Tag Archives: Benicia Arsenal

Environmentally Superior Alternative, Housing

Open Letter to the Benicia City Council: ‘It didn’t have to be this way’

[Editor – Excellent analysis and critique of Council’s ‘Housing Element’ decision on January 24.  For additional background, see earlier stories on BenIndy below.  – R.S.]

Historic Benicia Arsenal Advocates address City Council on Housing Element decision

January 30, 2023

Benicia City Council Benicia City Hall
250 East L Street
Benicia, CA 94510
RE: 2023-2031 Housing Element – January 31 Agenda Item 10.A

Dear Mayor Young and Council Members:

At the January 24 meeting, despite testimony from many community members advocating for a better alternative, the City Council approved a Housing Element that threatens Benicia’s precious historic resources, puts future residents directly in the path of environmental hazards, and fails to further fair housing goals. [Agenda, Minutes, Video]

(Click image to see the 1999 General Plan)

It didn’t have to be this way. Throughout the 12-month Housing Element update process, concerned community members raised these issues and pointed to better alternatives. And unlike many cities, Benicia had a large number of viable and desirable housing sites to choose from. The Council rejected many suitable sites, often at the request of a handful of neighbors, and yet chose not to consider the larger issues of historic preservation, fair housing, and environmental hazards that civic-minded community members have raised throughout the process. The comments from these community members represented longstanding City policies and values enshrined in the Benicia General Plan.

Click image to view the Housing Element Draft EIR (532-pages, slow download)

At the January 24 Council meeting, a near-capacity crowd asked the Council to approve the Environmentally Superior Alternative as identified in the Housing Element Environmental Impact Report (EIR). As stated on page 6-23 of the EIR, the Environmentally Superior Alternative would meet all the project’s objectives. This alternative would have reduced impacts on historic resources in the Arsenal and downtown and helped address hazards and fair housing concerns while still meeting the City’s housing needs and State of California requirements.

The rationale for the Council’s decision was apparently that, based on advice from the City’s consultants and staff, the Environmentally Superior Alternative might not actually be feasible. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that alternatives evaluated in EIRs be feasible. If the Environmentally Superior Alternative was not feasible, the Housing Element EIR is inadequate and should not have been certified.

The staff and consultants also claimed that the Council really had no choice but to approve the Housing Element as currently drafted, due to the looming January 31 deadline for Housing Element adoption, the cost of making changes, and the fact that they had not evaluated the Environmentally Superior Alternative for fair housing compliance. If that were the case, it would appear that the City designed the process and schedule to prevent meaningful consideration of EIR alternatives, violating the public’s trust as well as the requirements and intent of CEQA.
Let’s be clear: The Council had a choice. At the January 24 meeting and throughout the process, the Council had better options but chose not to act on them out of expediency or fear of State repercussions. The Council had an opportunity to present a vision for the future of Benicia and failed to meet the challenge.

Sincerely,

Benicia Arsenal Park Task Force,
Benicia Arsenal Defense, and
1000 Friends Protecting Historic Benicia

cc. City Clerk, Community Development Director,  Benicia Herald, Benicia Independent, Vallejo Times-Herald, Vallejo Sun

See earlier on BenIndy:

1000 Friends Protecting Historic Benicia, Arsenal

Local non-profit sues City of Benicia – Development threatens Civil-War era buildings and grounds

[To sign a petition in support of this lawsuit to stop the City of Benicia plan, see “Help Us Appeal the City’s Approval of these projects!” on Change.org.  For earlier stories on this see below.  – R.S.]

1000 FRIENDS PROTECTING HISTORIC BENICIA

Press Release, November 21, 2022
Contact:  Elizabeth Patterson, elopato29@gmail.com

1,000 Friends Protecting Historic Benicia, a local non-profit, fights to save Officers’ Row, in the nationally recognized Benicia Arsenal Historic District, from city approved development that will destroy the district’s historic significance. The development threatens Civil-War era buildings and grounds surviving from President Lincoln’s commissioning of the Benicia Arsenal Army base.

Present-day aerial view of Benicia’s Officers’ Row

WHAT:  1000 Friends Protecting Historic Benicia is suing the City of Benicia to stop it from issuing permits and is seeking a peremptory writ of mandate ordering the City and its agencies and commissions to set aside and void the City’s recent approvals of two development projects in the Benicia Arsenal Historic District.

