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Draft EIR flags significant impact to Lesser Brothers building; commission urges stronger interpretive mitigation
Summary
Staff told the Historic Preservation Commission the draft EIR for 1629 Market Street finds a significant impact to the Lesser Brothers building and proposes mitigation (HABS documentation and interpretive display) that would not reduce impacts to less‑than‑significant; commissioners recommended bolstering the interpretive measures and adding oral histories.
Planning Department preservation staff presented the draft environmental impact report (EIR) for the 1629 Market Street mixed‑use project at the June 7 Historic Preservation Commission hearing, and told commissioners the DEIR found a significant impact to the Lesser Brothers building at 1629–1645 Market Street.
Britt Sue Cray, preservation planner, said the DEIR concluded the project would not significantly affect the Market Street light standards and would appropriately rehabilitate the Civic Center Hotel in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s standards, but that mitigation measures proposed for the Lesser Brothers building — including Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation and an interpretive display — would not reduce that impact to less‑than‑significant.
The DEIR analyzed alternatives, including no‑project, partial preservation and full preservation; staff said the full‑preservation alternative would avoid the project’s significant impact on the Lesser Brothers building. Commissioners discussed the massing and setback choices and agreed the proposed project design would retain the "feeling" of the Lesser Brothers structure at the street, but recommended strengthening the mitigation. Commissioner Matsuda and others urged that the commission’s comment letter to the Planning Commission ask for a bolstered interpretive display and an oral‑history component to help convey the history of the "taxpayer" blocks.
The commission did not direct a specific preservation remedy beyond recommending that mitigation documents incorporate interpretive panels and oral histories; the Planning Commission will hold its DEIR hearing on June 15 and the public comment period closes for the Planning Department record per the DEIR schedule.
