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2004 11 18 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 November 18, 2004 This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was called to order by Chairman Allan Wilbur at 3:03 p.m. He then led the flag salute and asked for the roll call. I. CALL TO ORDER A. B. Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call. Present: Commissioners Mouriquand, Wright, and Chairman Wilbur Puente, Sharp, Staff Present: Planning Manager Oscar Orci, Principal Planner Stan Sawa, and Temporary Secretary Mary K. Dana. II. PUBLIC COMMENT: None III. CONFIRMATION OF THE AGENDA IV. CONSENT CALENDAR: It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright and Puente to approve the minutes of October 21, 2004 as submitted. Unanimously approved. V. BUSINESS ITEMS: A. Interim Archaeolo\1ical Testin\1 and Miti\1ation at Griffin Ranch (Tentative Tract Map 32879) Applicant: Trans West Housing Archaeological Consultant: CRM Tech (Michael Hogan, Principal) Location: Southeast corner of Madison Street and Avenue 54. 1. Principal Planner Stan Sawa presented contained in the staff report, a copy of which Community Development Department. the information is on file in the P:\CAROL YN\Hist Pres Com\HPC 11-18~04.doc Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2004 2. Commissioner Sharp asked for a definition of "debitage". Commissioner Mouriquand responded it meant chipping waste. 3. Commissioner Mouriquand stated the purpose of technical studies was to provide needed data for completion of the CEOA environmental review. There are specific questions required on the initial CEOA checklist and sufficient data is needed to answer the questions. She asked staff if they felt the interim report provided sufficient data to answer those questions. Staff responded the information was sufficient, based on what was disclosed in the report. 4. Commissioner Mouriquand added the report will not have conclusive determinations until the artifact analysis is finally completed and submitted to the City. It seemed that technically there would still be unanswered questions on the significance of the findings. Staff replied the Commission should not accept the report if they felt there were still unanswered issues. Staff then asked the applicant for their commments. 5. Mr. Michael Hogan said the report states there is a low potential for historic resources on this site. Commissioner Mouriquand commented it was a legal issue. Mr. Hogan replied if any artifacts did turn out to be of substantive value, there were mitigation measures in place to take care of the situation. 6. Interim Community Development Director Oscar Orci asked if there would be a difference if this was a final report and conditions of approval were different. Their conclusion was the conditions were generally going to be the same unless there was something extraordinary in the report that had not been identified. Then they would have a concern, but nothing in the report lead staff to the conclusion there was anything of substantive value found and they were satisfied with the report. 7. Commissioner Mouriquand asked if there would be an opportunity for preservation in situ or would all the sites be mitigated for development. Staff replied they were also concerned about this being an interim report. They had researched this matter and found there had been other situations where the interim report for CEOA had not been accepted. However, after going over the report and checking surrounding sites it appeared the recommended mitigation measures were sufficient whether something were found or not. P:\CAROL YN\Hist Pres Com\HPC 11-18-04.doc 2 Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2004 8. Commissioner Puente asked if they had found many artifacts. The applicant responded very few and mostly on the surface. 9. Commissioner Sharp commented on a green bottle that was found. 10. Chairman Wilbur expressed concern about a procedural matter of approval of interim reports. He wanted to make sure every effort was made to have the project mitigated in the correct and proper way. Staff responded this matter had been researched and the problem and since that time standard mitigation measures had been included in every report to address the Commissioner's concerns. 11. Commissioner Wright concurred. Standard procedures had been established to maintain proper mitigation on all projects. He stated he had no problem with interim reports now that the "fail-safe" mitigation measures had been put in place. 12. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright and Mouriquand to adopt Minute Motion 2004-037 accepting the Interim Archaeological Testing and Mitigation Report for Tentative Tract 32879 as submitted. Unanimously approved. B. Phase 1 Cultural Resources Investi~ation of 27.7 acres Applicant: City of La Quinta Redevelopment Agency Archaeological Consultant: The Keith Companies (John Goodman and Leslie J. Mouriquand) Location: North of Avenue 48, west of Dune Palms Road and south of Highway 111. 1. Interim Community Development Director Oscar Orci asked that it be stated for the record that Commissioner Mouriquand had withdrawn from participating in the discussion on this project due to a conflict of interest, since she had participated in the preparation of this report. 2. Principal Planner Stan Sawa presented the information contained in the staff report, a copy of which is on file in the Community Development Department. 