Salinas hires Page & Turnbull to update citywide historic resources survey and prepare context statement

Consultants from Page & Turnbull told the Salinas Historic Resources Board on March 4 that they have begun a citywide update to the 1989 historic resources survey and will prepare a historic context statement to guide future preservation decisions.

"The first step is to prepare this historic context statement," said Stacy Kosikovich, project manager, historian and cultural-resources planner with Page & Turnbull. She said the context statement is not intended to be a full history of Salinas, but rather a framework tying the city's built environment to significant periods and themes so evaluators, planners and community members can apply consistent criteria.

Kosikovich and consultant Barrett Ryder described a three-stage field approach: an initial windshield reconnaissance to identify areas of interest; a reconnaissance survey to record age-eligible properties block by block; and a later intensive survey that will generate State of California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) forms for high-priority properties. The team said it will review the 1989 survey and later planning and environmental documents, do additional research where gaps exist, and conduct public outreach coordinated with city staff.

Ryder said the team has provisionally divided Salinas' history into chronological periods and thematic typologies—agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, civic and institutional, transportation and infrastructure, and social/religious/cultural—to help assess significance. He described the postwar period (roughly 1946–1979) and a final section reaching from 1980 to the present so current residents can see themselves reflected in the context statement.

The consultants said they would consider properties built through about 1980 to extend the document's useful shelf life, while noting that eligibility is often assessed on a roughly 50-year threshold. They also showed a mobile survey app that will produce GIS-linked data: pins coded for properties previously identified in the 1989 survey, known historic resources and age-eligible properties. "We have a mobile app that we're using to collect data on individual properties," Kosikovich said.

Board members asked whether the update would revisit proposed districts from the earlier work, include signs, objects and landscapes, and consider broader features such as the Alisal Slough or old rail lines. The consultants said districts could be adjusted—by changing boundaries or periods of significance—or new districts identified where groups of related buildings now hang together as an important concentration. They said stand‑alone landscapes and multi‑owner features would be provided as context in the statement but are more difficult to treat as single parcel‑level inventory items.

Page & Turnbull said the survey team will return to the board after the reconnaissance stage with a proposed list of properties recommended for intensive survey so the board can comment on priorities. The consultants also offered to accept community-submitted historic materials through city staff and to share cloud folders for submitted photos, documents and oral-history leads.

The consultants noted practical limits and uses: the context statement and GIS data will be delivered to the city for staff use, and the DPR forms prepared during the intensive phase are intended to be compatible with State review processes. They emphasized the survey's potential uses for planning reviews, property-owner notification and heritage‑tourism outreach.

Board members and staff requested clarifications the consultants said they would provide as the project proceeds, including the precise interval the consultants will treat as age‑eligible, mapping of recommended districts, and examples of object‑level listings versus parcel inventories. The board did not take a formal vote on the survey at the meeting; the discussion was recorded as project briefing and direction to continue with the public outreach and fieldwork schedule.