303 Baldwin Avenue, San Mateo, California Prepared for City of San Mateo Prepared by 6 April 2018
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303 Baldwin Avenue San Mateo, CA 6 April 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION... 1 1.1 Overview... 1 2. SIGNIFICANCE SUMMARY... 1 2.1 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue... 1 2.2 Central Business Historic District... 2 3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION... 3 4. EVALUATIVE FRAMEWORK... 4 4.1 The California Environmental Quality Act and Historic Resources... 4 4.2 The Secretary of the Interior s Standards for Rehabilitation... 5 5. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR S STANDARDS ANALYSIS... 6 6. SUMMARY... 8
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview At the request of the City of San Mateo Planning Division,, Inc. (ARG) has prepared this Secretary of the Interior s Compliance Review for a proposed new construction project at 303 Baldwin Avenue in San Mateo. ARG completed a Historic Resource Evaluation for the exiting building at 303 Baldwin Avenue (Trag s Market) in April 2017. This evaluation found that the Trag s Market building was not eligible for listing in the California Register and did not qualify as a historical resource under CEQA. The proposed project involves demolition of the existing Trag s Market building and construction of a new mixed-use development in its place. The City of San Mateo has requested an evaluation of the new development s potential effects to neighboring historic resources, specifically the office complex at 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue and the downtown Central Business Historic District. This evaluation includes a summary of significance for the historic properties, a description of the proposed project, and an evaluation of the new development in relation to the existing historic resources. 2. SIGNIFICANCE SUMMARY 2.1 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue Currently an office complex, this property is recognized as a historic resource that is significant for its Tudor Revival style design. ARG first evaluated the property in 2008 and found the property to qualify as a historic resource under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).The following summary is from a 2015 design assessment completed for the property: According to Sanborn Maps, the building at 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue was originally constructed circa 1908, as a two story dwelling, square in plan, with a small porch at the end of the main (east) elevation. In 1920, the building received a one story, rear addition to accommodate conversion to mortuary use. In 1929, the property was expanded again to the north and west, by well known local architect William Toepke, who gave the complex its current, architecturally distinguished, Tudor Revival style. One of San Mateo s most notable of architects of the early twentieth century, William Toepke was commissioned by George W. Sneider to expand the building at 15 N. Ellsworth. Sneider was an immigrant from East Prussia, who established the first funeral business in San Mateo in 1907. The complex, as remodeled by Toepke, remained a mortuary until 1964. After that time, the building housed various uses including commercial, ecclesiastical, educational, and community services. In 1980, a major renovation converted the building to office space for multiple businesses. In 2008, a second renovation further upgraded the historic complex and a new, freestanding addition, also for office use, was placed to the south of the original building. 1
The 2008 ARG report determined that the building embodies distinctive characteristics of an early twentieth century dwelling in San Mateo updated in the Tudor Revival style for commercial use by renowned local architect, William Toepke. The building appears to qualify for the California Register under Criterion 3: Design/Construction. 1 The 2008 ARG report also identified the following character-defining features for the property: Overall form and massing of the building with varied flat, gable and hipped roofs Cement plaster exterior cladding Door and window openings Pointed arch openings at entrances and porte cocheres Bay window with copper roof, wood surrounds, and brackets Decorative elements in the Tudor Revival style including turned balustrades, ornamental tiles, chimneys with iron tops, chamfered wood beams, metal gutters and brackets Wood paneled entry doors inside vestibule at main elevation Semi enclosed vestibule at north end of main elevation Porte cocheres at north and south elevations Leaded, multi light entry doors at south elevation with decorative stained glass planes 2.2 Central Business Historic District The Central Business District is a locally recognized historic district in San Mateo s downtown core. The District features a concentration of early twentieth century commercial buildings reflecting a variety of architectural styles in heights ranging from two to eight stories. Common building materials in the district include brick, terra cotta, and reinforced concrete with plaster or stucco clad exterior walls. Architectural styles represented within the district include Spanish Eclectic, Art Deco, Tudor Revival, Classical Revival, and Mission Revival. Other characteristics of the district include: Predominant building height of 1-3 stories Typical lot widths of 25-50 feet Variations in material and color at street-facing facades; building materials generally light in color Diversity in building styles with common features including large storefront/retail display windows, strong horizontals created by cornices and belt courses, recessed entryways, and vertically-shaped window openings above the ground floor Architectural detailing that creates a three dimensional appearance to the building face: bay windows, awnings, cornices, decorative tile, and other ornamentation 2 1 Architecture + History, LLC, Design Review Report: 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue, San Mateo, CA (13 January 2014), 2. 2 City of San Mateo, Downtown Retail Core & Downtown Historic District Design Guidelines, (adopted November 1993), 6-9. Also: City of San Mateo, Historic Building Survey: Final Report (September 1989), 19-23. 2
