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2003 06 19 HPC Minutes MINUTES HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MEETING The Regular Meeting held at the La Quinta City Hall Session Room 78-495 Calle Tampico, La Quinta, California June 19, 2003 This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was called to order by Chairperson, Leslie Mouriquand at 3:03 p.m. who led the flag salute and asked for the roll call. I. CALL TO ORDER A. Pledge of Allegiance B. Roll Call Present: Commissioners Irwin, Wright, Sharp and Chairman Mouriquand. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright/Sharp to excuse Commissioner Puente. Unanimously approved. Staff Present: Planning Manager, Oscar Orci, Principal Planner Stan Sawa, and Secretary Carolyn Walker. II. PUBLIC COMMENT: None III. CONFIRMATION OF THE AGENDA: Confirmed. IV. CONSENT CALENDAR: A. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Irwin/Wright to approve the Minutes of May 15, 2003 as submitted. Unanimously approved. V. BUSINESS ITEMS: A. Paleontoloqical Assessment Report for Desert Elite, Rancho Santana, for Specific Plan 2003-064 Applicant: Desert Elite, Inc. Paleontological Consultant: San Bernardino County Museum, Division of Geological Sciences Location: Southwest corner of Avenue 52 and Monroe Street. 1. Principal Planner Stan Sawa presented the information contained in the staff report, a copy of which is on file in the Community Development Department. 1 2. Commissioners Irwin and Wright stated they liked the additional condition regarding curation and suggested it be used as a standard condition in future reports. 3. Chairperson Mouriquand asked if the City Museum was equipped to curate all the collected artifacts. Commissioner Irwin replied the Museum was currently storing everything properly. 4. Planning Manager Orci stated the consultant was concerned about the storage of the collections and that was the reason the conditions were modified. 5. Chairperson Mouriquand stated one of her concerns was whether the collections were being made available to qualified researchers, upon written request. 6. Commissioner Irwin stated the curation standards had been developed by this Commission and were being followed. She also commented on the possibility of determining a storage fee for the curated materials. This had been discussed but no action had ever been taken. Staff replied the City is currently funding the entire curation. 7. Commissioner Irwin suggested this could be part of the developer's fees. She also added the City Museum had been approached about taking collections from outside La Quinta. She wanted the Commission to include this information in any future discussion about curation at the City Museum. 8. Chairperson Mouriquand stated she didn't see any problems with the report and liked the revised conditions. She then asked the applicant if he wished to make comments. 9. Applicant, John Pedalino, stated the only comment he received was from Kathleen Springer of the San Bernardino County Museum. She had indicated their Museum wanted the artifacts. Staff explained that all City artifacts are kept within the City. 10. Planning Manager Orci commented he had discussed this situation with Ms. Springer and her concern was that everything was curated and stored properly. He was sending her a copy of the City's Curation Standards. 11. Commissioner Sharp commented it would have helped if the report had included a map. 2 12. There being no further discussion, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright/Sharp to adopt Minute Motion 2003-008 accepting the Paleontological Assessment Report for Desert Elite, Rancho Santana, for Specific Plan 2003-064, with the revised conditions as follows: 1. On and off site monitoring in areas identified as likely to contain paleontological resources shall be conducted by a qualified paleontological monitor. The monitor shall be equipped to salvage fossils as they are unearthed to avoid construction delays and to remove samples of sediments which are likely to contain the remains of small fossil invertebrates and vertebrates. The monitor shall be empowered to temporarily halt or divert equipment to allow removal of abundant or large specimens. Proof of retention of monitor shall be given to City prior to issuance of first earth-moving permit, or before any clearing of the site is begun. 2. Recovered specimens shall be prepared to the point of identification and permanent preservation, including washing of sediments to recover small invertebrates and vertebrates. 3. A report of findings with an appended itemized inventory of specimens shall be submitted to the City prior to first occupancy of a residence being granted by the City. The report shall include pertinent discussions of the significance of all recovered resources where appropriate. The report and inventory, when submitted, will signify completion of the program to mitigate impacts to paleontological resources. 4. Collected resources and related reports, etc. shall be given to the City for depository into the City museum which is to be constructed. Packaging of resources, reports, etc. shall comply with standards commonly used in the paleontological industry. Unanimously approved. 3 A. Historic preservation Commission Work Proaram 1. Planning Manager, Oscar Orci gave an update on the progress of the Commissions Work Program, which included the following points: a). A comparison of the City's Historic Preservation Code to the State's, and other communities with similar codes. Of concern was Section 7.02, General Regulations and Administration. This section describes the purpose and intent of the Historic Preservation Program and indicates the Commission is an advisory body to the Planning Director on certain environmental issues. This is in conflict with other provisions of the Code allowing the Commission to approve or deny projects. This is a conflict which needs to be cleared up. b). The role of this Commission is very clearly defined. However, there are no historic landmarks or historic districts identified which brings up the question of the survey. The Commission will need to recommend to the City Council whether they wish a recon surveyor an intensive survey, keeping in mind the cost of an intense survey will be higher. c). The survey area needs to be defined. Should the whole City be surveyed or just selected parts depending upon the funds allotted or obtained? d). Need to develop a Historic Context. A Context Statement had been written several years back which should still be available for use. The draft would need to be brought before the Commission to be reviewed, approved and finalized. e). Numerous photos had been taken over the years that could be included as exhibits and should be in the City's files. 