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1997 09 18 HPC Minutes REGULAR MEETING OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION A regular meeting held at the La Quinta City Hall Session Room 78-495 Calle Tampico. La Quinta SEPTEMBER 18. 1997 This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was called to order by Chairman Millis at 3 :42 p.m., who lead the flag salute. Chairman Millis asked for the roll call: I. CALL TO ORDER: A. . Present: Commissioners Irwin, Puente, Wright, and Chairman Millis. B. :it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente/Wright to excuse Commissioner DeMersman. Unanimously approved. C. Staff Present: Planning Manager Christine di Iorio, Associate Planner Leslie . Mouriquand, and Executive Secretary Betty Sawyer. D. Chairman Millis opened the nominations for Chairman and Vice Chairman. Commissioner Wright moved that the Commission continue with Chairman Millis and Vice Chairman DeMersman. It was unanimously approved. II. PUBLIC COMMENT: None. III. CONFIRMATION OF THE AGENDA: A. Staff asked to add the Archaeological Monitoring Report for Home Depot to the Agenda and an addition to the La Quinta Hotel report. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright/Irwin to accept the change. Unanimously approved. IV. CONSENT CALENDAR: , , A. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright/Puente to approve the Minutes of May 22,1997, as submitted. Unanimously approved. B. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente/Wright to approve the Minutes ofJune 19, 1997, as submitted. Unanimously approved. V. BUSINESS ITEMS: HPC9-18-97 Historic Preservation Commission Minutes September 18. 1997 A. La Ouinta Hotel Historic Resource Evaluation; a request of the City for a revised report on the Hotel Report by Mellon and Associates. I. Associate Planner Leslie Mouriquand informed the Commission that the revised report contained information on the Cyrus Pierce house with added information staff believes contributes to the evaluation of significance of several of the buildings. It appears there are buildings that are eligible for the Natiol!al Register as well as the local Registry. Staffwent on to give detailed information that was contained in the report. 2. Pam O'Conner for Mellon and Associates stated that Advisor Lauren Bricker had information that contributed to their reviewing a collection at UCLA which gave a confirmation as to who designed the grounds at the Hotel. As the Hotel has evolved and changed it did lose some of its architectural integrity, but the Huntsman Trout connection and design landscape aspects helped to elevate to a level of significance. 3. Chairman Millis stated that he had a friend visiting with him who was an architect from Hong Kong and Singapore and had taken him on a walking tour of the Hotel. His friend was very impressed with how the Hotel was constructed and the integrity of the landscaping as part of the entire site. 4. There being no further discussion, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright/Puente to accept the report as submitted. Unanimously approved. B. Procedures fo~ Archaeolol!ical Resources I. Associate Planner Leslie Mouriquand stated this was a section to be added to the final report for the Historic Survey project that will be sent to State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The original proposal for the Survey grant included a section to deal with the prehistoric archaeological resources through the development of a sensitivity map. While reviewing' the sites, it was determined that there were so many sites allover the City, that the map would be unable to distinguish sensitive areas, as the whole City is sensitive. Staff spoke with the State Office and found out that the trend was no longer to prepare sensitivity maps as it was causing too much of a disturbance to the sites from pot hunters, etc. Therefore, it was determined that staff would drop this component and add a component on how to handle archaeological resources. Staffhas prepared a summary preview of the procedures that will be presented in their entirety at the next meeting. , .' HpC9-18-97 Historic Preservation Commission Minutes September 18. 19'97 2. Following discussion, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente/Irwin to approve the inclusion of the Procedures for Archaeological Resources into the Survey. Unanimously approved. C. Report of an Archaeolo~ical Monitorin~ Pro~ for The Home Depot; a request of The Keith companies for a review and approval of the report. I. Associate Planner Leslie Mouriquand stated that artifacts had been found on the site, but no significant features were exposed. Most artifacts were shards of pottery and miscellaneous items. This is a follow up report to be received and filed regarding the monitoring activities at the site. 2. Chairman Millis asked what happened to the artifacts that had been found at the site. Staff stated that legally they are the property of the property owner. Staff can ask them if they would be willing to donate the items or place them on a long term loan to the City or the Museum in order to keep them in the City. Following discussion, staffwas directed to contact Home Depot asking that tliese items be placed on loan for display at the City with permanent storage at the Historical Museum. 