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2001 07 19 HPC Minutes MINUTES HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION MEETING A regular meeting held at the La Guinta City Hall Session Room 78-495 Calle Tampico, La Guinta, CA July 19, 2001 This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was called to order by Chairman Robert Wright 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, Mitchell, Puente, Sharp, and Chairman Wright. Unanimously approved. Staff Present: Planning Manager Christine di lorio, Principal Planner Stan Sawa, and Secretary Carolyn Walker. C. Election of Chair and Vice Chair. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Irwin & Chairman Wright to nominate Maria Puente as Chair. There being no other nominations, the nominations were closed and Maria Puente was unanimously elected Chair. It was moved and seconded by Chairman Wright and Commissioner Mitchell to nominate Barbara Irwin as Vice Chair. There being no other nominations, the nominations were closed and Barbara Irwin was unanimously elected Vice Chair. II. PUBLIC COMMENT: None III. CONFIRMATION OF THE AGENDA: Confirmed. IV. CONSENT CALENDAR: A. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Mitchell/Puente to approve the Minutes of June 21, 2001 be corrected on Page 1, Business Item A.1. to read "Stan Sawa". Unanimously approved. P:\CAROL YN\HPC7-19-Q l.wpd -1- Historic Preservation Commission Minutes July 19,2001 V. BUSINESS ITEMS A. Conditional Use Permit 2001-061 and Site Development Permit 2001- 1.Q.6.;. a request to install a wireless communication monopalm and construction of a 1,002 square foot equipment building at 49-499 Eisenhower Drive, within the La Guinta Resort and Club. Applicant: AT & T Wireless Services - Historic Consultant: CRM TECH (Bruce Love). 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. 2. Commissioner Sharp asked what type of repair and maintenance would be required on the monopalm; specifically, in the case of a windstorm. 3. Ms. Johnson representing Planning Environmental Solutions for AT & T advised they would replace any palm fronds blown off in a windstorm. 4. Mr. Tom Tang, Historian/Architectural Historian representing CRM TECH, introduced himself and offered to answer any questions. 5. Commissioner Irwin commented she liked the building design, but asked why an antenna could not be built into the building instead of erecting a mono palm since it does not conform to the standards of the Historic District. 6. Commissioner Sharp concurred with her reservations and asked if there was a reason this particular antenna had to be 65 feet tall instead of six. 7. Commissioner Irwin asked if the communications antennas could be disguised any other way. 8. Ms. Johnson replied the use of palm fronds in the monopalm design does disguise the towers effectively. 9. Planning Manager di Iorio stated a monopalm had been previously approved adjacent to the back of the La Guinta Resort and Hotel Ballroom under a Section 106 filing. P:\CAROL YN\HPC7-19-0 l.wpd -2- Historic Preservation Commission Minutes July 19,2001 10. Commissioner Irwin commented initially there was a proposal to add a tower on the ballroom roof which would have been attractive. She is disappointed to see a satellite dish on Obregon Street in this Historic District. 11. Commissioner Puente agreed with staff and asked if there were any other design possibilities 12. Ms. Johnson answered the technology they were using was as current as possible. Originally, when cell sites were constructed they had monopoles with the antennas sticking out. She then commented on a photo study which was passed around. 13. Planning Manager di Iorio told the Commission she had been discussing these same concerns with other communication companies. Other alternatives had been proposed that included the needs of the Hotel and factored in the location of various sites. 14. Commissioner Irwin stated all of the Hotel grounds were included in the Historical District. Selected areas should not be slighted. All areas should be given the same consideration as was given to the new building, in conformance with the District standards. 15. Planning Manager di Iorio confirmed this site is surrounded by buildings built in the 80's. She then mentioned an alternative flag pole design she had seen. 16. Ms. Johnson said the flag pole design wasn't proposed because it would not have blended with the other palm trees. She then drew a sketch of what a flag pole antenna would look like. 17. Commissioner Mitchell concurred with staff's recommendations. 18. Chairman Wright stated he was happy to have the technology in La Guinta. He added when technology changes, the monopalm would be replaced with something smaller, but this site was needed now. 19. Commissioner Irwin wanted to know when the Commission would have an opportunity to re-address the issue. She asked if it would it ever come back to the Commission, especially if the applicant needed to update or change their equipment. P:\CAROL YN\HPC7-19-01.wpd -3- Historic Preservation Commission Minutes July 19,2001 20. Planning Manager di Iorio stated the applicant was currently processing a Conditional Use Permit. Staff was not recommending a time limitation or re-visitation of the Conditional Use Permit. The Commission could recommend a time limitation as a condition of approval to the Planning Commission. If the applicant was in violation of the Conditional Use Permit at anytime, it could be revoked. 21 . Chairman Wright asked if a revision to the Conditional Use Permit would cause any additional costs to the applicant. 22. Planning Manager di Iorio answered yes; the time extension fee is $1,000. 23. Commissioner Sharp asked what would happen if the applicant wanted to change the design before the Conditional Use Permit expired. 24. Ms. Johnson replied they would come back and remove the monopalm. 25. Chairman Wright said technological changes would prevent obsolete equipment from remaining since the applicant would be competing with other communications companies. He believed the good outweighed the temporary bad of the situation. 26. Commissioner Irwin stated it bothered her that Chairman Wright was using the word "temporary". 27. Chairman Wright stated he was very much in favor of the Historical District and in keeping it as historical as possible. However, he was not in favor of sacrificing this technology because of something that might be temporary. He used the example of television antennas that are now obsolete because of technological advances. 28. Commissioner Sharp agreed with that example. P:\CAROL YN\HPC7-19-01.wpd -4- Historic Preservation Commission Minutes July 19,2001 29. There being no further discussion, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente/Mitchell to adopt Minute Motion 2001-012 recommending approval of Conditional Use Permit 2001-061 and Site Development Permit 2001-706. Motion approved with Commissioner Irwin voting no. VI. CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITTEN MATERIAL VII. COMMISSIONER ITEMS A. Commission unanimously voted to go dark in August. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente/Irwin to adjourn this meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission to the next regularly scheduled meeting to be held on September 20, 2001. This meeting of the Historical Preservation Commission was adjourned at 3:22 p.m., July 19, 2001. Unanimously approved. Submitted by: lfLu!dfL tJt!kl~~ Carolyn vfalker Secretary P:\CAROL YNlHPC7-19-01.wpd -5-