“Projects that destroy or impair the significance of a site on the National Register, as these projects do, clearly have the most significant adverse impact on historic resources,” said Gary Widman, former Chief Counsel for the California State Department of Parks and Recreation and the Office of Historic Preservation.

BACKGROUND:  In August 2022, the City of Benicia approved two development projects for Officers’ Row in the heart of the Benicia Arsenal Historic District which the U.S. government listed on the National Register of Historic Places, deeming it worthy of preservation due to its historical significance to the country.

The Jefferson Ridge Project would build 121 housing units and 2,000 square feet of commercial/retail space on Jefferson Street, including the former flagpole assembly area between the Commanding Officer’s Quarters and the Lieutenant’s Quarters. A total of 16 three- story structures would flank Jefferson Street, dominating the three historic houses adjacent to this project and blocking character-defining views of the Carquinez Strait.

The 1451 Park Road Project, would build 17 apartments in 2 two-story buildings incompatible with the scale and style of the historic non-commissioned officers’ quarters immediately west on Jefferson Street.

​Designated a State Historical Landmark in 1935, the Benicia Arsenal was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and was a key contributor to establishment of the National Park Service’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area in 2019.

The Arsenal’s Officers’ Row offers one of the nation’s most impressive ensembles of mid-19th-century military architecture and open spaces, largely intact as built over 150 years ago. Meticulously planned by the Army, the layout is a prime example of military site design, with careful thought given to building scale, placement, and sight lines.

The two projects needed the City of Benicia to determine that they qualified for fast-track approval under a new state law, California Senate Bill 35 (SB 35), that restricts review of projects to their consistency with “objective standards.”

Members of the community highlighted several conflicts with the Arsenal Historic Conservation Plan (AHCP) and objective planning and zoning standards for both projects. This included several standards for which the City claimed the projects demonstrated consistency.

The City subsequently removed many of the standards it had identified as conflicting with the projects as proposed.

The City also failed to incorporate many standards from the AHCP. In particular, a commenter stated that in reviewing the 1451 Park Road Project, the City only applied 37 of the 64 design standards and guidelines from the AHCP that apply to the design of residential buildings in Officers’ Row.

The City failed to consider public safety standards because City staff stated that Senate Bill 35 applications were not subject to any such standards, since they contain subjective as well as objective elements and therefore had to be considered subjective.

Despite the various inconsistencies, on August 26, 2022, the City issued ministerial approvals for both projects. The City subsequently denied members of the public the right to appeal the two projects.

ACTION:  The lawsuit challenges both approvals based on errors in assessing environmental hazards and violations of City of Benicia ordinances concerning the current general plan and zoning.  

1000 Friends Protecting Historic Benicia is a non-profit Benicia organization represented by attorney Doug Carstens, Chatten-Brown, Carstens & Minteer, a public interest-oriented law firm specializing in environmental and land use law. Individuals of the non-profit and other members of the public are on record with the City with many protest letters and public hearing appearances over the past two years. The goal of this campaign is to establish a park that will honor and protect the nationally recognized Arsenal Historic District forever.

WEBSITE COMING SOON:  1000FriendsPHB.org
SEE ALSO EXISTING WEBSITE:  YES! Benicia Arsenal Park

See earlier on BenIndy:

Arsenal Park, Benicia

President Lincoln’s Historic Benicia Arsenal in Peril – Former Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

[Excellent background here on why oppose current plans for new construction in Benicia’s historic Arsenal District.  To sign a petition in support of a lawsuit to stop the plan, see “Help Us Appeal the City’s Approval of these projects!” on Change.org.  For additional background and photos, see “YES! Benicia Arsenal Park“.   Earlier stories on BenIndy see below.  – R.S.]

New efforts to save our National Treasure

EL PAT’S FORUM

by ELIZABETH PATTERSON
Benicia, California

August 3, 2022

One woman is responsible for listing most of the historic structures in the Historic Arsenal of Benicia. Ms. Wold, a graduate of University of California at Berkeley (UCB), recognized that the city leaders in 1965 were focused on surviving the Army’s closure of the Arsenal and loss of jobs and business.  Therefore Ms. Wold filled out the forms – around 90 – and got the historic structures listed. State Parks and Recreation was interested in establishing a State Park for the mostly early portion of barracks, garrison, officer quarters, infirmary and enclave of Civil War Era buildings. President Lincoln commissioned the garrison and barracks – about 120 acres – to ensure Union presence to prevent Confederate efforts to make California a slave state. Think about that.

