Preservation Of Historic Resources That Best Represent Carmel-by-the-Sea's History

CONSIDER:

Staff and the Historic Resources Board recognize four possible reasons for removing a property from the Carmel Inventory:

1) There are gross, non-correctable errors in the historic documentation,
2) The property bears a poor or minimal relationship to the adopted Historic Context Statement,

3) There are a sufficient number of other, better preserved or more important resources of the same type elsewhere within the City,

4) The resource has lost its historic integrity through past alterations.

(Source: City Staff Report)


CONSIDER:

Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation
Historic resources are an important element of Carmel-by-the-Sea’s community
character. These resources and the City’s approach to protecting them are discussed below. (LUP)

Architecture and Community Character

Protection of Historic Resources
Although the Coastal Act does not specifically discuss historic preservation, this topic is related to the preservation of character required by sections 30251 and 30253 of the Act. The purpose of this component of the Land Use Plan is to provide a framework for policies that address the preservation of the diverse and valuable historic resources in Carmel. Its primary goals are to educate residents and visitors about the unique architectural, cultural and historic identity of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and to promote the identification and preservation of structures and sites that best represent this history. The addition of this component to the Coastal Plan reflects Carmel’s commitment to the preservation of its important historic resources and the City’s recognition of the role that historic resources play in defining community character. (LUP)

(Source: General Plan/Coastal Land Use Plan Land Use & Community Character Element Carmel-by-the-Sea Pages 1-20)



COMMENTS: Since the Historic Resources Board began deliberating on appeals of historic inventory designations by property owners of residences and commercial buildings on the City’s Inventory of Historic Resources, the rate of appeals granted is approximately 50%; that is, of the total 29 appeals since October 2005, 12 appeals have been granted and 11 appeals have been denied. If this rate continues for all of the approximately 95 appeals, then approximately half, or 48 residences/commercial buildings, will be removed from the Inventory of Historic Resources. After all the appeals, the original Inventory of approximately 300 historic resources, submitted to the California Coastal Commission as part of the City’s Local Coastal Program, will be an Inventory of approximately 252 historic properties.

Given the high rate of appeals granted by the Historic Resources Board and the City Council, did Mayor McCloud and City Administrator Guillen articulate to Kent Seavy, the professional compiler of the Inventory properties, strict criteria for selecting only the BEST historic properties for the Inventory. And if only the BEST were included in the Inventory, would the City have had an Inventory of 300 historic resources? After the appeals process is completed, will the City have an Inventory of only the BEST historic resources, or will the City have an Inventory of 205 dubious “historic resources” (those who did not appeal) and 47 BEST historic resources (those reviewed by the Historic Resources Board)?