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PLN20-0431 - Delisting from Historical Building Study List and Certificate of Approval - 620 Central Avenue - Alameda Federal Center. Applicant: Alameda Point Collaborative. Public hearing to consider delisting the Alameda Federal Center site at 620 Central Avenue from the Historical Building Study List. In addition, the applicant requests a Certificate of Approval to demolish two main buildings and four accessory structures on the project site. The property is listed on the Historical Building Study List with an “s” designation. The City of Alameda has prepared an Addendum to a Mitigated Negative Declaration pursuant to Section 15164 of the CEQA Guidelines and no further environmental review is required.
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To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Historical Advisory Board
From: Henry Dong, Planner III
Date: May 6, 2021
BACKGROUND
On March 4, 2021 the Historical Advisory Board (HAB) held a public hearing to review the request to delist the Alameda Federal Center from the Historical Building Study List and directed staff and the applicant to return with additional information about the historical status of the site, including the 1996 Page and Turnbull report which was the basis of a 2003 State Office of Historical Preservation determination that the property was not eligible for inclusion on the National Register (Exhibit 1). A copy of the staff report and exhibits can be found on the City website by clicking here. <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4809153&GUID=A445FD85-3D49-412A-AF2E-C06F94BC4759&Options=&Search>
On March 23, 2021, the 1996 Page and Turnbull report <https://www.alamedaca.gov/Departments/Planning-Building-and-Transportation/Planning-Division/Major-Planning-Projects> (including the Historic Building Preservation Plan and Supporting Materials for Determination of Eligibility National Register of Historic Places - Alameda Federal Center) was made available to the HAB and posted on the City website. The delisting request has been refined to include only the northern 3.65-acre portion of the 7.5-acre Alameda Federal Center site. The remaining portion would remain listed on the Historical Building Study List under the appropriate address. Pursuant to City staff’s request, Page and Turnbull prepared an updated written opinion regarding the 3.65-acre subject site for delisting (Exhibit 2). The latest opinion from Page and Turnbull dated April 28, 2021 evaluates the 3.65-acre site, and confirms that the property is not eligible for inclusion on any national, state, or local historic resources inventory due to a significant loss of integrity. Specifically, Page and Turnbull’s review of Alameda’s Historical Building Study List criteria also concludes that the property is not eligible for inclusion in the Study List at any level. Although the property is included on the City’s Historical Building Study List with an “s” designation, subsequent analysis has determined that there was significant loss of integrity such that the site is not eligible for inclusion on the National Register, California Register, as Alameda Historical Monuments, or on the Alameda Historical Building Study List.
The applicant also filed a Certificate of Approval application to demolish Buildings 1 and 2, and four accessory buildings as shown on the site plan (Exhibit 3). The Certificate of Approval application gives the HAB an alternative option if it wishes to keep the 3.65-acre site on the Historical Building Study List and approve a Certificate of Approval which authorizes the demolition of Buildings 1 and 2 and four accessory buildings in order for the project to move forward.
Staff recommends approval of either the delisting request for the 3.65-acre site or Certificate of Approval for demolition based on the determinations in the 1996 Page & Turnbull report, the 2003 State Office of Historic Preservation letter, and the April 2021 Page & Turnbull memorandum.
DISCUSSION
The 2021 Page and Turnbull memorandum provides a brief description of the subject buildings and their historic context, discussion of major alterations that have occurred to the subject buildings, and changes to the overall Alameda Federal Center site in recent years. The memorandum provides an updated opinion to the 1996 historical evaluation and explains specifically the eligibility of the site for listing on the National Register, California Register, as Alameda Historical Monuments, or on the Alameda Historical Buildings Study List.
