BACKGROUND:
The Historic Preservation Committee met on September 21, 2021 and during that meeting the draft historic preservation ordinance was introduced and a discussion was led by Chairperson John Rivera, who prepared the original draft. The Committee members agreed to further review the draft, submit any suggested revisions to staff and come to the next meeting prepared to further discuss the draft ordinance. Staff reviewed the comments submitted and conducted a review of the ordinance, revised the draft to incorporate suggestions made by committee members and by staff.
The Committee met again on October 26, 2021 and further reviewed the draft ordinance. It was suggested the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians should also review and comment on the draft. The City Manager and Committee Member Charlotte Hunter-Copper met with officials from the THPO on November 2, 2021. They suggested some language similar to what the Tribe provided for the Palm Springs ordinance and that has been incorporated into the draft as well.
On November 30, 2021, the Committee met and voted to forward the draft ordinance to the City Council with a recommendation for approval. Subsequently the ordinance as approved by the Committee was forwarded to the THPO for final review and for consideration by the Tribal Council. Later in the spring, further comments were received back from the Tribe and have been incorporated in the draft ordinance, which has now been reviewed and formatted by the Cathedral City Attorney’s office.
The Historic Preservation Committee met again on August 23, 2022 to review the final revisions made to the ordinance as a result of the ACBCI review. The committee voted unanimously to forward the ordinance to Council with a recommendation for approval.
The draft ordinance was presented to the City Council during a study session on September 14, 2022. Council and the City Attorney had some concern that it needed to be clearer in the ordinance that the review process was initiated through an application from the property owner while also suggesting some formatting changes to improve the flow of the ordinance related to the review and approval processes. Council asked the City Attorney to make the recommended revisions and then to refer the ordinance back to the Historic Preservation Committee for a final review.
The Historic Preservation Committee met on October 25, 2022 to review the proposed revisions to the ordinance and to discuss the outstanding issue of how to deal with historic districts. Patricia Garcia, the ACBCI Historic Preservation Officer, spoke during the meeting and expressed tribal support for the ordinance. Ultimately the Committee voted to forward the revised ordinance to the Council with a recommendation for approval and to remove all reference to historic districts. The Committee felt they would like to get the ordinance itself put into place and they could discuss issues related to historic districts in further detail in the future.
The ordinance was introduced and provided first reading during the November 9, 2022 Council meeting.
DISCUSSION:
The intent of the ordinance is identified in the opening section:
This chapter is adopted for the purpose of recognizing historical events and people, preserving areas and specific buildings of the city which reflect elements of its cultural, social, economic, political, architectural and archaeological history. This chapter is intended to stabilize and improve buildings, structures or areas which are considered to be of historical, architectural, archaeological or ecological value, to foster civic beauty, to strengthen the local economy and to promote the use of specific buildings and sites for the education and welfare of the citizens.
The ordinance contains a definitions section designed to make it clear that historic preservation authority on tribal lands rests with the tribe not with the City.
The ordinance provides the process for designating historic sites begins with an application from the property owner and outlines the documentation which must be submitted as part of the application. Upon receipt of a complete application by the property owner, City staff shall conduct or cause to be conducted such surveys, studies or investigations as it deems necessary to determine whether the subject property qualifies for a Historic Site designation. The applicant shall pay for all costs associated with such surveys, studies or investigations. The applicant may submit such surveys, studies or investigations with its application, and City staff shall determine whether any additional surveys, studies or investigations are necessary.
The ordinance also outlines the public hearing and public notification processes required for both Historic Preservation Committee and City Council hearings.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Some staff time will be required to manage the application and designation process.
The ordinance provides for the adoption of fees to recover the costs through a separate fee resolution.