Title
[Pass for Publication] Ordinance Listing San Francisco Boulevard as a Landmark on the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources (M24-006)
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FileID
File ID: 2025-00787
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Location
Location: San Francisco Boulevard, between Stockton Boulevard and 55th Street, District 6
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Recommendation
Recommendation:1) Review an ordinance listing San Francisco Boulevard as a landmark on the Sacramento register of historic and cultural resources; and 2) pass for publication the ordinance title per Sacramento City Charter section 32(c) for City Council consideration on May 20, 2025.
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Contact
Contact: Sean de Courcy, Preservation Director, (916) 808-2796, sdecourcy@cityofsacramento.org, Community Development Department
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Presenter
Presenter: None
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Attachments
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Background
3-Ordinance
4-Historic Resource Evaluation for San Francisco Boulevard
5-Public Comments
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Description/Analysis
IssueDetail
Issue Detail: Following the preservation commission’s review and comment on San Francisco Boulevard at its September 18, 2024, meeting, the commission requested that staff pursue listing it on the Sacramento register of historic and cultural resources (Sacramento register). Staff presented a Statement of Nomination to the preservation director who concluded at a public hearing on January 23, 2025, that San Francisco Boulevard (Nominated Resource) appears eligible for listing on the Sacramento register pursuant to the criteria provided in Sacramento City Code section 17.604.210.A.1.a.iii. On February 19, 2025, the preservation commission held a hearing and passed a motion recommending the City Council adopt an ordinance listing the Nominated Resource on the Sacramento register. Staff has prepared a draft ordinance (Attachment 3) that justifies listing the Nominated Resource as a landmark on the Sacramento register.
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PolicyConsiderations
Policy Considerations: The City Council has found “that significant aspects of the City’s rich and diverse historic resources deserve recognition and preservation to foster an understanding of our heritage, and to promote the public health and safety and the economic and general welfare of the people of the city. The preservation and continued use of historic resources are effective tools to sustain and revitalize neighborhoods and business districts within the city, enhance the city’s economic, cultural and aesthetic standing, its identity, its livability, marketability and urban character.” (City Code, § 17.604.100.A.). To this end, the city code directs the Preservation Director, to “make preliminary determinations relative to properties’ eligibility for listing on the Sacramento register” and to “initiate proceedings to nominate resources for listing on the Sacramento register.” (City Code, §§ 17.604.100.C.2 and 17.604.220).
The nomination of the San Francisco Boulevard for listing as a landmark on the Sacramento register is consistent with the goals of the Sacramento 2040 General Plan, which provides for the identification and preservation of historical and cultural resources. General Plan policy HCR-2.3 states, “The City shall maintain and update the Sacramento Register… proactively identifying and listing additional unidentified landmarks.” The nomination is also consistent with the Stockton Boulevard Specific Plan, which recommends pursuing the designation of eligible historic landmarks and districts, specifically including San Francisco Boulevard.
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EconomicImpacts
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
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EnvironmentalConsiderations
Environmental Considerations: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): Listing the Nominated Resource as a historic landmark on the Sacramento register is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15308. Section 15308 exempts from CEQA review acts that are undertaken to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment. Listing the Nominated Resource as a historic landmark would ensure that future development on the site would undergo preservation review, as part of the city’s site plan and design review process, prior to the granting of any entitlements, thereby protecting the historic resource, which would be considered part of the environment.
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Sustainability
Sustainability: Not applicable.
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Commission/Committee Action
Commission/Committee Action: On January 23, 2025, the City of Sacramento’s Preservation Director, in conformance with section 17.604.220 of the City Code, held a public hearing, reviewed the historic analysis prepared by Melissa Mourkas, ASLA (Attachment 4), and concurred with a draft statement of nomination and directed staff to prepare a draft ordinance (Attachment 3) for review and consideration by the Preservation Commission. On February 19, 2025, the Preservation Commission held a hearing and passed a motion recommending the City Council adopt an ordinance listing the Nominated Resource as a landmark on the Sacramento register.
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RationaleforRecommendation
Rationale for Recommendation: The listing of the Nominated Resource (Figure 1) as a landmark on the Sacramento register is consistent with the Historic Preservation chapter of the City Code (City Code, chapter 17.604) and the goals of the 2040 General Plan. Listing the Nominated Resource on the Sacramento register will help ensure its preservation and encourage rehabilitation consistent with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
San Francisco Boulevard embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction (Sacramento City Code, § 17.604.210.A.1.a.iii).
San Francisco Boulevard is a unique example of City Beautiful movement infrastructure in Sacramento from the early 20th century. It has aesthetic qualities consistent with important movements in American park and boulevard design, and the layout of the roadway itself represents distinctive characteristics in city street design. Significant features and characteristics include: a wide boulevard made up of four lanes of travel bordering the Colonial Heights neighborhood, two parallel 7-foot-wide median strips planted with a variety of trees and shrubs from various time periods and prominently featuring California Fan Palm trees, side park strips bordering the boulevard that feature lawn interspersed with deciduous shade trees, and sidewalks. The palm tree allées in the medians of the boulevard have undergone minor changes due to age/disease-related loss of specimen, however, the landscape continues to retain a high degree of historic integrity and new trees have been of a compatible species.
Figure 1: San Francisco Boulevard
Figure 2: San Francisco Boulevard Proposed Landmark Boundaries
The nominated resource has integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and association, as judged with reference to the criterion in Sacramento City Code section 17.604.210.A.1.a.iii. (City Code, § 17.604.210.A.1.b).
San Francisco Boulevard has integrity of design, setting, materials, workmanship, and association as a distinctive landscape constructed during the City Beautiful movement, which was an outgrowth of the Garden City movement of the late 19th century. While some trees have been replaced due to age or disease, the replacement trees are of a compatible species. In addition, the overall streetscape pattern of planters and roads have remained in their original configuration.
The nominated resource has significant historic or architectural worth, and its designation as a landmark is reasonable, appropriate and necessary to promote, protect and further the goals and purposes of City Code chapter 17.604. (City Code, § 17.604.210.A.1.c).
San Francisco Boulevard has significant historic and architectural worth. It has been well-maintained and retains a high level of integrity with regard to its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and association. It is a significant and unique representation of the City Beautiful movement in Sacramento.
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FinancialConsiderations
Financial Considerations: Not applicable.
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LocalBusinessEnterprise
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.
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