Page & Turnbull explains that in order to qualify for listing in any national, state, or local historic register, a property or landscape must possess significance under at least one evaluative criterion, and most importantly, retain integrity. While the Alameda Federal Center property has associations with the World War II-era, it has lost considerable integrity of design, materials, setting, feeling, and association (the evaluative criteria) with its historic period of significance through demolitions, redevelopment of the original training facility on adjacent parcels, and significant alterations to the existing buildings. The previous demolition of southern wings of Building 2 on the subject parcel, and Buildings 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the neighboring parcel, have led to an additional loss of integrity of the complex. In addition, the accessory buildings are not contributors to the significance of the training facility. The remaining buildings on the site are unable to convey their significant associations with either their historic use as the Maritime Service Officers School, or as an architectural example of a modern campus. As individual buildings, because the complex was designed as a whole without strong focal buildings, none of the buildings on the property are distinctive. Those structures that remain on the subject site do not convey the special nature of this property’s historic maritime training mission during and after World War II, or yield scientific or historic information to future researchers. Page & Turnbull concludes that the heavily modified buildings that remain do not retain sufficient integrity of setting, location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, or association to be eligible for listing on the National Register or the California Register. Page and Turnbull arrived at the same conclusion upon reviewing the property with Alameda’s criteria for Historic Monument designation and for listing on the Historical Buildings Study List.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The 2021 Page & Turnbull memorandum confirms previous conclusions that the 3.65-acre site including Buildings 1 and 2 (including 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D), have lost significant integrity, and the four accessory buildings (Buildings 8, 9, 10, and 13) are not contributors to the significance of the training facility. While there is an association with the site and the WWII era, the significant loss of integrity in the site’s setting, location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, renders the buildings ineligible for national, state, or local listing. Based on this information, staff recommends that the HAB remove the 3.65-acre portion of the Alameda Federal Center site from the Historical Buildings Study List.
The Board may choose from one of the following three alternatives
1. Approve the delisting of the 3.65-acre site from the Historical Building Study List (Exhibit 4).
Discussion: Removing the site from the Historical Building Study List would allow the applicant to apply for demolition permits to demolish said buildings.
2. Approve a Certificate of Approval for the demolition of the Buildings 1 and 2 (including 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D), and the four accessory buildings on the project site (Exhibit 5).
Discussion: Approving a Certificate of Approval would allow the applicant to apply for demolition permits to demolish said buildings. The site would remain listed on the Historical Buildings Study List for commemoration of the site’s war time association. The HAB has approved demolition of buildings on sites it believes remain historically important but where the buildings themselves have lost integrity.
3. Deny both the Delisting and Certificate of Approval.
Discussion: The Board could disagree with the supporting documentation and analysis provided and deny both requests. Denying the Certificate of Approval, in particular, would require the applicant of the McKay Wellness Center project to attempt to modify or rehabilitate the existing buildings to meet current building codes which the applicant has indicated may render the project infeasible.
Based on the analysis provided in Page and Turnbull’s 1996 Historic Building Preservation Plan and 2021 Memorandum, staff recommends the HAB approve the delisting (Option 1). Alternatively, the Board may approve a Certificate of Approval (Option 2), which would leave the site on the Historical Buildings Study List. Should the HAB disagree with staff, then staff recommends the HAB deny the delisting and Certificate of Approval (Option 3). Pursuant to Alameda Municipal Code section 30-25, any final decisions of the Board can be appealed to the City Council or called for review by the City Council.
PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENTS:
Property owners and residents within 300 feet of the project’s boundaries were notified of the public hearing and given the opportunity to review and comment on the proposal. Staff received a considerable amount of public interest in regards to this project. All public comments received can be found at the following link <https://www.alamedaca.gov/Departments/Planning-Building-and-Transportation/Planning-Division/Major-Planning-Projects>.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
In December 2018, the City Council adopted a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP) in compliance with CEQA for the McKay Wellness Center (Alameda Federal Center Reuse Project). The MND can be found on the City website by clicking here <https://www.alamedaca.gov/Departments/Planning-Building-and-Transportation/Planning-Division/Major-Planning-Projects> and is incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. In accordance with Section 15164 of the CEQA Guidelines, the City of Alameda, as the lead agency under CEQA, prepared an Addendum to the Mitigated Negative Declaration, which provides a detailed and comprehensive review of the minor changes to the project, and concludes that delisting of the project site from the Historical Buildings Study List and issuance of the Certificate of Approval do not raise important new issues about the significant impacts on the environment that have not been previously disclosed in the MND, and no further environmental review is required (Exhibit 6).
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a public hearing and approve the resolution to delist the Alameda Federal Center site from the Historical Buildings Study List.
Respectfully Submitted:
Henry Dong, Planner III
Reviewed By:
Allen Tai, City Planner
Exhibits:
1. 2003 OHP Determination Letter
2. April 2021 Page & Turnbull Memorandum
3. Site Plan
4. Draft Resolution for Delisting
5. Draft Resolution for Certificate of Approval
6. Addendum to the Mitigated Negative Declaration