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Public Hearing Will Determine if 44 Live Oak Buildings Become Historic Resources
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Public Hearing Will Determine if 44 Live Oak Buildings Become Historic Resources
By Elizabeth Giuffre
The Santa Cruz County Historic Resources Commission (HRC) will hold the third of three public hearings before the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 23. to recommend certain structures in Live Oak be added to the list as historic resources. If these 44 buildings are designated as historic resources, they will be added to the Santa Cruz County’s Historic Resources Inventory.
Among the sites are the Mexican Rodeo Grounds on the south side of Soquel Avenue and the Road House at Pleasure Point. Six buildings are on Seventh Avenue and three are on Chanticleer.
County planner Steven Guiney said that these buildings represent some historical time in the past. Additionally, the structures are unique forms of architecture.
“The reason behind the potential designation of property is to preserve the history of Santa Cruz County where people lived,” Guiney said.
The Historic Resources Commission, which he staffs, serves to protect the character of a structure. Once a building is added to the Historic Resources Inventory, any changes to the outside of the building, for instance a remodel, must be reviewed by the HRC. Things like re-roofs and window replacement are the exception.
Guiney said in the more than five years he has been with the HRC, he has only seen two of about 30 proposed projects denied. He said the vast majority of “changes here and there” are approved.
Still, he predicted, some owners and residents of these buildings will express their concern over their building being added to the list for various reasons.
Road House Has Long History
Some of the properties owners are not so keen on being listed historic because their buildings have been modified extensively. One structure proposed for designation has seen many changes is the Pleasure Point “Road House.”
An article written by local historian Phil Reader noted, “The old building, located on East Cliff Drive between 38th and 41st avenues, has served variously as a farmhouse, a saloon and brothel, a speakeasy, a grocery store, a massage parlor, a hippy commune and a surfer hangout. The Road House today is privately owned; its rooms and cottages rented out to tenants.”
Reader also notes that Live Oak’s very name was derived from a historic resource inventory candidate, the Mexican Rodeo Grounds.
The actual formal rodeos began in Santa Cruz in the early 1800s, when the hide and tallow industry was reaching its peak and the local ranches were self-sufficient. Huge tracts of land were granted to pioneers of the Villa by the Mexican government. These families called one tract of land “Los Esteros,” the Estuaries or Lakes.
“Shortly after settling his family on the land,” Reader wrote, the name was changed to ‘Rancho Encinalito del Rodeo.’ The meaning in Spanish is ‘The Ranch of the Little Live Oaks of the Rodeo.’”
Santa Cruz County is one of few jurisdictions in California, which is designated as certified local government by the State Historic Preservation Office. This designation allows the County to compete for grants benefiting local historic preservation efforts.
New Designations Result from Study
In September 2003, the Board of Supervisors approved recommendations that came from a letter written by Supervisor Jan Beautz to allocate $15,000 to Redevelopment Agency funding for the study of historic properties in Live Oak. The studies were conducted and proposals received by the Planning Department after field reconnaissance and intensive research.
Two public hearing have already taken place on the matter. One was held on Sept. 14 of 2006, and the other took place on Oct. 20 of the same year.
If the potential properties are added to the County’s Historic Inventory, the buildings will also be submitted to the State Department of Parks and Recreation, Office of Historic Preservation for the inclusion in the California Register.
The public hearing is scheduled for the afternoon agenda on Jan. 23 at 1:30 p.m.
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