A third attempt to develop 165 E. Spain Street calls for a scaled-back project more in keeping with its historic neighbors, the Blue Wing Inn and the Sonoma Mission.
Mission Square, as presented by architect Bill Willers, of Sonoma’s Marcus Willers Architects, is a complex of 16 apartments, 3,500 sq. feet of office space and 46 parking places. Compared to the prior design, a controversial plan shelved in 2007, the overall square footage has been nearly halved, Willers said, and the density is far less than the zoning allowance.
The project has cleared permitting hurdles to this point, but will face its first formal public scrutiny before the Planning Commission, which will review the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
The initial plan for the 1.15 acre site, in 2002, called for a 34-room hotel and 10 apartments. It was widely opposed by neighbors and The Sonoma League for Historic Preservation (SLHP), who felt the scale of that and the subsequent 2007 design would overwhelm and destroy the neighborhood’s historical ambience.
The lot sits within a federally designated historic area, and the city’s historic overlay district. Neither designation prohibits development, but both add restrictions and may invite controversy.
The SLHP has hired a lawyer to review the Mission Square EIR, The Sun confirmed Tuesday.
“The league is working with Susan Brandt-Hawley, a preservation attorney, to review the Mission Square project for compliance with state laws,” said Loyce Haran, league president. “We are still concerned about the potential impacts on the historical district and compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood and the completeness of the EIR.”
Willers said that to initiate a third attempt at developing the property, his firm met with members of a SLHP subcommittee to identify points of concern. The new design took those resulting factors – including bulk, density, historic context, open space and enhancement of historic district – into account, he said.
“We believe all mitigating measures have been met,” Willers told a public meeting last week. “We feel we’ve done a good job on meeting the concerns of neighbors and the (SLHP).”
A SLHP spokesperson declined to comment on Willers’ statement.
Currently the 180-foot deep property is grassland except for an abandoned Craftsman house, known as the Pinelli Bungalow, which fronts Spain St. Protected by a historical designation, it will be refurbished for use as office space, Willers said.
A new structure, also for small, individual offices, will be constructed next to it, on Spain. Built behind that, in a North-South alignment, will be the apartment structures.
The property’s lone dominant tree, a huge pecan on the eastern edge, will be saved, Willers said.
The apartments themselves will be small: ten 500 sq ft studios and six 700 sq ft. one-bedroom units. Although the unit sizes were necessitated by the overall scaling down of the project, Willers said there is high demand for studio apartments and individual offices. The rentals will not be sold, or sub-let as vacation properties.
The primary entrance to the complex will be the existing driveway, widened to allow two-way traffic. Vehicles will also be able to enter via a parking lot entrance off of First Street East.
As for the design within the historical context, Willers said his goal was not to replicate Blue Wing Inn but use it as a point of reference. “The best way to respect historic structures is not to mimic them, but to create a design that references its surroundings.”
He said he was inspired by the simple grace of the Toscano Hotel Annex. By creating a transition between older and more contemporary structures, the project “is in scale and character with its historic context.”
Although he mentioned stucco as the primary exterior material, he cautioned that design details are premature. “That’s for when we get to the Design Review Commission. Now is not the time.”
One concern about development of the property has always been what might lie below the topsoil. The long-gone Berryessa Adobe may have been located there, many say, and the first archeological survey acknowledged concern from Native American groups about the sanctity of the land. But that 2002 survey and, Willard said, other extensive studies have discovered nothing of historical importance on the site. “No trace,” he said.
Matters of historical and cultural significance are covered by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which makes certain requirements of the developer.
It guides, for example, what steps to take if something of importance is discovered during the construction process.
That in turn is part of the 338-page Environmental Impact Report to be considered by the Planning Commission. If that panel signs off on the EIR it then moves to the city council.
Ten years and several starts and stops into the project, Willers wouldn’t guess when actual construction might begin. But once it starts, the relatively simple construction should take between nine and 12 months.
