Monday, November 28, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Settlement reached in Oak View neigborhood, home to National Treasure Historic Wintersburg
Settlement to multi-year litigation was announced on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, for the Ocean View School District (OVSD) and Republic Services, the parent company of the former Rainbow Environmental Services (Rainbow). Republic Services owns the Historic Wintersburg property, as of their purchase of Rainbow Environmental two years ago.
OVSD filed a complaint against Rainbow in 2013, after the Huntington Beach City Council approved by split vote a rezoning of the Historic Wintersburg property to commercial-industrial, including an action to demolish all six historic structures. The OVSD complaint included the re-zoning, along with their air quality concerns.
The Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force was formed in mid 2012 by the Huntington Beach City Council, after the creation of this blog in February 2012. Task Force chair Mary Urashima has been actively researching and working toward the preservation of the Furuta farm and Wintersburg Japanese Mission for almost nine years. She worked with a film crew on the PBS program, Our American Family: The Furutas, with a premier screening at the Japanese American National Museum. The program aired nationally on PBS stations in 2015 and 2016. Urashima's book Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach (History Press) was published in 2014.
It is deemed potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A, Japanese American settlement of the American West, by the National Park Service---who inspected the property in mid 2013 at the request of the Task Force and then Huntington Beach mayor, Connie Boardman---and National Trust for Historic Preservation, who first inspected the property in May 2014. The Historic Wintersburg Task Force has provided workshops and tours for the Consul General of Japan, the California Preservation Foundation, a Sister Cities delegation from Anjo, Japan, and media from around the country.
As outlined at the November 16 press conference, the settlement includes full enclosure of waste transfer operations to improve air quality and odor in the Oak View neighborhood, screening trees in the area between the school property and the waste transfer station, payment of legal fees, and up to $4 million for the construction of a new gymnasium on the Oak View Elementary School property. OVSD also secured that no waste transfer operations of any kind will expand to the Historic Wintersburg property, notification for any "development, construction, demolition, or renovation activities...or any change or intensification" of the property, and "first right of refusal" should Republic Services decide to sell the Historic Wintersburg property.
Gina Clayton-Tarvin, president of the board of trustees for OVSD, clarified in a Facebook past for the Oak View neighborhood on November 17.
"No inappropriate development at the Historic Wintersburg Site will occur. A recorded Agreement Between Property Owners will prevent the Historic Wintersburg Site from ever being used for an expansion of Rainbow’s solid waste operations, storage of garbage trucks, and various other uses inappropriate for a location adjacent to a preschool," Clayton-Tarvin explained, "The School District will have an option to purchase the Wintersburg Site at fair market value, and a right of first refusal in case Rainbow decides to sell the property to developers. These rights are assignable to other governmental entities or historical societies that may wish to purchase the property to develop a historical park facility on the site."
There currently are ongoing discussions between the City of Huntington Beach, Republic Services and the Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force regarding the next step toward historic preservation, with a heritage park goal.
Clayton-Tarvin also personally assured the Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force that OVSD's effort is to support heritage conservation, in keeping with the nine-year effort to save Historic Wintersburg. Along with Republic Services, the Oak View community, the City of Huntington Beach, and heritage preservation experts, OVSD will be one of the stakeholders to provide input during the visioning and planning for Historic Wintersburg, which will include educational programming.
Congratulations are in order for OVSD and Republic Services in resolving an issue in a manner that also provides additional protection for the National Treasure Historic Wintersburg. This is Orange County, California's first and only National Treasure historic place and one of two representing the history of Japanese Americans. We look forward to announcing the path forward in the conservation and restoration of this rare and important American history.
All rights reserved. No part of the Historic Wintersburg blog may be reproduced or duplicated without prior written permission from the author and publisher, M. Adams Urashima.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
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