To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Molly Rattigan, Interim Community Development Director
Prepared By: Michael Walker, Senior Planner
TITLE:
Title
1514 Clay Street HRI Removal
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution approving the removal of the Local Landmark Designation from 1514 Clay Street (APN: 003-197-010) and determining that the actions authorized by the resolution are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Body
DISCUSSION:
The Applicant, Daniel Skivington, proposes that the Local Landmark property at 1514 Clay Street be removed from the City’s Historic Resources Inventory (HRI). The Property is not within a Local Landmark District or Potential Historic District. A more detailed project description is provided below, along with the Applicant’s historic analysis included as Attachment 2.
Pursuant to Napa Municipal Code (“NMC”) Section 15.52.060(B), removal of the designation of a Local Landmark must follow the same review procedure as identified in NMC Section 15.52.050 which outlines the process for the nomination of a Local Landmark or Local Landmark District. This includes approval by the City Council following review and recommendation from the Cultural Heritage Commission.
SITE CONTEXT AND HISTORY
The Site is located on the north side of Clay Street between Seminary Street and Franklin Street. The property is situated between the newly constructed Blue Oak School to the west, a restaurant to the east, and a public parking lot to the south across Clay Street. In the larger vicinity of the Site are various office and restaurant uses and a public parking garage. The Site and surrounding properties are not recognized as a Potential Historic District.
As described in detail in Attachment 2, Historic Analysis, 1514 Clay Street includes a one-story over basement primary building and a one-story rear building. The primary building is a Queen Anne-style single-family residence built in 1905 with one residential unit on the first floor and an office at the basement level. The property also includes a one-story vernacular cottage built around 1945, which has a single residential unit. The rear building features wood clapboard siding and a gabled roof with asphalt shingles.
Architecturally, both homes have been altered since their original construction. Typical windows on both buildings are double-hung vinyl windows in a variety of dimensions. Some windows feature applied designs mimicking stained glass or leaded divided lites.
Previous Cultural Heritage Commission Review
The Downtown Historic Survey prepared by Page & Turnbull in 2011 originally recommended removal of the subject property along with other properties found to be not eligible for listing.
In December 2011 and January 2012, the Commission removed a total of 407 properties from the Inventory based upon the properties being assigned a State status code of 6Z in these new surveys. A 6Z rating is defined as “found ineligible for National Register, California Register, or local designation through survey evaluation.” Based upon further recent review of these surveys, staff discovered that there were three additional properties in the Downtown survey area which were assigned a State status code of 6Z, but which were inadvertently left off the list of properties to be removed from the Inventory; 1512 Fourth Street (also known as 701-705 School Street), 801-809 Coombs Street, and this property at 1514 Clay Street.
The three properties were brought back to the Commission on November 1, 2012 for consideration for removal from the HRI (see Attachment 3, CHC Report & Minutes). During Commission deliberations, there was discussion that the properties at 1512 Fourth Street and 1514 Clay Street had “high historic value” or were in “pretty decent shape”, respectively. Ultimately, the Commission voted to remove 801 Coombs Street from the HRI and retaining 1512 Fourth Street and 1514 Clay Street on the HRI (see Attachment 3, CHC Report & Minutes).
PROJECT DESCRIPTION & ANALYSIS
The Applicant requests removal of the property from the Historic Resources Inventory only, no structural modifications or other alterations to the property are proposed with this application.
The following section provides staff’s analysis of the Project and summarizes the findings of Attachment 2, Historic Analysis, which describes the property’s eligibility to meet the state and national criteria for historic designation. The DPR 523A (Primary Record) form for the property at 1514 Clay Street provides updated and supplemental information to the DPR 523B and DPR 523L forms prepared by Page & Turnbull in 2011. The Report, which was provided by the Applicant, was prepared by Christina Dikas of Page and Turnbull who meets the Secretary of Interior Professional Qualification Standards which are intended to ensure decisions affecting historic properties are made by individuals who meet nationally recognized credentials to secure the credibility of historic preservation. The Qualification Standards are published in 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 61 and define the “minimum education and experience required to perform identification, evaluation, registration, and treatment activities. As such, Staff relies upon the Analysis provided in recommending removal of the designation.
A. Historic Analysis
The Report concludes that the property is not eligible for designation on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR). Both designations require that certain criteria be met to be eligible for the respective designations, the CRHR criteria are based on NRHP criteria. To be eligible it must be found that the Property is associated with broad patterns of history, associated with the life of a person significant in our past, be distinctive in its architecture or construction, or have the potential to yield or yield information important to history or prehistory (local or national). Ms. Dikas provides an analysis as to how none of these criteria could be met in the Report.
B. Historic Preservation Ordinance
The City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance (HPO) outlines the process required for the removal of a property from the HRI in NMC Section 15.52.060. Pursuant to NMC Section 15.52.060(C), to approve the removal of the designation, the City Council must find that the resource no longer meets the criteria for listing or designation.
C. Prior Historic Study
As noted above, the Site was included in the Downtown Historic Survey completed by Page & Turnbull in 2011 and was recommended for removal from the HRI.
D. Required Findings
Pursuant to NMC Section 15.52.060(C), the resolution removing the designation for a Listed Resource must include the facts and findings that support the City Council’s determination. The criteria for determining that a resource is no longer eligible for designation may include, but is not limited to, any of the following:
1. New information that compromises the significance of the resource.
2. Destruction of the resource through a catastrophic event that has rendered the resource a hazard to the public health, safety, or welfare.
3. Demolition, relocation, or removal of the resource.
The detailed Staff analysis for the required findings can be found in Attachment 1, Draft Resolution.
CULTURAL HERITAGE COMMISSION REVIEW & RECOMMENDATION
The Cultural Heritage Commission reviewed the request at their March 13, 2025 meeting. The Commission recommended, by a vote of 4-1, that the City Council approve the request to remove the property located at 1514 Clay Street from the HRI.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
No direct financial impacts to the General Fund have been identified with this application.
CEQA:
The Community Development Director has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), the Common Sense Exemption, where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question, removal of the Resource from the HRI, may have a significant effect on the environment. This is primarily because any decision to remove the property from the historic resource inventory list will not lead to any physical change in the environment as no changes are proposed to the actual structure at this time. The City Council’s adoption of the resolution would merely remove the property from the list without any change in the environment.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Resolution
EX A - Historical Analysis
ATCH 2 - Historical Analysis
ATCH 3 - CHC Report & Minutes - November 1, 2012
NOTIFICATION:
Notice of the scheduled public hearing was provided on April 4, 2025 by US Postal Service to all property owners within a 500-foot radius of the subject property. Notice of the public hearing was also published in the Napa Valley Register on April 3, 2025, and provided to people previously requesting notice on the matter at the same time notice was provided to the newspaper for publication.