But the city leaders showed little interest in the history and even did a land swap that put many historic structures at risk. Witness the demolition of the 1860s Foundry and Pacific Mail Steamship company office building just three years ago. While Mayor I used my office as a bully pulpit for saving or at least respecting these structures as the last tangible evidence of the first industrial site in California. It was a struggle. At least the city was able to negotiate a settlement price with Amports that will help preserve other historic structures. But none on the list are the first industrial buildings.  Gone. Part of the settlement was to develop a “demolition by neglect ordinance” – an ordinance to prevent intentional or neglect and then seek a demolition permit to tear down. I don’t have the exact numbers but we are talking about more than 20 or so historic structures demolished by this strategy.

The city brushed off the State’s proposal for a State Park and embarked on permitting industrial and commercial development with no master plan, limited infrastructure improvement and legacy problems of pollution that range from monitoring to major cleanup or mitigation – in 2003 dollars about $50 million that ultimately was reimbursed to the developers by the Army. Yep. The United States Army left stuff that could be catastrophic. Some areas can never be safe and that is why we have a few open spaces with trails and not homes.

In the early 2000s there was a “McMansion”* proposal of 16 large, expensive homes for the Historic District C – between the Commanding Officers’ Quarters and Jefferson Mansion and the open space and parade grounds. The city council certified a report that declared there was no environmental impact and approved the project. No impact to the President Lincoln commissioned Arsenal. No impact to the historic parade ground and oak trees planted like sentinel soldiers to guard the Civil War enclave.  A large and passionate group organized, sued the city for failure to asses the impacts and also gathered signatures for a referendum on the city council approval. The applicant and city settled with us and we put the money toward beginning restoration of the Commanding Officers’ Quarters where Arts Benicia is now. 

The Secretary of the Interior and the State Office of Historic Preservation have written in the past that too many new structures will impact the historic integrity of the district. It may be removed from the National Register.  President Lincoln’s commissioned Arsenal – removed from the National listing because the city leaders acquiesce to misguided state legislation that the city interprets in a manner that favors the applicants.

Here are the links to the appeals filed by Benicia Arsenal Park Task Force and Benicia Arsenal Defense.

*In suburban communities, McMansion is a pejorative term for a large “mass-produced” dwelling marketed to the upper middle class.

P.S The first link is one appeal and the second link is the other appeal – just can’t make a link work for two documents. I hope you read them. They are short.

See earlier on BenIndy:

Arsenal Park, Benicia Arsenal, Benicia CA, Housing, Jefferson Street Officers' Row

Benicia Petition: STOP approval of 163 condos and apartments on Jefferson Street’s historic Officers’ Row

September 6, 2021

Benicia Arsenal Park Task Force petition would preserve Jefferson Street Officers’ Row

Hello Friends for Benicia,

Marilyn Bardet, Benicia

As a member of the Benicia Arsenal Park Task Force [BAPTF], I’m asking for your help to protect from density housing development the last precious open spaces along Jefferson Street’s Officers’ Row that date back to the Civil War era. These landscapes are central to the character and 19th century ambiance of the Arsenal Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On this Labor Day, I hope you can take a moment to read our petition and consider signing it to save these heritage sites from avoidable destruction.

>> Petition >> STOP approval of 163 condos and apartments on Jefferson Street’s historic Officers’ Row! · Change.org

The Benicia Arsenal is central to the history of the City of Benicia from its earliest days. We believe these former military grounds deserve to become Arsenal Park for the benefit of all, to honor Benicia’s unique place in state and U.S. history, and, not least, for sake of the beauty and calm these landscapes – maintained and gardened by the army for 104 years – still offer in the midst of our industrialized lower Arsenal area.

An Arsenal Park would protect our City’s unique heritage and represent our legacy for future generations: it would be a magnet within District C for the leisurely enjoyment of residents and tourists alike. It would be central to development of heritage tourism, as envisioned by the Benicia General Plan, to derive economic benefit from our historic resources.

While we strongly support creating affordable housing in Benicia, we know there are other available parcels in town that would provide suitable and feasible locations for infill density residential. We do not need to sacrifice the heart of the Arsenal Historic District for only a few affordable housing units within a massive “market rate” condo development!

For more about the Arsenal and District C, please visit our website <www.yesbeniciaarsenalpark.com>

If you sign the petition, thank you for your support of this good cause! You can help get the word out by circulating the petition to friends and neighbors, and by sharing the link to our website.

Let’s aim high, as always, together!

🙂 Marilyn

Click here to sign the petition!