The San Diego City Council will consider a package of Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed historical preservation reforms on Tuesday.
This is the first set of policy changes the mayor’s office is proposing to balance housing production with preserving architectural gems.
Development advocates have argued the historic review process, which takes a year or more, slows housing construction and is often weaponized by neighbors to oppose developments.
But preservationists have warned against weakening the advisory board on historical resources and putting city council members who aren’t preservation experts in charge of declaring sites historic.
Advocacy groups like Mission Hills Heritage have organized against the entire reform package, but some pieces are fairly uncontroversial. One element would adopt more flexible qualifications for board members, in hopes of solving persistent issues the city has had filling every seat on the all-volunteer body.
But preservations have fiercely opposed other items — like giving the city council power to overturn historic designations. They’ve argued it would replace a fact-based determination with a political process.
Mission Hills Heritage argues historic neighborhoods with smaller, older homes already offer naturally affordable housing, compared to areas building lots of new, market-rate projects, and that they provide new housing through accessory dwelling units on single-family lots.
“Seizing power from citizen review boards in favor of elected leaders serves to limit the power of citizens to participate in the democratic process,” wrote Michael Provence, a University of California San Diego history professor and member of HRB.
Currently, city council can only weigh in on historic designations on narrow procedural grounds, like if a factual error is discovered or the historic board violated its bylaws. The proposal grants much broader power for the council to overturn designations.
Provence also had concerns with the proposal to create an opportunity to appeal the board’s decision after it rejects awarding an historic designation. It’s already possible to appeal a board decision to designate a property as historic. The current proposal language would only allow property owners — rather than any citizen — to appeal the board’s decision that a property is not an historic resource. Provence said policies shouldn’t privilege property owners over general citizens.
Since last fall, the package has been reviewed by elected and advisory boards with mixed results. The Planning Commission unanimously supported the package but the Community Planners Committee, which has opposed the city’s efforts to weaken advisory groups’ power, unanimously opposed it. The Historical Resources Board the package most affects recommended against it in a divided vote.
Three city council members unanimously supported the reforms last year at the Land Use and Housing Committee. On Tuesday, the full board will review Gloria’s proposal.
The second package, yet to be unveiled, will include changes to tax breaks for historic properties.