3. Commissioners Wright and Puente, and Chairman Wilbur concurred with the staff report. P:\CAROL YN\Hist Pres Com\HPC 11 ~ 18-04.doc 3 Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2004 4. Commissioner Sharp commented on the quality of the photography included in the report. 5, It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente and Sharp to adopt Minute Motion 2004-038 accepting the Phase 1 Cultural Resources Investigation of 27.7 acres as recommended. AYES: Commissioners Puente, Sharp, Wright and Chairman Wilbur. NOES: None, ABSENT: Commissioner Mouriquand, ABSTAIN: None C. Archaeological Monitoring Report for Cable Trenching, Hammer Property Applicant: Cochran Communication Construction, Inc. Archaeological Consultant: The Keith Companies (John Goodman and Leslie J. Mouriquandl Location: North of Avenue 48, west of Dune Palms Road and south of Highway 111, 1, Interim Community Development Oscar Orci asked that it be stated for the record that Commissioner Mouriquand had withdrawn from participating in the discussion on this project due to a conflict of interest, since she had participated in the preparation of this report. 2. Principal Planner Stan Sawa presented contained in the staff report, a copy of which Community Development Department. the information is on file in the 3. Commissioners Sharp and Puente complimented staff on the report. Said they had no other comments, and agreed with report. 4. It was moved and seconded by Commissioners Puente and Wright to adopt Minute Motion 2004-039 accepting the Archaeological Monitoring Report for Cable Trenching, Hammer Property as submitted. AYES: Commissioners Puente, Sharp, Wright, and Chairman Wilbur, NOES: None, ABSENT: Commissioner Mouriquand, ABSTAIN: None. Commissioner Mouriquand rejoined the Commission. D. City Council Action on Native American Heritage Commission and Local Tribes Notification Protocol. P:\CAROLYN\Hist Pres Com\HPC 11-18-04.doc 4 Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2004 1. Principal Planner Stan Sawa presented contained in the staff report, a copy of which Community Development Department. the information is on file in the 2. Commissioner Mouriquand asked about a transition period. Her concern was for those who had not received a letter of notification. She suggested a deadline for compliance, such as 30, 60, or 90 days. After that deadline, no report would be processed by the City unless it had evidence of scoping. Staff replied they were planning to implement the procedure immediately, without a transition period. 3. Commissioner Mouriquand asked what would happen to those applicants planning to present their reports to the Commission and did not have the proper paperwork. Staff replied they had been communicating these requirements to developers and their staff. Commissioner Mouriquand emphasized this was especially important because the early scoping needed to be done prior to the consultant's field survey as the information gained could be used in formulating their research. If the information was obtained after the field work was completed, the consultant might have to do another field survey. Staff replied most developers meet with staff early in their project development and are advised of the requirements. 4. Chairman Wilbur asked if staff would consider sending a list of the various Native American groups as well as a sample form letter to consultants/developers. Staff replied they had not considered a form letter, but was interested in preparing a contact list. Staff asked Commissioner Mouriquand if she would help in preparing the list. Commissioner Mouriquand replied the list was already compiled and included in each response from the Heritage Commission as shown in Business Item #B attachments, listed under "Native American Contacts, Riverside County". 5. Chairman Wilbur asked if a copy of the form letter and list could be sent to the consultants in the appropriate Historic Preservation Commission packet. 6. Commissioner Mouriquand suggested using the example shown in the attachments in Business Item #B. This form was efficient and acceptable to the Heritage Commission. P:\CAROL YN\Hist Pres Com\HPC 11-18-04.doc 5 Historic Preservation Commission November 18, 2004 7. Commissioner Wright commented this was a great protocol and a good beginning for properly documenting the Native American history of a site. He was pleased Council approved it. VI. CORRESPONDENCE AND WRITTEN MATERIAL: None VII. COMMISSIONER ITEMS: A. Interim Community Development Director Oscar Orci announced he would be leaving the City of La Quinta and going to the City of Banning as their new Community Development Director. He thanked the Commission for all their assistance and was, in turn, thanked by the Commissioners for all his help and direction. B. Commissioner Puente stated that she had a list of ideas she would like the Commission to discuss. She asked they be agendized for the next meeting. C. Commissioner Sharp had a comment about the issue of whether 15 meters or 10 meters should be the standard for the surveys. He said there did not seem to be any consistency on the reports. Staff replied this matter had been discussed, and a standard was being worked on to bring back to the Commission. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, it was moved and seconded by Commissioners Wright and Mouriquand to adjourn this Regular Meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission to the next Regular Meeting to be held on December 16, 2004. This meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission was adjourned at 3:40 p.m. Unanimously approved. Submitted by: ~ UJdbu Carolyn Walker Secretary P:\CAROL YN\Hist Pres Com\HPC 11-18-04.doc 6