The City Council upheld the appeal over the Foundry and Office buildings, which had been issued an emergency demolition permit in 2016.
(File photo)

On the agenda for the Benicia City Council’s first meeting of the year were decisions on the rehearing of the emergency demolition permit of two historic buildings and adding an amendment to Benicia’s Industrial Park Transportation and Employment Center (TEC) plan.
In 2016, automobile import company AMPORTS filed for an emergency demolition permit for two buildings it owned on West H Street. The two buildings– known today as the Foundry and Office buildings– were constructed in 1850 and were once the home of Pacific Mail Steamship Company as well as Yuba Industries. Following decades of deterioration and a fire on the property in 2015, Chief Building Official Rachel O’Shea requested inspections and had the buildings red-tagged. AMPORTS filed an emergency demolition permit a year later.
Since the council voted to uphold an appeal by the Historic Preservation Review Commission in March, the city and AMPORTS have been trying to resolve the issue, with multiple rehearings being scheduled and both sides agreeing to third-party mediation. At Tuesday’s meeting, Council made a decision to take the first step in putting this matter to rest.
Before the meeting, Benicia city staff gave the council several voting options. These included, whether to retain a third party to mediate issues amongst parties involved, prepare and file pleadings to seek and secure a court-ordered administrative inspection warrant or think about upholding the appeal and deny the emergency demolition permit.
HPRC members Tim Reynolds and Jon Van Landschoot delivered a presentation on potential reuses for the buildings. Amports attorney Dana Dean expressed frustration that anything other than a discussion on the issues the council chose for a rehearing exceeded the council’s authority. She also addressed notions that an application might be revoked.
“We have not withdrawn our application,” she said. “We are not going to withdraw our application. We are asking you to make the determination the chief building officer made the right decision and uphold her decision.”
Councilmember Mark Hughes expressed public safety concerns, due to the 2015 fire and teens sneaking into the site. He made a motion to uphold the permit, but none of the other councilmembers voted with him. Councilmember Tom Campbell made a motion to uphold the appeal based on the lack of a historical survey, lack of access to the site by the city’s consultants and engineers, and the potential historic significance of the site’s remains. Hughes was the lone dissenting vote. Staff was then directed to prepare a resolution supporting the decision.
The council also held a discussion and vote on the TEC plan. Last March, the council adopted changes to the plan. A petition for writ of mandate setting aside the certification of the city’s TEC plan’s Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration and adoption of the TEC plan was filed by Concord company West Coast Home Builders (WCHB) on June 2. The amendment proposed pertained to conceptual streetscape improvement with minor edits to clarify some of the text.
Staff recommended the council review and comment on the amendment while ultimately delaying adoption of the Amended Plan pending prior or concurrent resolution of the West Coast lawsuit. The council unanimously voted to continue the agenda item.
In other business, the council delivered a proclamation presentation to Studio 41 owner Leah Shelhorn to honor her store’s 27 years of business and her work on various boards, including Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, Economic Development Board and chair of the Downtown Business Alliance. Republic Services also presented an eco award to Robert Semple Elementary School for being the first school in the district to establish a new food waste and recycling program, which Principal Christina Moore said has reduced the number of trash bags each day from 15 to three.
The council is next scheduled to meet on Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.

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