Salinas moves to flag historic properties in permits system; citywide context statement draft to be released this summer

City staff told the Historic Resources Board that they have begun an audit to flag historic properties in the city’s permitting software and that a public draft of the citywide historic context statement will be available this summer.

Grant Leonard said staff are “working through the list one by one, checking off each address,” and noted the permits system requires separate flags by parcel number (APN) and by street address. He said that flagging in one field does not always propagate to the other, so staff will apply both criteria to ensure a property is identified when permit activity occurs.

Yesenia Sedavia, assistant planner, said the survey team will digitize and geolocate the list of historic properties on the city’s website so the public can find properties on a map. Sedavia described a recent in-person public meeting that drew about 20 attendees and said staff will post a digitized version of the meeting survey and an administrative draft of the historic context statement for public review.

On timing, staff said an administrative draft will be available for public comment this summer; the board will receive a presentation during the review period. Board members asked whether district-level context and recommended district names could be included; staff said district identification and suggested boundaries fall within the consultant’s scope of work and the survey will produce individual property write-ups separate from the context statement.

Staff also said the updated survey and web map are intended to support future walking-tour materials and neighborhood context guidance.