Wintersburg named a ‘national treasure’ as land-use report weighs options for its future

Efforts to save the Historic Wintersburg site in Huntington Beach took two big steps Thursday when it was named a “national treasure” and a report determined various ways the property could be preserved.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced that the 4.4-acre site off Warner Avenue and Nichols Lane – the former home of the first Japanese Presbyterian church in Orange County – is one of about 60 locations nationwide that the nonprofit is committed to trying to save. It said it would work with preservationists, property owner Rainbow Environmental Services and community stakeholders toward a solution, field officer Kevin Sanada said.

The announcement puts Wintersburg in the company of the Houston Astrodome, Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch near Medora, N.D., and the Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital.

In June 2014, the National Trust designated Wintersburg as one of 11 endangered historic places in the United States.

The national treasure designation further recognizes Wintersburg for its importance to American history as “one of the only surviving properties purchased before California barred Japanese from owning land” during World War II, according to the National Trust.

“We’re honored because this means there’s recognition of the history of Japanese Americans’ settlement of the American West and of the immense civil-liberties history represented by Historic Wintersburg,” said Mary Urashima, chairwoman of the Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force.

Urashima, who has spent the past eight years researching Wintersburg’s importance to Huntington Beach, Orange County and American history, said she is grateful to the Furuta family, which founded the site in 1904 and lived there until 2002.

Norman Furuta, 63, grandson of site founder Charles Furuta, said he is grateful for Urashima’s work and is gratified that his childhood home is being seen as significant to American history.

Norman Furuta, who now lives in San Francisco, said it took him awhile to realize the significance of Wintersburg and his family’s experience.

Now, “it’s a little bit easier to comprehend some of this,” he said.

Rainbow Environmental Services, a Huntington Beach waste management company, has owned the Wintersburg property since 2004, when the Furuta family sold it.

Rainbow stated in May that it would not demolish the six buildings that remain on the site, including a 1908 barn, 1910 mission, 1934 church and 1912 and 1947 houses.

In November 2013, the Huntington Beach City Council approved rezoning Wintersburg from medium-density residential to light industrial and commercial. The rezoning also allowed Rainbow to demolish the buildings.

However, the Ocean View School District sued the city in December 2013, claiming the environmental impact report for the rezoning was flawed. In June this year, an Orange County Superior Court judge ordered the city to rescind the rezoning.

The city restored Wintersburg’s residential zoning in July. However, it appealed the judge’s ruling in September, claiming it should not have been rushed to rezone the property.

Urban Land Institute report

The National Trust and the Wintersburg task force Thursday also released a study by the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that focuses on land-use research.

The report identified the 1912 house, 1910 mission and 1934 church as “essential” structures that should be saved to maintain the integrity of the site’s history. Urashima said that does not mean the remaining buildings should be demolished.

“It means that additional efforts can be made to find ways to also save those structures,” she said. “From a preservation point of view, we’d absolutely love to save everything, but it will take broader community support, Huntington Beach and beyond, in order to do that.”

The report presented seven options for Wintersburg to try to please the parties involved.

The option it recommended is to have shared uses on the land. The northern portion would be dedicated to the historical buildings. About 56,700 square feet south of that would be dedicated to shared open space, and about 85,050 square feet below that would be designated for a business park catering to entrepreneurs.

Other options in the report:

• Keep the five structures on the north side of the property (one building is on the south side) and build medium-density housing on the land south of the buildings. The report recognized that adding housing could lead to lawsuits from neighbors who claim that such a project would not be compatible with the current residential and industrial uses surrounding Wintersburg.

• Turn a majority of the property into a park or convert it for agricultural use. Though the report said this option would be the most beneficial to the community, it also would be the most expensive to maintain and would yield the smallest return for Rainbow.

• Keep the historical buildings in the north section of the property while using the remaining land as a business park.

• Relocate the buildings to the south end of Wintersburg and place the business park next to Warner Avenue.

• Keep the historical structures on the north side while adding a business park on the west side and housing on the east side.

• Keep the site as it is. However, the institute said that “doing nothing earns nothing.”

Rainbow spokeswoman Sue Gordon said Friday that “we appreciate the ULI team’s ideas and work. We look forward to evaluating the report’s recommendations.”

Urashima said she is willing to continue working with Rainbow on determining the best solution for Wintersburg.

“Historic Wintersburg is more challenging than many historic sites because of the nature of the ownership, the size of the property, the number of structures and the issues in the surrounding neighborhood,” she said.