reminded everyone of the California Preservation Conference starting Thursday, April 16 at the Hilton Hotel. There are a few openings left for the Study Tours – reservations can be made online at www.cpf.org. 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS: NONE 8. CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL REQUEST(S): NONE 9. OTHER BUSINESS: The following historic properties were discussed and updates outlined in the Staff Memo dated 4.14.09 in Board packets. Comments are underlined. 9.A Review of Potential Class 1 Designations in Process From Previous Meetings: (1) HSPB 54 – Santa Fe Federal, 300 South Palm Canyon Drive – Baristo Lofts Scheduled for Council action on May 6, 2009. (2) HSPB 55 – Oasis Commercial Building, 101-121 South Palm Canyon Drive Report written – awaiting Council (3) HSPB 68 – Casablanca Adobe, 590 South Indian Trail – to CC early June (4) HSPB 69 – La Serena – 339 South Belardo Road - scheduled for CC 4.15.09 (5) HSPB 70 – West Façade of P.S. International Airport – scheduled for CC 4.15.09 (6) Kocher-Samson Building, 766 North Palm Canyon Drive – report written, owner & report writer to coordinate their reports. (7) HSPB 51 – Town & Country Center, 174 North Palm Canyon Drive – Council to review May 13 with Museum Market Plaza Specific Plan. Patrick McGrew just completed historic report. (8) Ellwood/Palevsky House, 1021 West Cielo Drive – owner supports – needs historic report (9) Horizon Hotel (formerly L’Horizon), 1050 East Palm Canyon Drive (10) Del Marcos Hotel, 225 West Baristo Road – damaged by falling tree in recent windstorm (11) Cary Grant “Las Palomas” House, 928 North Avenida Palmas (12) Lapham Office Building, 666 North Palm Canyon Drive (13) Harold Hicks Real Estate Office Building, 1345 North Palm Canyon Drive (14) Dinah Shore Residence – 432 West Hermosa Place tied with (15) P.S. Unified School District Building – 980 Est Tahquitz Canyon Way (16) Dollard Building – 687 tied with (17) Professional Park - 161-199 South Civic Drive (18) HSPB 67 – Casino House, 982 North Avenida Palmas – awaiting more info from owner Chair Williams reported that owner, Mike Kilroy and his representative, Bryan Fahrbach of the Historic Resources Group in LA, are working on several properties to present for designation Kocher-Samson (item #6 above), Elrod House, Steve McQueen house, Jack Benny house, and racecar driver Jeffords home in Southridge. Chair Williams suggested listing the Town & Country Center on the May 12 HSPB Agenda. Director Ewing and Chair Williams to meet to review the work program, identify schedules and resources. Board members welcomed and encouraged volunteers to write reports or documents on any of the properties on the list. Board members cannot write the staff reports – they have to ultimately vote on what is being presented. Historic Site Preservation Board Page 3 of 5 Minutes from the April 14, 2009 Meeting 10. COMMITTEE REPORTS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS: 10.A P.S. Preservation Foundation – Board member Brian Strahl (www.pspreservationfoundation.org) PSPF asked architect Lance O’Donnell to do an assessment on the Las Serena Villas - it was delivered to Council last week. PSPF is providing 400 Class 1 booklets for CPF conference attendees, sponsoring three Palm Springs High School students, and are partnering with CPF to send ten College of the Desert students to the Conference April 16-19. PSPF Board member Gary Johns is the tour guide for the architectural ‘Desert Playgrounds Pools and Leisure’ tour at the Conference. PSPF is extending their web content page on the Baristo Lofts project to contain a short history of the project, a Desert Sun opinion piece, an architectural rendering of the proposed project, and two letters that PSPF sent to the Planning Commission and City Council. PSPF now has more than 500 active members -- the web site is a “must see”! 10.B P.S. Modern Committee (www.psmodcom.com) – Board member Barbara Marshall Peter Moruzzi, President of ModCom, reported that Nicky McLaughlin continues to improve from a serious surgery setback. Representatives from Mod Com spoke before City Council in support of ModCom’s preservation alternative proposed for the Downtown Specific Plan. They are actively participating in the CPF Conference, and Peter is moderator of a session on Palm Springs Preservation Challenges, Successes, and Failures, and will be one of the tour guides for a mobile workshop on hotel and motel preservation. ModCom continues to work toward the historic designation of the entire Santa Fe Federal site and the requirement of an EIR for Wessman’s proposed Baristo Lofts projects. PS ModCom supports the designation of Las Serena Villas and the West Facade of the Airport. 10.C P.S. Historical Society (www.pshistoricalsociety.org) – Board member Sheila Grattan Several items were discussed with Jeri Vogelsang who reported that PSHS has started scanning and archiving their entire photographic collection to be coordinated by Roger Palmer, formerly with the Getty Museum. They are launching a video history program called “Voices from the Past” starting with the PSHS Board. The annual Volunteer Award Luncheon is today at Smoke Tree Ranch and will honor 30 volunteers. Historic Society books will be sold at the CPF Conference. The attendance at the Museum has tripled over last year. The Modernism exhibit was a huge success and helped spread the word about this downtown attraction. Director Curator, Jeri Vogelsang, believes good exposure in the Desert Sun and the economy may be impacting attendance. Visiting museums is an affordable family activity for residents and visitors. 10.D Architecture and Design Council (www.psmuseum.org) –Board member John Gilmer The Council is hosting a lecture on April 25 – Architectural 101 series will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on noted Architect ‘E. Stewart Williams’ by Sidney Williams (HSPB Chair), the lecture is $25 and will include a visit to one of E. Stewart Williams’ houses. “Practices of Encroachment – Urban Waste Moves Southbound, Illegal Zoning Seeps into the North” will be given by Teddy Cruz from Teddy Cruz studios in San Diego at 6 p.m. May 2 in the Annenberg Theater. May 9, ADC will host their annual Cocktail Party Fundraiser at the O’Donnell House from 6 to 8 p.m. Call the Museum Box Office for tickets at 325-4490. 