3. Commissioner Irwin informed the Commissioners that in April a new Indian display would be opening and these artifacts would fit in with that display. D. Report of the Cvrus Pierce house at the La Ouinta Hotel 1. Planning Manager Christine di Iorio informed the Commission that a five or six foot portion of the adobe wall which encircled the compound of the Cyrus Piece house had been removed by KSL in the last month. Staff was in the process of working with them to rectify the damage and the results of these discussions would be brought to the Commission at a later date with a staff recommendation. One ofKSL's requests is to modify the fountain in the middle of the compound. As noted in the report of Mellon and Associates, this fountain has been modified previously. Staff reviewed some of the changes that had taken place. 2. Pam O'Conner stated that whatever changes are allowed to be made, they should be harmonious with the site. HPC9-18-97 Historic Preservation Commission Minutes September 18, 1997 3, Commissioner Irwin asked if there were any samples of the tiles originally used as they were made on site. Staff stated that there were tiles in other places at the Hotel that could be used for replication. Staffs primary concern is the compatibility with the style, not to match the existing, Discussion followed as the changes that had done by KSL. E. Status ReDort on the City's Historic Survev by Mellon and Associates I. Pam O'Conner of Mellon and Associates passed out the Department of Parks and Recreation forms used as an inventory for the City. The first form she reviewed was the data base list which at present did not contain the La Quinta Hotel or Marshall Ranch as they were District sites. Most of the sites on the data base were from the Cove. She went on to explain the form and what the codes meant for each site. The sites were divided up by year and any structure built before 1950 was considered as long as it had not significantly altered. Between 1935 and 1941 there were 63 structures which stopped with World War II. Development started again in 1946 until 1949 when 29 buildings built. Of the pre WWII buildings, 49 are identified in the Survey. Of the 29 post WWII buildings 18 fell out due to alterations which left 11 to report on. Recorded sites identified included: , . , Landscape features - All American Canal and Date Palm Grove at 52nd Avenue and Jefferson The La Quinta Hotel consisting of the Casitas, The Walter Morgan House, Cyrus Pierce House, and La Casa Miscellaneous information on the Hotel included magazine articles showing the original floor plans from the 1930's. Ads showed the Hotel being advertised as a low cost housing in 1933. Obtained copies of the photographs that were on display at the Huntington Library of the Hotel. Point Happy Ranch including the Dupont House Marshall Ranch Non-Cove buildings in the Village area - Historical Museum building, the old lumber yard, and where the EI Ranchito restaurant is curently, the real estate building on the southeast corner of Avenida Bermudas and Calle Estado, and the Chamber of Commerce building Miscellaneous buildings outside the Cove HPC9-18-97 Historic Preservation Commission Minutes September 18. 1997 . Cameo Palms house built in the 1930's House at the southeast corner of Jefferson Street and 50th Avenue Dune Palms Road house Cove buildings: 4 homes built in 1935 17 homes built in 1936 25 built in 1937 7 built in 1938 2 built in 1939 6 built in 1940 2 built in 1941 Of these 14 had been altered or changed to the point that they were dropped out of the Survey. Two dominate subtypes were found from the remaining. Their were 16 "L" shaped houses and 18 were of the "I" shape all built pre-WWII. Post WWII houses 2. Commissioners discussed the components that were required to classify a house as historic. 3. Ms. O'Conner pointed out that the Survey is an evolving document which currently includes any structure 50 years of age or older. As as time goes by other structures will be added to the Survey and it will continue to grow. 4. Following discussion regarding the different aspects of the Survey, Chairman Millis thanked Ms. O'Conner for her report. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners PuentelIrwin to accept the report as submitted. Unanimously approved. VI. CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITTEN MATERIAL A. Staff informed the Commission of the Seismic Retrofit Guidance System that had been included in the Commission's packet. B. Staff informed the Commission of a letter from Mr. Ray House who had an extensive collection of photographs and negatives that he had shared with staff. He was willing to be a resource for the Desert Club and airport. HPC9- I 8-97 Historic Preservation Commission Minutes September 18. 1997 VII. COMMISSIONER ITEMS A. Staff discussed training that was required by the Commissioners to meet their CLG requirement. Staff was to looking into training alternatives for the Commission. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright/Puente to adjourn this regular meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission to a regular meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission on October 16, 1997. This meeting of the Planning Commission was adjourned at 5: 17 p.m. ~nanimously approved. , .. HPC9-18-97