Sacramento Preservation Commission Meeting: SMUD HQ Rehab Review and Comment, September 16, 2015
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Sacramento Preservation Commission Meeting – September 16, 2015
The Sacramento Preservation Commission met on Wednesday, September 16, 2015, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at New City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento. The meeting was called to order at 5:38 p.m. All seven commissioners were present, with Chair Eric Fuller and Commissioner Caru Bowns arriving late (at 5:55 p.m. and 5:47 p.m., respectively). Vice Chair Chad Moffett presided until Chair Fuller arrived. The commission reviewed the rehabilitation of the SMUD Headquarters, a National Register-listed property, as a courtesy review and comment item, approved the prior meeting minutes, and received the Preservation Director's report. The meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of August 19, 2015, on a motion by Commissioner Marshack, seconded by Commissioner Piner, with a 5:0:2 vote; Commissioners Fuller and Bowns were absent at the time (5:0:2; absent: Fuller, Bowns).
Director Report
- Preservation Director Roberta Deering reported an appeal by Unite Here Local 49 of the Commission's decision on the Hyatt Boutique Hotel; the appeal will go to City Council (date not set).
- Announced that the Sacramento Register's August 2015 update is online, and the California Historic Properties Directory is being integrated with Sacramento City listings.
- The report was received and filed.
Discussion Items: DR15-177 SMUD HQ Rehab
- Staff and applicant presentations. Staff noted this was a courtesy review and comment because the property is on the National Register, not the Sacramento Register; no final action was taken.
- Project description: Rehabilitate SMUD Headquarters, including a 20,000 sq ft addition to the building's central core; 147,400 +/- sq ft office building, 50,300 +/- sq ft attached parking structure, and approx. 404 surface parking spaces on 19.7 acres in C-4 zone. Listed National Register in 2010.
- Applicant team: SMUD (Steve Johns, Doug Norwood), Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects (Chris Barkley), and Calender Associates (Ben Woodside) presented. They emphasized meeting Secretary of Interior Standards, preserving mid-century modern character, addressing seismic/ADA/fire/life-safety deficiencies, hazardous materials abatement, and sustainability, including water-efficient landscaping.
- Ex parte disclosures: Commissioner Moffett met with SMUD on Sept. 2; Commissioner Marshack met with SMUD on Sept. 3; Commissioner Piner drove around the site on Sept. 3.
- Commissioner questions/comments:
- Commissioner Marshack asked whether SMUD would consider Sacramento Register listing; SMUD said it would take that to executives/board. He also raised visitor bike parking, pathway alignment, and questioned the replacement of terrazzo walkways and extensive vegetation removal; he encouraged listing, visible visitor bike parking, and preserving the curved pathway alignment.
- Commissioner Piner questioned the performance of interior shading for new west-facing glass at the core expansion; he commended thorough work but was curious about long-term energy performance.
- Commissioner Bowns asked about heritage tree protection and public access for the self-guided arborist tour; the landscape architect confirmed protection and rehabilitation of the tour with digital apps.
- Commissioner Huck asked about restoration of removed historic elements; the team cited wood tables/benches to be remilled from a removed redwood.
- Staff comment (Roberta Deering) praised the design as respectful of historic character and comparable to award-winning additions elsewhere.
Public Comments – Matters Not on the Agenda
- None.
Member Comments
- Commissioner Marshack raised concern that National Register-listed properties are not automatically reviewed with approval authority by the Commission, since the Sacramento Register listing criteria are less rigorous than National Register criteria; he suggested future deliberation on aligning review authority for historic resources.
- Commissioner Fuller echoed the concern about the dichotomy.
Key Outcomes
- The commission reviewed and commented on the SMUD HQ rehabilitation; no formal approval was given (review and comment only).
- The commission approved the August 19, 2015 meeting minutes.
- The Director Report was received and filed.
- No public comment was received for non-agenda items.
- Commissioners agreed to consider the issue of National Register versus Sacramento Register review authority at a future date.
Meeting Transcript
Going on here. 2016, uh September 16th, 2015, Preservation Commission uh meeting to order. Uh just remind people to uh silence any cell phones or um any other electronic devices um and there are speaker slips in the back of the room if anyone would like to uh speak on any matters on the agenda um you can fill out the speaker slip and return it to uh the commission secretary here on the left hand side of the room and with that we will call the roll commissioner bounds absent commissioner forrest commissioner huck here commissioner Piner here Commissioner Moffat here Commissioner Marshaker Fuller is not here yet we have a quorum the next item on the agenda is the consent calendar, which includes um the uh minutes from the August 19th uh meeting. Um commissioners have had a chance to uh review the minutes, have any clarifications, questions, or comments? Otherwise, uh entertain a motion. Up the meeting minutes. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh Commissioner Marshak. You accept the minutes from the last meeting as is. Do I hear a second? I will second. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed. Motion carries. Um next uh item on the agenda is the director's report. And the director has a report today. Um I just wanted to let you know that the uh there was an appeal filed on the Hyatt Boutique Hotel item appealing your decision to the city council by Unite Here Local 49, and we will be um taking that to the city council. No date yet, as we know. And also um the uh city of Sacramento has been blessed to have uh three planning interns over the summer, one of which was able to be uh helping the preservation director and Dakota Smith from UC Davis has been working with Suzanne Cook over here and the clerk's table to get the Sacramento Register. The August 2015 update is now online, and we are getting the um California Historic Properties Directory from the State Office of Historic Preservation. Their IT people are working hard to get that so it's available for all the Sacramento City listings in the National and California Register, and that as soon as we get that, we'll put that in there with them. If you are trying to find it online, you go to the community development department's home page and go to planning and then go to urban design and then go to preservation, and when you get on that preservation page, you'll see Sacramento Register listing, and then there's also a map of all the historic districts as well, which is also in the Sacramento Register. The Sacramento Register Online version is also individual sections or PDFs, so you don't have to open the whole thing, which takes a long time, or it's all together if you do want to open the whole thing and and take a look at it in that form. So with that, that concludes my report. Thank you. Excellent. Um the next item on the agenda is um item uh DR 15-177, the SMUD H uh headquarters rehab. Um just uh it's not required, but uh just wanted to make any ex parte disclosures. I know that um I had a meeting on September 2nd at the SMED headquarters uh to talk about the project. So if there's any other commissioners that would like to um Commissioner Marshak. And uh that was prior to us getting the materials for this meeting. Commissioner Piner. Yes, I attended a meeting on September 3rd. I didn't walk around. I drove around though uh after our meeting. Sock uh yes, I uh met with SMUD also September 3rd and reviewed the proposal all yours. Good evening, preservation commissioners and uh Vice Chair Moffitt. Um tonight I'm gonna present the SMUD headquarters site and building uh rehabilitation. This is not uh, as you can see by the denotation of the DR moniker on this project. This is not a typical preservation project per our code. Uh since the building and the site are on the National Register of Historic Places and it's not on the local Sacramento Register. Uh this evening uh there will be no final action taken on this. This is a courtesy review and comment uh as this as this goes through the uh sequel component uh which uh SMUD was the lead agency on. Um so although you're not taking a final action, what staff and the applicants would like to receive this evening or any comments that you have on the project uh in general. Um I'd like to thank the entire project team. Um I think we got everybody, right? Yeah.
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