BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2701
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 2701 (Eng) - As Amended: March 18, 2010
SUBJECT : State historical building code: playgrounds.
SUMMARY : Clarifies that a playground that has been designated
as a historical site falls under the state historical building
code. Specifically, this bill :
1)States that certain playground-related standards and
guidelines shall not apply to a playground or a playground
site deemed to be a structure, place, location or site of
historical or cultural significance.
2)States that a playground or a playground site deemed to be a
qualified structure, place, location, or site shall be subject
to the alternative standards and regulations adopted by the
State Historical Building Safety Board.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires all new playgrounds open to the public built by a
public agency or any other entity to conform to the
playground-related standards set forth by the American Society
for Testing and Materials and the playground-related
guidelines set forth by the United States Consumer Product
Safety Commission (Health and Safety Code Section 115725).
2)Requires the replacement of equipment or modification of
components inside existing playgrounds to conform to the
playground-related standards set forth by the American Society
for Testing and Materials and the playground-related
guidelines set forth by the United States Consumer Product
Safety Commission (Health and Safety Code Section 115725).
3)Establishes the state historical building code to provide
alternative regulations and standards for the rehabilitation,
preservation, restoration (including related reconstruction),
or relocation of qualified historical buildings or structures
(Health and Safety Code Section 18951).
4)Specifies that the state historical building code applies to
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all qualified historical buildings or structures (Health and
Safety Code Section 18955).
5)Defines a qualified historical building or structure as any
structure or property, collection of structures, and their
related sites deemed of importance to the history,
architecture, or culture of an area by an appropriate local or
state governmental jurisdiction (Health and Safety Code
Section 18955).
6)Species that the application of any other statute or
regulation as applied to a qualified historical building or
structure shall be governed by the state historical building
code (Health and Safety Code Section 18956)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
AB 2701 states that playgrounds that have a historic designation
are subject to the requirements of the state historical building
code rather than the standardized modern playground standards
that apply to all other playgrounds. The bill is not a change
to existing law, which already specifies that any structure with
a historic designation is subject to the state historical
building code and that the application of any other statue or
regulation as applied to a historic structure is governed by the
state historical building code.
The bill's sponsor, Friends of La Laguna, was successful in
placing a playground in the City of San Gabriel on the
California Register of Historic Places. La Laguna, often
referred to as "Monster Park" or "Dinosaur Park," was created in
1965 by Benjamin Dominguez, a master concrete craftsman who
created a number of playgrounds in the Los Angeles area.
Friends of La Laguna was formed when the City of San Gabriel
announced plans to demolish the playground because it could not
see a feasible way to bring the unique one-of-a-kind structures
into compliance with modern playground safety standards.
Friends of La Laguna convinced the city that the park was worth
saving and went through the exhaustive process of seeking a
historic designation. Once the playground was added to the
California Register of Historic Places, the modern playground
safety standards were no longer applicable. Instead, the city
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and Friends of La Laguna will now be able to rehabilitate the
play equipment under the alternative standards and regulations
provided by the state historical building code. The historical
building code still requires structures to be safe and, to the
extent feasible, accessible, but allows for greater flexibility
in achieving these goals.
Through the process of saving La Laguna, the sponsor found that
there is a tremendous lack of knowledge that a historic
designation for a playground is possible, and that such a
designation allows for alternative methods of rehabilitating
historic playground structures. According to the sponsor, in
the 1950s and 1960s, reaction to suburban growth, a booming
population, and tract home development led to the creation of
unique and artistic playgrounds. These playgrounds functioned
to distinguish cities from one another and communicated the
character and diversity of the community. These playgrounds
sometimes drew on the skills of notable artists and architects,
which resulted in a creative period in playground design and
served to capture the culture of the community. Many
communities have already destroyed playgrounds built during this
era that might have been worthy of a historic designation. The
demolition of a historic playground results in the loss of a
community icon, and in some cases, a regional resource.
AB 2701 alerts communities to the potential of preserving a
defining feature of their public playgrounds and allows cities
to address safety concerns while adapting the solution to the
unique challenges of the play equipment.
Proposed amendment
Rather than placing the proposed language into the statutes
governing the state historical building codes, the author may
wish to instead place the language into Health and Safety Code
Section 115725, which is the code section that sets forth the
requirement for playgrounds to conform to modern safety
standards.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Friends of La Laguna
2 Individual letters
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Opposition
Livermore Area Recreation and Park District
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085