BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2701|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2701
Author: Eng (D)
Amended: 3/18/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 6-0, 6/15/10
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn, Oropeza, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/6/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State Historical Building Code: playgrounds
SOURCE : Friends of La Laguna
DIGEST : 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 : Existing 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
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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 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
Friends of La Laguna 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.
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/15/10 - unable to reverify)
Friends of La Laguna (source)
National Trust for Historic Preservation
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/15/10 - unable to reverify)
Livermore Area Recreation and Parks District
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : 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.
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.
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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.
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."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,
Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Block, De La Torre, Gilmore,
Mendoza
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JA:nl 6/30/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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