PROPOSED GATEWAY HISTORIC DISTRICT

Background

In January of 2020, a group of Montgomery Way residents invited city Preservation Staff to attend an informal meeting of residents on Montgomery Way to discuss the process of establishing a historic district. At the meeting, staff addressed general questions about historic preservation and potential designation.

Following the meeting, a questionnaire was circulated to the 24 property owners potentially affected, to help staff gauge the level of interest in establishing a historic district. The questionnaire results showed only a slim majority supported establishing a historic district (10 of 17 respondents), and Preservation Staff decided not to pursue the issue any further.

Since that time, a group of Montgomery Way residents has retained Historic Environment Consultants, a professional, qualified, and well-respected historical consulting firm, to prepare a study of Montgomery Way from East Curtis Way to Franklin Boulevard. The study recommends the area represents a potential historic district, eligible for listing on the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources. The Study has been provided to the Preservation Director for his review and consideration.

Draft Gateway Historic District Survey Documents

• Gateway District Record
• Gateway District Individual Property (DPR) Forms
• Gateway District Human Landscape

Recommended Contributing and Non-Contributing Properties

PROPOSED HISTORIC DISTRICT BOUNDARIES

GENERAL INFORMATION

The section below describes in general terms the benefits and restrictions that come with establishing a historic district. Typically these benefits and restrictions are limited to contributing resources within the district.

Benefits

• Area would gain positive recognition as a historic district.
• Each contributing property would be eligible for a bronze plaque pursuant to the conditions of the City’s bronze plaque program.
• Each contributing property would be eligible for the City’s Historic Places Grant Program.
• Each contributing property would be eligible to apply for a Mills Act Contract. Mills Act contracts are agreements in which a property owner agrees to preserve and maintain their historic property in exchange for property tax evaluation by the County Assessor using a formula that usually, but not always, results in a tax reduction.
• For each contributing property, improvements could utilize the State Historic Building Code, including exemptions from current code, such as exemption from the CBC Title 24 energy efficiency standards.
  

Restrictions

• Discretionary projects with the potential to significantly impact the building or district (i.e. demolition) would trigger a higher level of review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
• Alterations to the exterior of the property, or publicly accessible interiors, would be subject to Preservation Site Plan and Design Review, which utilize the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties or adopted design guidelines, in lieu of the property’s current design review process, known as City Wide Site Plan and Design Review which utilizes the currently adopted City Wide Design Guidelines.
  
  In addition, there is substantial economic research from across the United States indicate that landmark designation preserves property values, reducing this level of depreciation during real estate bust/boom cycles.

Outreach and Next Steps

Staff is currently reviewing the nomination and setting up a series of community meetings to explain the benefits and restrictions that come with establishing a historic district.

Carson Anderson

Preservation Director

(916) 808-8259

canderson@cityofsacramento.org

Sean de Courcy

Associate Preservation Planner

(916) 808-2769

sdecourcy@cityofssacramento.org