4 f). Once the Historic Context is finalized, the Commission will need to determine how to link the Context to the City's built environment to help define the scope of the survey. The survey could be done in layers of time with the Context Statement identifying those layers as well as thematic issues. A theme should be developed and possibly, property types such as archeological, paleontological, or more contemporary g). The City has set aside a budget of $15,000 for historic preservation plans. This was the total budget allocated for the Commission which would have to cover the cost of doing a large survey area. Grant opportunities were being researched. Four had been found, one of which was the CLG grant. The status of the State budget has caused CLG funding to be reduced from $250,000 - $150,000 to $90,000 with more reductions. Still staff would check into possible foundation grants, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the California Council for the Humanities. h). Staff to locate and bring to Commission the Preservation Plan. i). A Commission sponsored training workshop for other local governments with a keynote speaker to be obtained and other local governments invited. The focus could be on desert issues, training for Planning Departments/Commissioners, Council Members and issues for other cities with Preservation Commissions. Possibly the Coachella Valley Archaeological Society could be invited to assist in presentations. j). Staff to look into funding for this project. A key theme should be identified for the training and then locate a speaker who could address the theme. Possibly someone well versed in Archaeology and Paleontology. Local Native American tribes should be invited. k). Some focus on Paleontology, especially in the outlying areas of the City, should be done. Kathy Springer could make a presentation on the subject, at the training session. 5 I). Training on how and why to recommend conditions should be included, especially for those cities which do not have Historic Preservation Commissions. The Guidelines for Curation of Archaeological Provisions have to have irrelevant items taken out and have correct criteria added in our Code Requirements. Also needed are Archaeological Resource Management Reports (ARMR) formats. m). Guidelines would be great to touch on with a sample archaeological report which could be understood by a layperson. There could also be information on how a planner reviews a project and makes recommenda- tions. n). Suggest a time frame for the training, looking possibly at the Fall. There could also be a speaker to talk about the CLG program from SHPO such as Kathy Springer or Eric Scott, on the "Art of Paleontology". Some topics dealing with prehistoric or Native American topics could also be included. 0). Possible dates could be Friday the 7th, or Saturday the 8th, of November. Feedback had been received from conferences attended, that people did not want to attend on their free time, but would prefer to go during the week. p). A survey would be made of the various jurisdictions to obtain possible dates and interest. An outline could be sent to the CLG Coordinator at SHPO, requesting CLG training credits for this event. Also suggested was having Gary Resvaloso or Judy Stapp (Cultural Coordinators for the local Tribes) give 3D-minute presentations on the Native American perspective. There are many potential speakers right here in the Valley. VI. CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITTEN MATERIAL A. Information was included on the Kern County Museum and a historic walking tour of downtown Bakersfield. 6 V. COMMISSIONER ITEMS A. Commissioner Sharp informed the Commission he was producing an event with the Torres Martinez Bird Singers at the Children's Discovery Museum on November 9, 2003. B. Chairperson Mouriquand informed the Commission this was Commissioner Irwin's last meeting and she was being presented with a "Resolution of Recognition" for her years of service to the City. Chairperson Mouriquand then read the Resolution into the minutes. Resolution of Recognition A Resolution of the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of La Quinta, California Commending Barbara Irwin WHEREAS, Barbara Irwin has served as a member of the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of La Quinta, California, a Certified Local Government per the State Historic Preservation Office, since her appointment in July 1997, by dedicating her time and devotion to the betterment to historic preservation and cultural resource management; and, WHEREAS, during Ms. Irwin's term some of the major preservation decisions of the Commission have included the rehabilitation and National Register Assessment of the Hacienda del Gato and the preservation, in place, of prehistoric archaeological site CA-RIV- 1179 at the Tradition Club development; the Miraflores housing subdivision; the seismic retrofit and rehabilitation of the Fisher Building in the La Quinta Village; the National Register Assessments of the La Quinta Hotel, Water Morgan House, Cyrus Pierce House, and La Sala; the discovered of the "Burning Dune" site (CA-RIV-4754), an important archaeological site in the Coachella Valley history; and the Phase 11/ data recovery of two archaeological sites determined to be potentially significant according to National Register criteria within Tentative Tract Map 28964; and WHEREAS, during Ms. Irwin's term the major preservation planning accomplishments of the Commission consisted of adopting the first City-wide Historic Resources Survey, conducted in 1997 and supported by a grant awarded by the Certified Local Government Program, and the President's Award bestowed by the California Preservation Foundation for exceptional service in preserving California's cultural and architectural heritage; and work on the City's Context Statement; and, 7 WHEREAS, Ms. Irwin has honorably served the Commission by lending her expertise in reviewing and providing direction for numerous cases in the regular meetings, helping with the California Preservation Foundation Annual Meetings in Palm Springs in May 1999, representing the City of La Quinta at the California Preservation Foundation Conferences, serving as the Commission's representative for the expansion of the City's Museum, and participating in several preservation training workshops; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of La Quinta, California that due to the amount of time and energy that has been devoted to the City of La Quinta by Ms. Irwin, this Resolution shall be recorded as part of the official Minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission for this meeting. PASSED, APPROVED, and ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the La Quinta Historic Preservation Commission, held on this 19th day of June 2003. C. Commissioner Irwin thanked the Commission for the Resolution and stated they had a lot of work ahead of them. She thanked the Commission for the privilege of working with them. VI. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners WrighUSharp to adjourn this Regular Meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission to the next Regular Meeting to be held on July 17, 2003. This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was adjourned at 3:47 p.m. Unanimously approved. Submitted by: (i~t~v {J!L1I&v Carolyn Walker Secretary 8