October 19, 2006

Fight continues for preservation of Almaden Feed & Fuel

By Lorraine Gabbert
Staff Writer

It’s an old saying that you can’t fight city hall, but proponents for preserving the Almaden Feed and Fuel continue trying. The latest obstacle came as a surprise: After the City of San Jose Historic Landmarks Commission voted in favor of the structure’s preservation, the Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement called for another report.

Members of the Feed and Fuel Committee review documentation before meeting with Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement. (l to r): Denelle Fedor, Mark Erickson, Art Boudreault and Ed Della Monica.

“On Sept. 20, 2006, the Historic Landmarks Commission agreed it was a structure of merit and told the Planning Department to rehabilitate and reuse the building,” says Archivist Art Boudreault. “We don’t understand the need for another report since the decision’s already been made.”

Attorney Mark Erickson agrees. “The Historic Landmarks Commission made a favorable recommendation which we think should be binding at this point,” he says. “Our concern is that someone wants to starts the process over with a new expert when a determination has already been made. It’s like losing at a trial and then saying, ‘Oops, I want to start again with some new witnesses.”

Overview
Created as a stagecoach stop in the 1890s on property originally owned by the Quicksilver Mining Company, the Almaden Feed and Fuel has served as a restaurant, gas station and country store for about 125 years and is one of the last 19th Century buildings in the area.

In November 2005, Almaden Feed and Fuel owner Jon Carson submitted an application to the city of San Jose for a Planned Development Rezoning on the building’s site. He planned to demolish the structure and develop up to 13 single-family detached residential units. In conjunction, Dr. Robert Cartier of Archaeological Resource Management was commissioned by the planning department to complete an historical evaluation report.

In response, Almaden residents Ed Della Monica and Erickson set to work trying to save what they considered an historic landmark. The next step would be convincing the city. One year later, joined by Boudreault, Lauren Bowker and Denelle Fedor, they formed the Feed and Fuel Committee dedicated to researching the history of the site and petitioning for its preservation. After in-depth investigation, Boudreault submitted an historical evaluation report packet to the planning department making a case for Candidate City Landmark status of the structure based on its likely use by the Quicksilver Mining Company, ownership by the Almaden Valley pioneer Pfeiffer family, mural by artist John Pugh, and its place as the gateway to the richest mercury mine in California.

Almaden Feed and Fuel. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert

Cartier’s report rated the Almaden Feed and Fuel and building site a high-level Structure of Merit at 56.43 percent, just a few points shy of a Candidate City Landmark at 67 percent. However, the research compiled by Boudreault identified an additional 38.45 points, for a total of 94.88 percent, which he felt might lead the Historic Landmarks Commission to designate it as a City Landmark.

According to Fedor, the historical grading of Cartier’s report is dubious but consultants were hesitant to go against him for fear of never working with the city again. “The sixth-generation Pfeiffer family, for instance is given little significance,” she says, “and points were excluded or low-balled. The Planning Department planned this to go to the Planning Commission before the Historic Landmark Commission reviewed it. They recommended the demolition of the building and that housing be built.”

Boudreault is frustrated by the city’s seeming lack of appreciation for Almaden Valley’s rich history and mourns the loss of its historic sites in the name of progress. “The Hacienda School, Lone Hill Vineyard, Robertsville Road House, Pfeiffer’s Resort and Southern Pacific Railroad Depot were bulldozed to make room for progress,” he says. Boudreault hopes that the Almaden Feed and Fuel won’t become another name to add to that list.

When the Feed and Fuel Committee learned that the Planning Department’s (mitigated negative declaration) public review period would end on Sept. 18, although the Historic Landmark Commission meeting wasn’t scheduled until Sept. 20, they felt forced to make a formal protest, citing environmental concerns, so that the full historic background of the building and site could be considered. “Had we not done that, they would have just gone ahead and ripped the building down,” says Boudreault.

Ironically, this protest is the Planning Department’s reason for commissioning another report. “We had an environmental document protested,” says Jean Hamilton, acting deputy director of the Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement. “We have a responsibility now to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to respond to that protest. We need to have an historic, independent analysis.”

Members of the Feed and Fuel Committee meet with the Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement. (l to r): Historic Preservation Officer Sally Notthoff Zarnowitz, Acting Deputy Director Jean Hamilton, Planner II Lesley Xavier, Mark Erickson, Denelle Fedor, Archivist Art Boudreault. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert

The Almaden Feed and Fuel Committee disagrees. “I think you can understand our concern about the fairness of the process based upon what’s happened so far,” says Erickson. “When we put a packet of information together in response to a report, it wasn’t provided to the Historic Landmark Commission, but rather to Cartier and the land owner to use against us. That has the appearance of impropriety and bias in favor of the landowner. It looks like there is an attempt to help the landowner get a new report and start over. It just doesn’t look right.”

Hamilton believes that due to the further information and environmental considerations raised by the petition from the Almaden Feed and Fuel Committee, the Planning Department requires an additional independent report. “We will scrutinize the reports and make sure the statements are backed up by appropriate research,” she says. “We have utmost confidence that the consultant will present a complete, thorough unbiased presentation of the historical attributes of this resource.”

The Almaden Feed and Fuel Committee is standing its ground. “We’re going to stay close to this issue,” says Fedor. “We will be with them every step of the way, looking over their shoulder. The Historic Landmark Commission said that the building should be preserved. To take it down would be the wrong thing to do.”