Be proud, Alta Heights residents.
You may not live in Napa’s oldest neighborhood, but 47 of your
homes are historically or architecturally notable.
That’s the finding of the city’s survey of the hillside
residential neighborhood east of downtown.
The survey, conducted by Architectural Resource Group, said Alta
Heights didn’t have enough older properties to become a historic
district, but there were properties of distinction that the city
may want to take action to protect.
Consultant Matthew Davis told the City Council on Tuesday that
the majority of Alta Heights homes were built in the World War II
era and afterward.
About 150 of the 700 parcels in Alta Heights were excluded from
the study because they were built after 1965, were not viewable
from the public right-of-way or were vacant, Davis said.
Of the 559 that were surveyed, 47 houses were “the most
potentially significant in the survey area,” Davis said.
Of these, four single-family homes dating from the late 19th and
early 20th centuries were already listed on the city’s Historical
Resource Inventory. They are the 1904 Queen Anne Victorian at 1100
Raymond Ave., the 1898 American Colonial Revival home at 1151
Willow Ave., the 1900 Victorian at 22 Highland Drive and the 1910
home at 131 First St.
He recommended the 47 structures be further studied to see if
they could qualify as local landmarks.
Forty-nine other homes should be given special review in the
event someone wants to demolish them, Davis said. The surveyor
found them to have some architectural merit, but not enough to
warrant historical status, he said.
“(They) do contribute to the character of the area,” he
said.
Alta Heights is the fifth area the city has studied since it
initiated Heritage Napa in 2008 to survey 33 sections of the city
for potential historic resources that might warrant preservation
assurances. Other areas that have been studied include Soscol
Gateway and east Napa, Spencers Addition, west Napa and
downtown.
A state grant of $25,000, matched by city staff and Cultural
Heritage Commission members’ time, funded the study, according to
senior city planner Kevin Eberle.
Councilman Mark van Gorder said he appreciates the values of
preservation, but questioned how much more staff time will be
dedicated to future studies.
Eberle said staff would like to study one more neighborhood if
possible. City planners will now take the information gathered in
those surveys and begin working on recommendations to the council
as to how to move forward with protections of those properties.
“It’s time to stop doing surveys for a while,” Eberle said.
“It’s time to start implementing them.”
Eberle said the owners of homes found to be historically
significant might need to follow certain guidelines before making
improvements. Others could be required to go through special design
procedures before their structures could be demolished.
“It affects the property owners,” he said.
Councilwoman Juliana Inman said the some neighborhoods may not
qualify as historic districts, but neighbors and the city could
explore labeling them as conservation districts so their “charm can
be protected.”