PD Background Report (PL-REZ-2022-000033)

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No correspondence associated with the Hammatt et al. (1992) project was located by SHPD and as such, it is unknown whether the AIS assessed the archaeological sites for significance, and whether recommendations were made regarding which sites were adequately documented, requiring no further work, and which retained potential for further documentation through mitigation including archaeological monitoring or preservation. Hammatt and Shideler (2007) submitted additional site documentation in the form of a letter to SHPD for five sites, however, site maps and photographs were not provided for all sites. In 2016, SCS conducted an archaeological field inspection of the current project area to relocate the sites identified during the 1992 Hammatt et al. AIS and to assess their current condition and the adequacy of the study documentation. However, the field inspection did not include the completion of new documentation needed to meet minimum AIS standards. By letter dated July 30, 2018, to the Planning Department, SHPD requested a second AIS study of the Hammatt et al. (1992) project area to identify all archaeological historic properties present, and to update previous archaeological documentation to include site plans with site boundaries and areas impacted by bulldozing, photographs of all sites and features, an assessment of their integrity, and site significance. The applicant hired SCS to complete the study, consisting of a pedestrian survey of 76.121 acres of the project area (with the exception of the five acres slated for HPA). Seventeen of the 21 previously identified archaeological sites were located. Two of the previously documented sites relocated by SCS were determined to be natural bedrock outcrops and the two burials that were reinterred off-site in 1993. The four remaining previously documented sites were bulldozed prior to the SCS fieldwork, and the remains of the sites are no longer present on the ground surface. Three previously undocumented sites were also documented, including a portion of the railroad berm, a small coffee shed enclosure, and several ranch walls. A third AIS (Escott and Escott 2018) was conducted in the five -acre southeast corner of Parcel 17. The entire study area was subjected to a pedestrian survey and 22 archaeological sites were recorded, primarily agricultural complexes and terraces -11-