8E
Date: February 25, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Historic Preservation Commission and
Michelle Ramirez, Community Development Director
By: Brice Kennedy, Planning Assistant | [email protected] Subject: Community Development – Accept and File 2024 Historic Preservation Commission Annual Report. Expenditure: None.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation of the Historic Preservation Commission and Community Development Director that City Council accept and file the 2024 Historic Preservation Annual Report.
FUNDING
None required.
DISCUSSION
On January 16, 2025, staff presented the 2024 Annual Report to the Historic Preservation Commission. The report summarized the activities of the Historic Preservation Commission for the period January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024. Upon conclusion of the item, the Historic Preservation Commission approved the 2024 Annual Report and moved that it be forwarded to City Council for acceptance and filing.
A copy of the 2024 Annual Report has been attached for City Council’s information. It would be appropriate for the City Council to now accept and file this report.
ATTACHMENT
1. 2024 Historic Preservation Annual Report
1 ATTACHMENT 1
City of Torrance
Historic Preservation Commission
Annual Report
January 2024 to December 2024
Powers and Duties of the Commission
The Historic Preservation Commission makes decisions and provides input regarding matters concerning properties that are requesting designation or have been designated historic resources.
Commission Members
The Historic Preservation Commission is comprised of seven members, residents of the community, appointed by the City Council to serve a four-year term and no more than two consecutive terms.
The following Commission members served on the Historic Preservation Commission between January 2024 and December 2024. Commission members are appointed by the City Council for a term of four years. Chairperson Trivelli and Vice Chairperson Mia Higginbotham were appointed on July 18, 2024. On May 18, 2024, Commissioner Maureen O’Donnell passed away leaving a seat of the Commission vacant.
On July 2, 2024, the City Council reappointed Marifrances Trivelli to another term and did not fill the vacant seat.
Commissioner Term Begins Current Term
Gene Higginbotham 7/1/2022 7/1/2022 - 6/30/2026
Mia Higginbotham (Vice Chair) 7/1/2023 7/1/2023 - 6/30/2027 Mia Kartsonis 8/9/2022 8/9/2022 - 6/30/2026
Adam Schwartz 7/1/2023 7/1/2023 - 6/30/2025
Marifrances Trivelli (Chair) 7/1/2024 7/1/2024 - 6/30/2028 Kurt Weideman 7/1/2023 7/1/2023 - 6/30/2027
Vacant Term Expires 6/30/2025
Meetings
The Historic Preservation Commission is regularly scheduled to meet on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. The meetings for January 2024 to December 2024 were held in the West Annex Commission Room within the West Annex of Torrance City Hall.
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The Historic Preservation Commission met on the following dates:
January 18, 2024 June 20, 2024 November 21, 2024
March 21, 2024 August 15, 2024
May 16, 2024 September 19, 2024
Summary of Annual Activities
In 2024, the Historic Preservation Commission held 7 meetings, during which a total of 11 agenda items were reviewed including 2 public hearings.
Administrative Matters
The Commission considered the following under Administrative Matters:
▪ 2023 Year End Summary of the Historic Preservation Commission ▪ 2024 Meeting Calendar for the Historic Preservation Commission ▪ Mills Act and Landmark designation refresher presentation ▪ Mills Act Overview
▪ Conducted a Public Outreach Discussion
▪ Reviewed the Historic Preservation Month Proclamation from City Council ▪ Reviewed a Summary of Outreach Efforts with a recommendation of the Community Development Director to receive and file the report and discuss future events with the Torrance Historical Society
▪ Appointed Chairperson Trivelli and Vice Chairperson M. Higginbotham ▪ Discussed and provided direction for the creation of a Historic Preservation Commission Annual Report to the City Council.
