From: Tom Hesseldenz
To: City Council
Cc: chapmanestatefoundation(cbamail.com
Subject: Fate of Chapman Estate
Date: Friday,February 14,2025 11:04:45 AM
External Email
Dear Council Members,
I lived the first 18 years of my life on Palomar Avenue in Shell Beach (1953-1971), and continued to visit my parents at that location until they moved away in 1990. 1 spend many days tide pooling below the Chapman Estate and enjoying seeing the beauty and mystic of it. finally had opportunities to walk through the property in my high school years when I was a volunteer server at the owners' community-oriented October parties.
The Chapman Estate is a jewel, and I was astounded and very excited to recently learn that the owners had gifted it to the City. Now I hear that the City is considering divesting itself from owning the property. If you do so, I emphatically encourage you to convey it to another publicly-oriented entity. It could go to the State as a historic site, or to the SLO Land Conservancy(although they tend to focus on undeveloped properties), or to the Chapman Estate Foundation. I would recommend the Foundation, because it is obviously deeply committed to the property and it is local.
My career led me to Mount Shasta,where I worked for The Nature Conservancy for 10 years managing the McCloud River Preserve,which was gifted to TNC by a private fishing club. TNC had me visit a number of other properties in the region where the owners wanted to sell land or easements to TNC, but TNC usually declined. In response, I founded a local land trust(The Siskiyou Land Trust),which has become hugely successful in recent years. Nonetheless, it has been highly unusual for a private landowner to outright gift their land to a public or non- profit entity. For the City of Pismo Beach to have been gifted the Chapman Estate is truly remarkable.
I realize all too well that there are major infrastructural considerations that came with the property, including an old main house in need of repairs, a guest cottage battered by large winter waves, a lighthouse threatened by cliff retreat, and ADA considerations in having a landscape and structures that are currently not compliant. The property will need substantial financial resources to resolve current maintenance and upgrade needs, as well as continue operations and maintenance into the future.
That being acknowledged,there are creative ways to secure short term and ongoing financial resources. At the McCloud River Preserve,we built a small rustic cabin for major donor visits that over the years has raised millions of dollars for TNC. At a recent 320-acre acquisition by the Siskiyou Land Trust that I'd been negotiating for literally 44 years,there is a similar rustic
cabin that will generate a similar amount of income, along with amain house that will serve as a residence for an onsite caretaker.
At the Chapman Estate,the guest cottage could be repaired for ongoing fundraising purposes, and the main house could be used for both a resident caretaker and major donor visits. The grounds could be rented for various events, and could also be available on a managed walk-in basis for the public to enjoy the beauty of the site. There are also various grants that could be obtained,that would be based on the historic value of the site and public access.
In conclusion, I strongly encourage you to choose a course of action that will be of greatest benefit to local residents,visitors to the area, and folks like me that used to live there and will always have a deep connection to the Chapman Estate. As a demonstration of my interest and commitment, I have already offered to donate my landscape architectural services to the Chapman Estate Foundation to help with exterior ADA compliance and retrofitting the landscape for managed public access and special events.
It will be in the City's best interest to keep this very unique and valuable gift in the public or non-profit sector. And again,from what I've learned, I think the Chapman Estate Foundation would be the best option.
Sincerely,
TO VVt,
Tom Hesseldenz, Owner/Principal
Tom Hesseldenz&Associates
Ecological Landscape Architecture
CA License#2018
Post Office Box 202
Mount Shasta, CA 96067
(530) 598-2802 (Mobile)
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