3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The narrative project description for the proposed new construction at 303 Baldwin Avenue is as follows: General The project proposes the redevelopment of the 0.94 acre site located at 303 Baldwin Avenue. The site is currently occupied by the Trags grocery store and associated at grade parking lot. The site is bounded by B Street to the north, Baldwin to the east, and Ellsworth to the south. The Downtown San Mateo Train Station is located across B Street. The existing structure will be demolished and redeveloped into a new 55 (4 and 5 story) mixeduse building consisting of commercial, office, and residential uses above an underground parking garage. The Building The proposed mixed-use building will be roughly 130,000 SF in 4 and 5 levels above ground, with a 2-3 story garage below grade. Approximately 265 automobile parking spaces and 80 bicycle parking spaces will be provided on site. The below grade parking will have gated separation for the commercial, office, and residential uses. A single driveway accesses the underground garage from Ellsworth Street. Adjacent to this is an area dedicated to delivery and trash pickup. The ground floor uses along North B Street and Baldwin will be comprised of commercial space as well as a lobby for the above office space. Several ground floor residential units will face Ellsworth Street near the existing residential units next door. Three floors of office space will sit above the commercial space at the south portion of the building. Four floors of residential units will sit above the ground floor residential and commercial space at the north portion of the project. The residential units will have amenity space including a club room, courtyard terrace, and gym. Architecture The architectural design of 303 Baldwin Avenue is intended to carefully break up the massing of the building into discreet pieces that relate to the respective scales of the existing adjacent building fabric of Downtown San Mateo. The building is clad in a distinct yet subtle brick in a warm grey color which relates in scale and texture to the adjacent brick and terracotta retail buildings along North B Street and Baldwin Avenue. The openings in the brick facades are treated as regularly spaced, punched windows in keeping with the traditional building fabric found in the Downtown core. The brick facades are enhanced and warmed by the use of terracotta at the storefronts, with roof overhang and wood soffit at the top of the building. The storefront facades at street level are given further pedestrian-friendly texture and scale with the insertion of metal canopies above the openings. 3
As the building steps back to preserve the required sky plane exposures, various terraces for the office floors provide splashes of green, creating exterior spaces overlooking an important urban corner. 3 4. EVALUATIVE FRAMEWORK 4.1 The California Environmental Quality Act and Historic Resources The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was originally enacted in 1970 in order to inform, identify, prevent, and disclose to decision makers and the general public the effects a project may have on the environment. Historical resources are included in the comprehensive definition of the environment under CEQA. For the purposes of CEQA (Guidelines Section 15064.5), the term historical resources shall include the following: 1. A resource listed in, or determined to be eligible by the State Historical Resources Commission, for listing in, the California Register of Historical Resources (Pub. Res. Code Section 5024.1, Title 14 CCR, Section 4850 et.seq.). 2. A resource included in a local register of historical resources, as defined in Section 5020.1(k) of the Public Resources Code or identified as significant in an historical resource survey meeting the requirements of Section 5024.1(g) of the Public Resources Code, shall be presumed to be historically or culturally significant. Public agencies must treat any such resource as significant unless the preponderance of evidence demonstrates that it is not historically or culturally significant. 3. Any object, building, structure, site, area, place, record, or manuscript which a lead agency determines to be historically significant or significant in the architectural, engineering, scientific, economic, agricultural, educational, social, political, military, or cultural annals of California, may be considered to be an historical resource, provided the lead agency s determination is supported by substantial evidence in light of the whole record. Generally, a resource shall be considered by the lead agency to be historically significant if the resource meets the criteria for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources (Public Resources Code Section 5024.1, Title 14 CCR, Section 4852). When a proposed project may cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource, CEQA requires a city or county to carefully consider the possible impacts before proceeding (Public Resources Code Section 21084.1). CEQA equates a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource with a significant effect on the environment (Section 21084.1). The Act explicitly prohibits the use of a categorical exemption within the CEQA Guidelines for projects that may cause such a change (Section 21084). 3 Provided to the author by the City of San Mateo, 20 March 2018. 4
CEQA Guidelines section 15064.5(b) defines a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historical resource as physical demolition, destruction, relocation, or alteration of the resource or its immediate surroundings such that the significance of an historical resource would be materially impaired. Further, that the significance of a historical resource is materially impaired when a project: demolishes or materially alters in an adverse manner those physical characteristics of an historical resource that convey its historical significance and that justify its inclusion in, or eligibility for inclusion in the California Register of Historical Resources; or demolishes or materially alters in an adverse manner those physical characteristics that account for its inclusion in a local register of historical resources... or its identification in an historical resources survey..., unless the public agency reviewing the effects of the project establishes by a preponderance of evidence that the resource is not historically or culturally significant; or demolishes or materially alters in an adverse manner those physical characteristics of a historical resource that convey its historical significance and that justify its eligibility for inclusion in the California Register of Historical Resources as determined by a lead agency for purposes of CEQA. (Guidelines Section 15064.5(b)) 4.2 The Secretary of the Interior s Standards for Rehabilitation The Secretary of the Interior s Standards (the Standards) are a series of concepts developed by the United States Department of the Interior to assist in the continued preservation of a property s historical significance through the preservation of character-defining materials and features. They are intended to guide the appropriate maintenance, repair, and replacement of historic materials, and to direct the design of compatible new additions or alterations to historic buildings. The Standards are used by Federal, state, and local agencies to review both Federal and nonfederal rehabilitation proposals. In California, properties listed in, or formally determined eligible for listing in, the California Register of Historical Resources or a local historic register qualify as historical resources per the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and must be considered in the environmental review process. (Resources formally determined eligible for, or listed in, the National Register of Historic Places are automatically listed in the California Register of Historical Resources.) In general, a project involving a historical resource that has been determined to comply with the Secretary of the Interior s Standards can be considered a project that will not cause a significant impact on the historic resource per CEQA. The Standards offer four approaches to the treatment of historic properties preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. The Standards for Rehabilitation (codified in 36 CFR 67 for use in the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program) address the most prevalent treatment. Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values. 4 4 National Park Service, The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, & Reconstructing Historic Buildings online at https://www.nps.gov/tps/standards/treatment-guidelines-2017.pdf (accessed 27 September 2017. 5
