Berkeley Iceland News - a Report on the LPC Meeting on Application for listing on Nation Register of Historic Places

Submitted by bi_admin on Fri, 2010-07-02 23:15

At the July meeting of the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC), one of the items on the agenda was "2727 Milvia: Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places". This was a public hearing on what, if any, comments the LPC should make on the application submitted by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) nominating Berkeley Iceland for the listing. There were three speakers on this topic during the public comment session, an attorney from Miller Starr Regalia representing East Bay Iceland (EBI, the current owners), preservation architect Mark Hulbert (also representing EBI), and John English, who prepared the application for BAHA. The meeting ended with the commission voting to send a letter of support pending review by the Berkeley City Attorney.

Miller Starr had delivered a letter to the LPC earlier in the day which claimed:

EBI received no advance notice of the meeting - staff said notice was mailed to them and apologized for not also calling. There was a formal hearing notice posted on a telephone pole at the corner of Ward and Milvia, as well.
The LPC "Does not have the power to review or provide comments on the unsolicited nomination", claiming that the LPC cannot make a determination until the lawsuit against the CIty is finally resolved. A number of the Commissioners responded that the National Registry process is completely independent and has nothing to do with local landmarking or pending lawsuits. Other commissioners were concerned about the claims.
"East Bay Iceland objects to the nomination" which means it will not be listed. The staff report acknowledged this but went on to state that the site could be found eligible for listing.
That the property does not possess "integrity", a point argued by Mr. Hulbert with pictures of the current condition of the building. The photos provided showed mostly graffiti tagging, which was claimed to affect the integrity. Comments from the commissioners were not sympathetic to this position and one commissioner commented that at some point the owner has to take care of the building.

The letter ends stating, "If the LPC proceeds with a public hearing, and with comment to the office of the State Historic Preservation Officer, Iceland will have no choice but to seek enforcement of the Settlement Agreement and the Court's order", referring to the action against the City on the Berkeley Landmark. Some commissioners took this as a threat and told the EBI attorney that it did not help their case with the LPC.

One of the members of the LPC, Carrie Olson, had prepared a letter in support of the application and listing of Berkeley Iceland. This letter was modified a bit during the hearing. The vote on the motion for the LPC to send the letter to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) resulted in 4 yes and 3 abstentions - 5 votes are needed to pass an action. The legal argument concerned a couple of the commissioners enough for them to abstain from voting on the original motion. The motion was modified to include a review by the City attorney who would rule on whether the letter could be sent or not.

Comments to SHPO by the LPC would need to be sent by 6 July. The commissioners pointed out that there had never been a National Registry nomination for a Berkeley site on which they have not submitted comments.

As mentioned here previously, the hearings for the National Registry nomination will be taking place on 30 July 2010 at the Sacramento City Hall in Sacramento.