Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 16.52.2300 relating to the designation of the properties located on the 6000 block of Walnut Avenue as the Grant Neighborhood Historic Landmark District, read and adopted as read.  (District 9)
Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to thank you all for coming again. So with that, we will conclude public comment. I think we we went to public comment. Ready? Correct. Thank you very much. And again, thank you for coming out. We're now going on to hearing item number one. Report from Development Services. Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record and conclude the public hearing. Declare Ordinance Amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding section relating to the designation of the 19 properties on the 6000 block of Walnut Avenue known as Grant Neighborhood Historic District as a historical landmark district read for the first time and lead over the next regular meeting of the City Council for Reading and Adopt a resolution establishing a historic resources designation for the 19 Properties District nine. Fine. I'd like to introduce a speaker to be Rebecca. Mr. Carr. You had a vice mayor, Lynda Tatum, director of development services, and Christopher Coons, planning bureau manager, will be presenting this staff report. Just like to introduce our advanced planning officer, Patricia Defender for who will make the staff presentation for this item. Good evening, council members. Patricia Defender for staff of the Development Services Department of Planning Bureau. The item before you this evening is the adoption of an ordinance to designate the Grant neighborhood as a historic landmark district. The Grant neighborhood is located in North Long Beach and Council District nine. It is the first new landmark district to be adopted or be before the City Council since 2000 2003. You can see from this map the location in the north Long Beach area. The District comprises property is located in the 6000 block of the Walnut Avenue, bounded by 61st Street to the north, 60th Street to the south. Falcon Avenue on the east. And John Avenue on the West. To be eligible as a landmark district, the district must be a grouping of related properties that has a special historical, cultural, archeological , architectural or esthetic value. You can see that on the right is the timeline for this district. An application was submitted in January of 2018. That's when this process started. Subsequently, a historic contact statement, a historic resource survey report was prepared. Community outreach was conducted. The Cultural Heritage Commission held the a hearing on the item in December of 2018 and made its recommendation that the council adopt the grant neighborhood as a historic district. In March of this year, it was heard by the City Council and there was a request made by the council that the city attorney prepare the ordinances. And so those ordinances and an accompanying resolution is here before you today. The Grant Neighborhood Historic Resource Survey found that many significant events that shaped and characterize the Grant neighborhood and its place in the broader history of the city, including the oil boom, the presence and influence of the defense industry and the Navy, and exclusionary housing practices and redlining. The survey also revealed that 17 of the 19 properties evaluated do contribute to the district and that the predominant architectural style is the Spanish colonial revival style. So the district meets both of the required criteria to be an eligible landmark district. The grouping of properties is significant because it has a unified architectural style and scale and it has shared planning features that include street trees, landscaping and uniform setbacks. It is a cohesive collection of residential properties that reflects Long Beach's economic boom of the twenties and the corresponding rapid residential expansion in the periphery of the city, which was aided by the rise of the personal automobile. It also meets the criteria for concentration of of contributing properties. 89% of the properties in the district are contributing. So with that, the and consistent with the Cultural Heritage Commission action of December ten, 2018, it is recommended that the Council declare an ordinance to amend the municipal code to designate the 19 properties on this block as a historic landmark, this landmark district known as the Grant Neighborhood District, and to adopt the accompanying resolution to establish the district. Thank you very much. Staff is available to answer any questions you might have. Thank you very much. And before we bring behind the taxes, I'd like to only public comment on this item. I have two individuals I think would like to speak very good here. And Jeff Roe. Afro. Oh. Oh, thanks very much. I want to just to thank you all four for considering this. A special thanks to you, Rex, for being the champion for this project. But also to Gina Casey, see us, Christopher Coons, Alejandro Placentia and Linda Tatum and to the city attorney's office for doing all the work that got us here today . You know, I think I mentioned last time I was here, we thought this would be relatively easy. We'd fill out a few people, a little bit of paperwork and put up the blue on white signs, have a party and be done. Well, turned out to be vastly more complicated and meticulous than than than we had thought. And one of the things that was especially intriguing in this was that Gina's group and researching the history of the area. We thought, well, maybe there'll be some famous people over here, or maybe Ulysses Grant himself passed through at one point. But no Ulysses, no famous people. But what we did, what Gina, this group did find out, was that the original people who live there had put an imaginary fence around this neighborhood. It was only for white people. And I've wondered since then how different it might be if they had could come back today and see the neighborhood that they left behind. We have every ethnic group and and trait and people trace their origins on this block alone to every continent on earth. Our goal in this is to inspire and help adjacent blocks and other areas in District nine secure a historic designation and not just for the status of the blue on white sign, but because the process brought us together as neighbors in a quest to make our area cleaner, greener, safer and more prosperous. And we thought that that benefits us all and stands as the best legacy for our children and for those who follow us living in Grant neighborhood. Thanks again. I hope we can come back in the weeks and months ahead with additional blocks and to build on this other zone. Thank you as well. Yes, Councilman, I register. Thank you much, Mayor Jeff and the Grant neighborhood. You know, this initially began the conversation at the neighborhood association about, you know, restoring the old fire station, greening the old fire station, planting trees. And you guys are certainly working through your whole little, little list of projects on your your white legal pad. So congratulations to you, Linda Christopher. A lot of great work happening in North Lombard centered on development services. We we are proud and thankful to have you, you know, leading this this work. And there's a lot more a lot more for us to do. But this is certainly important to North Palm Beach and her our you know, our staff. It's notable to the city's history. And so that that that means a lot. So thank you so much. And I look forward to supporting this. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Richardson, I'd like to thank them. No, everything's fine. Well, good. See, no more, you know, speakers on the devices for this. Can we please call a vote?