SAN DIEGO – A prominent group has sued the city, arguing that environmental study is required before the recent approval of changes to a historic preservation program can be considered valid.
The San Diego Superior Court action is being brought by Save Our Heritage Organisation, a nonprofit devoted to the preservation of San Diego’s historic architecture and landmarks.
SOHO wants an Environmental Impact Report to be done under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), to address any adverse environmental impacts to historic resources posed by the city’s Preservation and Progress Program.
On Feb. 24, the city approved Package A, the first of two planned comprehensive updates in a quarter-century to the program, which identifies and protects historically, culturally or architecturally significant buildings and places.
Through Preservation and Progress, the city is updating policies and regulations in an attempt to protect historic resources while aligning with its housing, equity, sustainability and resilience goals.
SOHO claims Package A’s approval is invalid, since it was done without analyzing the potential environmental impacts of weakening protections for historic resources across San Diego via modifications to the city’s Municipal Code and General Plan.
“Historic places are an integral part of our environment and shared city identity,” said SOHO’s executive director Bruce Coons. “CEQA requires the city to carefully study and mitigate the impacts of proposed major policy changes. That did not happen here, and adverse consequences to San Diego’s historic resources will be irreversible.”
SOHO contends the city relied on past EIRs that it failed to supplement for the substantial changes to the program, affecting historic neighborhoods and cultural resources citywide. The approved changes targeted by SOHO in Package A would allow the City Council to exercise discretion to overturn historic property designations granted by historic experts on the city’s appointed Historical Resources Board.
The city’s segmentation of the Preservation and Progress Program updates into phases — Package A and a forthcoming Package B — also has been challenged by SOHO. The organization contends CEQA requires environmental impacts and mitigations for all parts of historic projects to be studied and approved together as the “whole of the action.”
Package A’s policies would also affect emerging historic districts, for instance, those in Ocean Beach. SOHO notes OB could potentially be adversely impacted by the passage of Package A, as it is one of the most historic beach communities on the West Coast.
With a history stretching back to the late 1800s, the community is layered with architectural, cultural and social history from its early seaside development and amusement attractions, to its role in 1960s social movements, including Vietnam War protests. The community includes important parks, churches, civic sites, commercial districts and women’s clubs, as well as sports, railroad history, and more.
“The city has never completed a comprehensive historic survey of Ocean Beach, despite saying for years that it would,” according to a SOHO news release. “Now, without that work, the public is being asked to accept that the only history worth recognizing amounts to just 72 cottages.”
SOHO claims there are hundreds of qualifying structures in OB deserving of historical designation. The organization also spelled out what it believes “should” be done concerning OB and its emerging historic district.
“A proper process is straightforward: establish the historic context statement, conduct a professional survey, identify contributing resources and submit the results for formal designation,” said SOHO, which added this caveat: “All of this should happen before major planning decisions or removing current protections that could threaten historic resources, not after.”
Of SOHO’s suit over Package A, Coons noted, “The [city] violated the law, that’s why we’re suing, because they’re making fundamental changes to the way the city’s historical ordinance is being used.”
If allowed to stand, Coons said, the changes the city has made will allow elected officials to render judgments on historical properties, which are political decisions and not based on the project’s merits.
“They’re weakening the current historical protections,” he said.
A court win for SOHO, Coons said, would be the city admitting “they have to do an environmental review.”
