SUBJECT: REQUEST DESIGNATION OF BUILDINGS ELIGIBLE FOR CITY LANDMARK STATUS IN THE DOWNTOWN CORE AREA
COUNCIL DISTRICT: 3
The Historic Landmarks Commission recommends that the City Council adopt resolutions designating each of the following five properties as landmarks of special historic, architectural, cultural, aesthetic or engineering interest or value of a historic nature.
1. HL01-124 Center for the Performing Arts, 241-271 Park Avenue
2. HL01-128 Costa & Miller Building, 520 S. First Street
3. HL01-137 Wright/Bailey House, 312-314 S. Third Street
4. HL01-138 Masson Building, 161 W. Santa Clara Street
5. HL01-139 Farmer’s Union Building, 151 W. Santa Clara Street
BACKGROUND
In 1998 City Council directed Planning staff to conduct historic resource surveys in the downtown to ensure the careful consideration of historic resources in land use and development planning. Phase I consisted of the Downtown Core Area.
In September 2000 the Historic Resource Survey for the Downtown Core, Phase I, was completed and submitted to Planning and the Redevelopment Agency. The Historic Landmarks Commission discussed the survey at their September 2000 meeting. The City Council reviewed and accepted these survey results on May 2, 2001.
The purpose of the survey was to gain an accurate inventory of the existing historic resources within the Core Area and to identify potential City Landmarks and historic districts as well as those buildings eligible for the California and National registers. The boundaries for the survey were State Highway 87 on the west, Interstate 280 on the south, North and South Fourth Street on the east and the historic alignment of East and West Julian Street on the north.
The consultants, the Dill Design Group, surveyed 281 properties in the Core Area. Of the 281 properties, 143 were found to be potentially eligible for the San Jose Inventory. Of these properties 22 are potentially eligible as City Landmarks and 64 of the properties are potentially eligible for the California and/or National registers.
The Landmarks Commission recommended initiation of 18 Candidate City Landmark properties at their June 6, 2001 meeting (5-0-1, Bloom absent). On August 14, 2001, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 70574 to initiate proceedings to begin the designation process for the 18 buildings and referred the matter back to the Historic Landmarks Commission for a public hearing on September 12, 2001.
At that public hearing, the Historic Landmarks Commission voted to recommend designation for 13 of the 18 properties and recommended that five of those properties be deferred, at the owner’s request, to their November 7, 2001 meeting. On October 2, 2001, the City Council held a public hearing and designated 13 of the 18 properties and deferred consideration of the five properties until the December 4, 2001 meeting. On November 7, 2001, the Historic Landmarks Commission held a public hearing to consider the five deferrals. At that meeting, the Commission heard the public testimony and recommended designation of all five of the properties.
On November 7, 2001 the Historic Landmarks Commission held a public hearing to consider recommending designation for five proposed City Landmarks. A brief summary of the discussion for each item is outlined below.
HL01-124 Center for the Performing Arts. John Olsen, representing PAC*SJ spoke in favor of the proposed designation, noting that PAC*SJ had not taken an official position on the designation. Shirley Lewis, Steven McCray, Stewart Slater and Andrew Bales spoke in opposition to the designation, primarily noting functional problems with the structure’s current use and expressing concern about the age of the building. Steven McCray read a letter written by Bill Gould into the public record opposing designation as well. After hearing the public testimony and discussion, the Historic Landmarks Commission voted to recommend that the City Council designate this structure as a City Landmark (6-0-1 Youmans opposed).
HL01-128 Costa and Miller Building. At that meeting, Gary Schaezlein, the property owner, spoke in opposition to the proposed designation due to public improvements he believes the City should make to this block. Mr. Schaezlein stated in response to a question from the Commission that he did not oppose City Landmark designation itself but was frustrated by the lack of City investment on this block of South First Street. The Commission voted to recommend designation of this structure as a Landmark and also recommended that a referral be written to the Director of Public Works and the Director of the Redevelopment Agency requesting that these agencies work with Planning and the property owner to investigate the possibility of public improvements for this block. (7-0-0 unanimous).
HL01-137 Wright Bailey House. Masoud Shahidi, property owner, spoke in favor of the designation and expressed concern about the homeless problem on Third Street and the Emergency Housing Consortium proposed to be located on South Third Street. The Historic Landmarks Commission unanimously voted to recommend that this structure be designated as a City Landmark and recommended that the residential character of the streetscape be maintained if new projects are proposed (7-0-0 unanimous).
HL01-138 Masson Building and HL01-139 Farmer’s Union Building. Sarah McEnery, representing the property owner for both the Farmer’s Union Building (151 W. Santa Clara Street) and the Masson Building (161 W. Santa Clara Street), spoke in favor of the designation. While supportive of the designation, she asked that the Commission defer designation until March 2002 because the owners are in the process of entering into a façade easement agreement with History San Jose and their legal counsel and historic consultant advised them to request deferral on the designation. The owner’s letter of request for deferral is attached. The Commission unanimously voted to recommend designation of the Masson Building and the Farmer’s Union Building while also recommending that the City Council defer the designation until March 2002 at the request of the property owner (7-0-0 unanimous).
Public workshops on the Downtown Core Historic Resources Survey were held during the fall of 2000 and winter of 2001. Copies of the survey report have been sent to the Redevelopment Agency, the California Room of the Martin Luther King Junior Library, History San Jose and to the Preservation Action Council of San Jose. The Planning Department has added all San Jose Inventory eligible sites to its Inventory of historic properties, which is used by the Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement for reviewing development permits.
In addition to the public meetings, information on the candidate landmarks and the designation process is featured on the City’s website and at the Planning Department. Large-scale photo-boards of the historic sites have been mounted at the entrance to the Planning Department for public review. The photo-boards have been a useful public outreach tool for the Department and for public meetings. The same information is featured on the City’s website, outlining the process for designation and background information on each candidate landmark.
The designation process for the City Landmarks has been coordinated with the Redevelopment Agency.
JOSEPH HORWEDEL, ACTING DIRECTOR
Planning, Building and Code Enforcement