BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 2701
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: eng
VERSION: 3/18/10
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 15, 2010
SUBJECT:
Historical Building Code: playgrounds
DESCRIPTION:
This bill places qualified playgrounds and playground sites that
have historical or cultural significance under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the State Historical Building Code.
ANALYSIS:
Current law establishes the State Historical Building Safety
Board within the Division of the State Architect to adopt the
State Historical Building Code. The adopted code is then
submitted to the California Building Standards Commission for
approval and ultimately becomes part of the state building
codes.
The State Historical Building Code provides alternative
regulations and standards for the rehabilitation, preservation,
restoration, and relocation of historical buildings, structures,
and properties deemed of importance to the history,
architecture, or culture of an area by an appropriate local or
state governmental jurisdiction. The code is intended to
facilitate the restoration or alteration of structures so as to
preserve the original or restored elements and features of the
structure while providing for reasonable safety for users and
providing reasonable availability and usability by the
physically disabled.
Existing law requires that all new playgrounds open to the
public conform with playground-related standards established by
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the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the
playground-related guidelines set forth by the United States
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). When a playground
owner replaces equipment or modifies components inside existing
playgrounds, then the new equipment or components must conform
to these standards as well.
This bill provides that a playground or playground site deemed
to be of historical or cultural significance pursuant to the
State Historical Building Code is not subject to the building
standards for playgrounds, but rather is subject exclusively to
applicable rules and regulations of the State Historical
Building Code.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . Friends of La Laguna, the sponsor of this bill,
succeeded in placing a playground in the City of San Gabriel
on the California Register of Historic Places. Benjamin
Dominguez, a master concrete craftsman who created a number of
playgrounds in the Los Angeles area, created the La Laguna de
San Gabriel playground in 1965. It is often referred to as
"Monster Park" or "Dinosaur Park" because of the appearance of
the play structures. Friends of La Laguna formed when the City
of San Gabriel announced plans to demolish the playground
because the city could not discern a feasible way to bring the
unique play 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 no longer applied. Instead, the
city and Friends of La Laguna may rehabilitate the play
equipment under the alternative standards and regulations
provided in the State Historical Building Code. This code
still requires structures to be safe and, to the extent
feasible, accessible, but allows for greater flexibility in
achieving these goals.
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
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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.
Through the process of saving La Laguna, the sponsor found
that few know it is even possible to designate a playground as
historic or that such a designation can allow for alternative
methods of rehabilitating historic playground structures.
This author introduced this bill to alert communities to the
potential of preserving a defining feature of their public
playgrounds and to allow cities to address safety concerns
while adapting the solution to the unique challenges of the
play equipment. The sponsor notes that modern safety
guidelines are so rigid in their application to playgrounds
that they leave little room for cities to adequately address
the challenges of repairing or rehabilitating one-of-a-kind
play equipment. This bill makes clear that these communities
need not adhere to these modern standards when they have been
designated historic but rather can proceed under the code for
historical buildings and structures.
2.Necessary ? Existing law already specifies that any structure
with an historic designation is subject to the State
Historical Building Code and that code governs the application
of any other statue or regulation as applied to a historic
structure. This bill simply clarifies and amplifies existing
law. One may question, therefore, whether this bill is needed
or whether a resolution would be adequate to alert communities
to the potential of preserving playgrounds of an historic
nature.
3.Arguments in opposition . The Livermore Area Recreation and
Park District is concerned about the liability associated with
an injury that occurs on an historic playground that is exempt
from the ASTM and CPSC standards mandated for non-historic
playgrounds. The park district states that entrusting
playground safety to the California Historical Building Code
will result in a different set of safety standards for
historic playgrounds, which "may unnecessarily place the
well-being and safety of young children at risk."
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Assembly Votes:
Floor: 74 - 0
Appr: 15 - 0
Trans: 8 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 9, 2010)
SUPPORT: Friends of La Laguna (sponsor)
National Trust for Historic Preservation
OPPOSED: Livermore Area Recreation and Parks District