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Salinas consultants outline plan to update 1989 historic survey and prepare context statement
Summary
Page & Turnbull presented a multi-stage plan to update Salinas's citywide historic resource survey — the first since 1989 — and to prepare a historic context statement to guide future evaluations, public outreach and potential new district recommendations.
Consultants from Page & Turnbull told the Salinas Historic Resources Board that they will prepare a historic context statement and conduct a citywide historic resource survey update, the first comprehensive survey since 1989. The effort will prioritize properties that are now age‑eligible and will extend the survey approach to cover resources built through roughly 1980.
The consultants said the work will proceed in phases: review existing documentation, perform a windshield reconnaissance (driving) survey to locate areas with age‑eligible resources, conduct a reconnaissance (block‑level) survey to identify candidate properties, and then an intensive survey producing California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) forms for the highest‑priority resources.
"The purpose of the historic context statement is that it informs a comprehensive understanding of the city's history and its historic resources according to which we can look at historic resources in the city and evaluate their significance," said Stacy Kozakovich, project manager and cultural resources planner at Page & Turnbull. She told the board the context statement will organize Salinas history by periods and by themes — such as agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, civic and social/cultural — and will explain how to evaluate building types and integrity.
Kozakovich and her colleagues said they are doing a windshield survey now to identify areas that need more detailed fieldwork. They described the project workflow this way: the team will first produce an outline and fill research gaps, then perform the reconnaissance survey, then prepare a prioritized list of properties for intensive survey and DPR documentation.
The consultants also described technical tools they are using. "We have a mobile app that we're using to collect data on individual properties," Kozakovich said. In the app, consultants mark previously identified resources, age‑eligible buildings and candidates for intensive survey; the app links photos and GIS coordinates that can be delivered to the city.
Board members asked how the project will treat districts and boundaries identified in the 1989 survey. The consultants said boundaries, periods of significance and contributing lists may change as new information emerges. Kozakovich said districts can be defined by architecture or by cultural and social themes, giving examples such as Maple Park and neighborhoods in North Salinas.
Grant Leonard, planning manager, clarified the city limits scope: the survey and the context statement will focus on properties within the city of Salinas because the city is funding the work, though the historic context can discuss broader county patterns that informed the city's development. "We can recommend it. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that when the county wants to do something with that building, that they need to get a city permit," Leonard said about county‑owned properties within city limits, adding that the board’s role would be to identify city‑level significance.
Consultants said the process includes community outreach and opportunities for the public to submit historic photographs and local information. They plan to return to the board after the reconnaissance stage with a list of properties recommended for the intensive survey so board members and the public can comment before DPR forms are prepared.
Board members and consultants discussed specific topics the survey will consider, including signage and landscape features, rail lines and the Alisal Slough corridor as historical context, and how to document later twentieth‑century resources such as midcentury tract housing and modernist buildings that were not assessed in 1989.
The consultants said the final products will include a narrative context statement with historic maps and photographs and GIS data that the city can use for public outreach or interactive maps.
The board did not vote on any actions related to the survey during the discussion; consultants said they will return with additional materials and a recommended list for intensive survey work.