10.E Web Site Development – Board members John Gilmer & Tom DeLeeuw No update Historic Site Preservation Board Page 4 of 5 Minutes from the April 14, 2009 Meeting 10.F Historic Districts – Review and Discussion of Materials from March Meeting Board member John Gilmer – suggested creating a subcommittee to review and start writing the design guidelines to create Historic Districts for presentation to the City Council. Board members were asked to review all the materials and be ready to get started creating this Board’s Historic District Guidelines. Board member Marshall volunteered to work with Board member Gilmer on the Subcommittee. Board member Gilmer asked about the “taking” of property by historic designation or historic district designation and read from the court ruling on the Nolan vs. the California Coastal Commission. He asked if the creation of and/or designation of historic districts considered a “taking”? Director Ewing stated that it does not. 10.G Streamlining Options for Historic Site Application – Board member John Gilmer He suggested revising the current application so it is more user-friendly and more in line with the State and National applications. He questioned the need for an owner’s notarized affidavit – which may discourage owners from applying. Director Ewing explained that the City Attorney would have to review before removing the owner’s affidavit, and that there are three ways a project can come forward for design- designation: (1) initiated by the owner; (2) initiated by Board or City Council; and (3) initiated by a third party without owner’s consent. The eight points defining historic criteria are listed in the City’s Ordinance and are the basis by which HSPB and the Council judge whether a project is worthy of designation. He further advised that if HSPB is going to use criteria other than what is in the Ordinance, it has to be adopted and the Ordinance amended – which would be the option of the Council. See Section 8.05.020 the Definitions of Historic Site. The more closely the Historic Designation Application matches the Ordinance, the stronger HSPB’s action and the more supportable -- if it is challenged. If the Board does not want to change the Ordinance, then leave the Application as it stands. If challenged, the court will look at how well the City followed its own regulations. The strongest way to do that is to have the information in the application align with the information in the Ordinance. Board members generally agreed that they did not want to amend the Ordinance. Board member Gilmer volunteered to work on the potential revision of the Historic Site Designation Application. Board members will assist by making suggested changes and edits on a copy of the current Application and submit to staff for review and implementation of appropriate changes. 10.H Procedure for Initiating and Reviewing Application for Historic Designation – Board member John Gilmer – Covered under 10.G 11. STAFF & OTHER REPORTS: 11.A HSPB – PSNIC Coordination Director Ewing suggested that as the Board looks more closely at Historic Districts, there is an active Neighborhood Organization that has a dedicated staff member for neighbor- hood involvement – perhaps there is a link between HSPB and the Neighborhood Organ- izations in seeking out willing neighborhoods interested in becoming Historic Districts. There are about 23 neighborhood organizations whose boundaries may align with a potential Historic District – there is leadership, local organization, and people already Historic Site Preservation Board Page 5 of 5 Minutes from the April 14, 2009 Meeting alerted to an identity at a neighborhood level. This could be a good place to begin in exploring local support. Several of them are organized around architectural identity and there is overlap. Chair Williams explained that Lee Husfeldt was at one of the HSPB meetings a few months ago. She and Ken Lyon, former Staff Liaison to HSPB, attended a neighborhood meeting several months ago – that concept needs to be encouraged and explored further. 11.B Distribution of HSPB Packets – Director Ewing suggested that distribution of paper and meeting materials could be done electronically – primarily with back-up documentation. The packet will be simplified and back-up documents may be distributed via email so that you can review online, print only what you want, save the other electronically. This will save everyone time, materials, and trees. Public copies are always on file at City Hall for anyone who wants to come in to review. Board members agreed to support this in the best way they can. 12. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS: Board member Strahl asked about the vacant position and if there are any applications filed for the HSPB vacancy? Staff will research and reply to everyone via email. The City Clerk decides when there are sufficient applications to take to the Council for the interview and selection process. The window is still open and anyone can apply for any board or commission vacancy. For those who want information, call the City Clerk’s office at City Hall at 760-323-8205. Board member Marshall commented that she understands and respects brief Minutes, and stated that Minutes are very important for future history and reference. She asked if the tapes will be the official record and how long are they maintained? She asked about the funds remaining in the Budget and if funds are available for moving forward with the Historic District brochure? She brought attention to the advertisements in Preservation Magazine – a Palm Springs ad, but it not just a Palm Springs ad, it is a “discover America’s most extensive collection of mid-century modern architectural treasures.” This highlights the importance of the work that HSPB does – without these treasures to advertise, it will impact tourism in Palm Springs. Director Ewing explained that the meeting Minutes and information will be digital and stored indefinitely in accordance with the City’s public records policy and would only be destroyed by approval of the Council. There has been a significant amount of adjustments related to budget accounts. Staff will get an update and email the information to the Board. The brochure has been on the agenda, staff thought it could be done in the City’s print shop, they can only do minor adjustments to camera ready artwork, but not the entire layout. Staff is seeking a bid from Claravoyant Design who produced the current brochure, and this may be done before the fiscal year ends. 13. ADJOURNMENT: At 9:33, HSPB adjourned to its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 in the Large Conference Room at City Hall Respectfully submitted, Craig A. Ewing, AICP, Director of Planning