Hearings
The Commission considered the following under Public Hearings:
Approval of HPC24-00002: RANDELL S. KLINENBERG
The Historic Preservation Commission conducted a public hearing to consider approval of a Historic Landmark Designation for an existing single-family residence on property located in the R-2 Zone, Torrance Tract Overlay at 2268 Sonoma Street. This project is Categorically Exempt from CEQA per Guidelines Sections 15308 – Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment and 15331 – Historical Resource Restoration/Rehabilitation. (Res. No. 24-001)
Approval of HPC24- 00003: ROBERT & ELYSE IMAMURA
The Historic Preservation Commission conducted a public hearing to consider approval of a Historic Landmark Designation for an existing single-family residence on property located in the R-1 Zone, Torrance Tract Overlay at 917 Acacia Avenue. This project is Categorically Exempt from CEQA per Guidelines Sections 15308 – Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment and 15331 – Historical Resource Restoration/Rehabilitation. (Res. No. 24-002)
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Community Engagement Attendance Activities and Outreach Per the request of the Historic Preservation Commission, staff has conducted outreach to raise awareness about the Historic Preservation program. For the 2024 Historic Preservation Month of May, staff and members of the Historic Preservation Commission worked with the Community Engagement Team to post a photo and one historical fact per day on the City’s Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook accounts. In addition, 760 Historic Preservation Program flyers were mailed to property owners of contributing or altered contributing homes.
Members of the Historic Preservation Commission and City Staff have attended City sponsored events in the past year with the goal of promoting the Historic Preservation Program. On Thursday, November 28, 2024, members of the Commission hosted a table at th e 44th Annual Harry Sutter Memorial Turkey Trot Fun Run and distributed free merchandise related to the Program to attendees. On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, Community Development staff hosted a table at the Annual Holiday Stroll in Downtown Torrance and distributed flyers to promote the Program and share information with property owners related to the Mills Act. Several property owners were interested in the landmark designation process and requested Staff to follow up with them. Free merchandise related to the Program, including the ‘I Love Torrance Historic Preservation’ stickers, we’re distributed to attendees of the Annual Holiday Stroll and the Torrance Historical Society’s Original Fall Tour of Old Torrance Historic Homes on October 13 and 14, 2024.
Historic Preservation Program Flyer
At several of the Commission meetings, Commissioners discussed reaching out to property owners in the Torrance Tract area. During these meetings, the Commission discussed the possibility of sending out a flyer promoting the Historic Preservation Program, which includes the Landmark Designation and Mills Act property tax rebate programs. Staff sent out 760 mailers to property owners of contributing and altered- contributing homes. Approximately 20 homeowners have reached out to the City inquiring about the program since the flyers were mailed out, including two properties that were designated a Historic Landmark. Many of which are interested in Landmarking their homes and taking advantage of the property tax rebate program.
Historic Preservation Month Designation
The Month of May 2024 was designated as Historic Preservation Month by the Torrance City Council at their regular meeting on May 7 th, 2024. Commissioner Adam Schwartz accepted the Proclamation on behalf of the Historic Preservation Commission from the City Council.
Historic Preservation Month Social Media Outreach
Historic Preservation Commissioners, Kartsonis, Schwartz and Weideman, with the help of Tom Brewer and the Historical Society, curated this year’s pictures and captions for the social media outreach efforts. Staff worked with the Community Engagement Team to post on Facebook, Instagram, and X. A photo (or photos) and a historical fact about the City of Torrance was posted daily in the month of May.
Overall, the campaign resulted in an over 300% increase in page views for the Historic Preservation Program. For comparison, last year there was a 112% increase in visits. 3 4
Future Aspirations and Areas of Interest of the Commission In 2025, The Historic Preservation Commissioners and Staff will continue to work together to promote the Historic Preservation Program with the goal of increasing the number of applications for landmark designation of historic property within the Torrance Tract. This will be accomplished through continued successful community engagement and outreach utilizing community events and online spaces to build awareness and support.
This upcoming year, Commission members will attend and host a table at the City Yard Open House to promote the Program to Torrance residents and answer any questions regarding the Commission.
As directed by the City Council, staff is in the process of exploring the possibility of expanding the current Historic Preservation Program to include commercial property within the Torrance Tract. This would allow the Program to further include historic property within the City and encourage additional property owners to take advantage of the opportunity to apply for landmark designation statu s. It is the desire of th e Historic Preservation Commission to expand the program citywide in the future. 4 5