Since Dwyer Middle School is an official Huntington Beach Historic Landmark, and the adjacent Huntington Beach City Gym is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, the HBCSD and Chevron should follow the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties while conducting this project. These standards and guidelines were set up to help protect and preserve historic buildings and sites. Here are some specific excerpts from the guidelines:
The guidelines for Additions specifically ADVISE AGAINST the following for historic properties: (under NOT RECOMMENDED section)
- Locating any new construction on the building site in a location which contains important landscape features or open space, for example removing a lawn and walkway and installing a parking lot.
- Introducing new construction onto the building site which is visually incompatible in terms of size, scale, design, materials, color, and texture; which destroys historic relationships on the site; or which damages or destroys important landscape features.
The guidelines for Additions specifically RECOMMEND the following for historic properties: (under RECOMMENDED section)
- Designing new onsite parking, loading docks, or ramps when required by the new use so that they are as unobtrusive as possible and assure the preservation of historic relationship between the building or buildings and the landscape.
http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/standguide/rehab/rehab_site.htm#alter
We believe that any “front of school” location of these large solar panel structures fundamentally conflict with the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