The ten Rehabilitation Standards are: 1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces and spatial relationships. 2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided. 3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken. 4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved. 5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved. 6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence. 7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used. 8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken. 9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment. 10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired. 5 5. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR S STANDARDS ANALYSIS The following analysis of the proposed project for conformance with the Secretary of the Interior s Standards for Rehabilitation is based on the following documents: WRNSSTUDIO, Planning Commission Study Session drawing set, 13 March 2018 San Mateo County Historical Association, City of San Mateo Historic Building Survey Final Report (September 1989) 5 Ibid. 6
, Historical Evaluation, 15 N. Ellsworth, San Mateo, California, 30 April 2008 Architecture + History, LLC, Design Review Report: 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue, San Mateo, CA, 13 January 2014 The Secretary of the Interior s Standards for Rehabilitation primarily address physical changes to existing historic properties. Since this analysis addresses the proposed project s impacts to neighboring historic resources, the most applicable Standards are 9 and 10, which address adjacent new construction. As such, only these Standards are addressed below. 9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment. The proposed new construction at 303 Baldwin does not destroy historic materials, features, or spatial relationships that characterize either the Central Business Historic District or the property at 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue. The new construction reflects material and design characteristics found in the adjacent historic district, but reads as clearly modern in design. While the Project s overall height (4 stories) is greater than that of 310 Baldwin Street (2 stories), the nearest contributor to the district, the Project s perceived height and massing at the Baldwin Avenue elevation is reduced by the proposed roof terrace and fourth floor setback. The simple design and use of material at this elevation does not compete with or overpower the more ornamental façade of the historic building at 310 Baldwin Street. Proposed exterior materials including brick-like cladding and supporting columns clad in textured terracotta reference nearby historic buildings without replicating classical details. Further, the new design incorporates large storefront windows, recessed entries, vertically-oriented windows at the upper stories, and materials that are light in color for compatibility with nearby district contributors. Though the massing of the proposed new construction differs from that seen in the historic district, the Project is appropriately scaled at the most critical location (North B Street and Baldwin Avenue intersection) in massing and height. Along North Ellsworth Avenue, the Project responds to the residential buildings across the street by incorporating various massing and setback changes to reflect the varied street face to the north. Across from the resource at 15 North Ellsworth, the upper story window openings are vertically oriented and recessed in masonry walls providing a three dimensional quality to the bulk of the building. The fourth floor set back of the uniform window wall reduces the bulk of the building and perceived visual impact at street level. As above, the proposed new construction reads clearly as modern and incorporates design elements for compatibility with the adjacent street face. Overall, the proposed project is differentiated yet compatible with neighboring historic resources, and does not incorporate elements that would create a false sense of history or development. For these reasons, the proposed project is compliant with this Standard. 7
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired. 6 Related new construction typically refers to new construction on the same property as a historic resource or within the boundaries of a historic district. Occasionally, this Standard is used to address new construction that neighbors existing historic resources, but is not technically related to these properties. Such is the case with this evaluation. The proposed new construction is located on a separate parcel and across the street from the adjacent historic properties. The proposed new building does not connect to or alter any neighboring historic resource or district contributor. Should the new development be demolished in the future, the form and integrity of neighboring historic properties would remain intact and unimpaired. For these reasons, the proposed project is compliant with this Standard. 6. SUMMARY Overall, the proposed project would not have a significant or negative impact upon the Central Business Historic District or the property at 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue. The proposed design responds to and references existing historic resources without creating a false sense of history or development. The proposed materials are generally compatible with those seen in the neighboring historic resources and the fourth floor setback helps reduce the bulk of the building and visual impacts along Baldwin Avenue and North Ellsworth Avenue. Further, the new development does not demolish or materially alter the physical characteristics of the neighboring historic resources. Should the proposed project be constructed, both the Historic District and 15 N. Ellsworth Avenue would continue to convey the historical significance that justifies their eligibility for inclusion in the California Register of Historical Resources. 6 Ibid. 8