Historical Review Board approves two new petitions
The Mendocino Historical Review Board met March 1 to discuss two petitions — one from a new business seeking signage and the second, from Mendocino High School.
Board chair Ian Roth welcomed the newest board member, Holly Madrigal, which now brings the board up to four members out of the required five. The board has been functioning with a bare minimum of board members — just three — for more than a year now, which has meant that the board has needed to come to unanimous consent to pass items on the agenda.
“We do have five seats; if you or anyone knows of anyone living within the district who you’d like to poke and prod and ask to serve on our board — five is a lot healthier than four,” Roth said.
Madrigal then introduced herself to the board. She is a new resident of Mendocino, having only bought her house in the district less than two months ago, but was raised in the Willits area and rented a home in Fort Bragg for the past two years. She previously served on the Willits City Council for 12 years and served three terms as mayor of Willits.
“I have deep roots in this community, and I tend to get involved in things,” Madrigal said.
She works as the director of the Leadership Mendocino program, which is currently on hiatus due to the Coronavirus. She is also the interim director of the Volunteer Network, which has been helping to provide volunteers for vaccine clinics along the coast, and is also a member of the Mendocino County Historical Society.
New signs approved on Lansing Street
Since there was no public comment and no consent calendar items, the board then reviewed the two cases before them for the day. The first was a petition from Engel & Volkers via Green Real Estate Enterprises to change a sign at 10483 Lansing St., which used to read “Big River Realty.”
Rick Sacks and Scott Vorhees appeared on behalf of the petitioners to make a presenta
tion and request the removal of the old sign and the installation of a new one. The new sign would be a 1-by-3 foot sign with a white background, black letters and a red ampersand reading “Engel & Volkers.”
The petition also included the request to install a second, similar sign, that would be 37by-8 inches over the entrance. Engel & Volkers also requested to remove a planter box, install an outdoor table and a bike rack, and paint the building white with black trim.
“I think that it’s great that we have a new business coming in, I much prefer that over empty businesses,” Roth said. “There is currently not a sign over the doorway, and I prefer less advertising than more. I understand that might be a standard for the other shops but I am inclined to just keep that one sign out front that everyone is used to looking at as they go by.”
Board member Holm Kappler said he had no problem with a second sign, considering that most of the businesses in town are allowed to have two. Fellow board members Madrigal and Alex Saudners agreed.
The board received no public comment on the item and the review board reserved the right to review any future changes to the sign or its location.
Kappler moved to approve the request, standard to subject conditions, and Madrigal seconded. The item passed 3-1, with Roth’s dissent.
High School renovations approved — with conditions
The second item was a request from Darcy Kremin of Rincon Consultants on behalf of Mendocino Unified School district for a permit to demolish, renovate and repair several of the Mendocino High School buildings.
In addition, some additions including solar arrays and new landscaping, were proposed for several areas of the campus at 10700 Ford St. The board noted that the Mendocino Town Plan lists the site as a “Category IVb Historic structure,” which subjects it to certain restrictions. Darcy Kremin and Mark Quattrocchi appeared on behalf of the school district. The petition has been in front of the historical review board before, but has since been “pared down” Roth noted, so as to only include plans that involve the school’s main building, and the school district will come back with additions to other buildings on campus.
The board recently split into groups of two and toured the school, in an effort to avoid a violation of the Brown Act (which prohibits a majority of the board meeting at any time or place not announced to the public).
The board agreed that the permit would be subject to the usual conditions, and discussed documenting photos of student murals, placing lighting on timers, new roofing and font for the school’s marquee.
Board member Madrigal made a motion to approve, given the conditions set out by the board. Saunders seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
“Aye, and congratulations,” Roth said to Kremin and Quattrocchi. “We look forward to having you have a successful and wonderful project to improve that top of the hill.”
Quattrocchi said he looked forward to having the board attend the ribbon-cutting “when this is all over.”
“I know that we’re going to discuss some of the other issues at future meetings but I just wanted to discuss that there are at least three points that are of concern to me,” Kappler said. His concerns included the removal of the cypress trees, the installation of the solar panels and the demolition of the MCN building.
“To me, it’s a 100-year old building and I think we need a lot more information and rationale before we can agree to something like that,” he said. “I’m just giving the applicants, in general, a heads up.”
The board also recommended that the exterior appearance of the school be photographed and archived with the Kelley House Museum as a historical record.
The next Mendocino Historical Review Board meeting will be held at 2 p.m., April 5, via YouTube. For more information, visit mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meetingagendas/mendocino-historic-review-board.