HomeMy WebLinkAboutSection IX - RecommendationsCity of Arcadia
Recommendations
OM-, RECOMMENDATIONS
As stipulated by the Department of the Interior and the State Historic Preservation Office
(SHPO), a comprehensive historic preservation plan has three elements: identification,
evaluation, and protection. The evaluation stage details the historic significance of a site.
The protection element incorporates a range of strategies for keeping historic properties
in place and maintaining their architectural integrity. This report fulfills the identification
element. In order to fully promote the recognition and preservation of these historic
community resources, we recommend that the city pursue the next two elements of the
historic preservation plan.
1. Evaluation Phase
Documenting the significance of resources is the final step in the intensive survey. The
significance of any one resource cannot be fully evaluated until the historic contexts for
the survey area have been developed and a comparable level of documentation on other
resources in the survey has been gathered.
National and State guidelines require compiling Building, Structure and Object Records
(BSO), as well as District Records. Records identify the historic contexts to which the
property could relate and discuss resource types within those contexts. Finally, they
show how the resources in question do or do not qualify within a specific context.
The SHPO has stipulated many categories to be considered when evaluating the
significance of historic properties. The City of Arcadia should seek qualified consultants
to complete the necessary records according to State and National regulations.
2. Preservation Ordinance
Our initial survey has indicated pockets of properties within Arcadia that represent the
changing standards and values affecting residential architecture. The Mapping
documents reveal that a significant number of streets possess an identity of place. This
suggests the presence of multiple districts representing different phases and aspects of
Arcadian and Californian history.
We recommend that the City of Arcadia establish a City Preservation Ordinance. A
preservation ordinance allows for conservation goals to become part of the thinking of
the city government. Part of this ordinance may involve nominating significant
properties to the National Register of Historic Places, thereby promoting recognition of
Arcadia's history within a national context.
A city -appointed review team enforces Historic Preservation Ordinances. In Arcadia,
where the buildings represent a rich collection of designs and architectural styles, an
architectural historian would be an appropriate member of such a review team.
Furthermore, because the visual qualities of the streetscapes are so valuable, a program
that reviews demolition and alterations of buildings should be developed.