Case


Architectural Heritage Association v. County of Monterey (2004) 122 Cal.App.4th 1095

http://ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/cases/2004/Architectural_Heritage_Association-122_Cal._App_4th_1095.htm

César Chávez was incarcerated in the Old Monterey County Jail in 1970 after refusing to stop a widespread lettuce boycott, and world-wide protests ensued. The County of Monterey approved demolition of the Old Jail in 2002, contending that the seminal Chávez event was insufficient to qualify the Jail as historic.

The Sixth District Court of Appeal overturned approval of demolition and found that preparation of an EIR was required because although the Old Jail was not yet listed on any historic register, the record contained a fair argument that (1) it qualified as an historic resource, (2) demolition would have a significant impact, and (3) mitigation would not reduce impacts to insignificance. "As drawing a chalk mark around a dead body is not mitigation, so archival documentation cannot normally reduce destruction of an historic resource to an insignificant level." (at 1119.)

The Old Jail has since been listed as a National Historic Landmark.



Old Monterey County Jail

 
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