Preservation Planning

City of Orange General PLan Update
Orange, California

Chattel completed services for the City of Orange General Plan Update, including a Historic Resource Survey and preparation of preservation policies for the General Plan Historic Preservation Element, adopted in 2010. Services involved an update to the previous survey of Old Towne Orange, the largest National Register-listed residential historic district in the western United States including development of historic context statements. Chattel surveyed nearly 4,000 properties citywide, including those in Old Towne and four outlying areas: El Modena, a former Quaker settlement turned Mexican-American barrio; and three tracts of postwar suburban Eichler Homes. Detailed historic context statements were developed for each area. Major recommendations included the creation of a local mechanism for designating individual properties; changes to historic district boundaries; and adoption of historic and conservation districts.

As part of these services, Chattel produced a “Historic Preservation Issues and Opportunities Paper,” analyzing the City’s existing preservation policies and presenting opportunities and constraints associated with various preservation options. Chattel also worked with archaeological sub-consultant PAR Environmental Services, Inc. to identify and develop techniques to protect archaeologically sensitive areas in Orange.  These efforts led to a series of creative, state-of-the-art policy recommendations, goals and objectives, included in the Preservation Element. In 2012, Chattel received a Governor's Historic Preservation Award for its work on the Cultural Resources and Historic Preservation Element of the City of Orange General Plan. 

Chattel also served for a number of years as an on-call historic preservation consultant for the City.

City of San Gabriel Historic Preservation Ordinance Update
San Gabriel, California

Chattel worked with SWCA Environmental Consultants, Inc., to update the City of San Gabriel’s 1965 Historic Preservation and Cultural Resource Ordinance. Chattel’s work included attending Planning Commission meetings, City Council meetings, and writing responses to public and commission comments, and providing strategic oversight.

As a result of the updated ordinance, San Gabriel qualifies to become a Certified Local Government, which makes it eligible for grants to support preservation efforts. The updated ordinance aims to be user-friendly and calls for the creation of a Historic Preservation Commission. It also enables San Gabriel to protect and maintain neighborhoods with the designation of historic districts and the establishment of Conservation Overlay Zones while continuing to protect historic and cultural resources, including archaeological sites of the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe.

The City of San Gabriel won a 2018 Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award for the renewed ordinance.