Gloria reform proposal would give council veto power over historic preservation votes

Number One Fifth Avenue Bar located in Hillcrest in San Diego is seen Monday Oct Photo by Vito DiStefano Times of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is beginning to overhaul the city s historic designation process and historic preservationists are not happy It at the moment takes a year for San Diego city functionaries to determine if a property should be protected as an historic stock but the timeline isn t the focus of the first batch of reforms he s pushing He s instead focused on stopping neighbors from using the process to shut down housing projects while giving the city council the power to overrule decisions by the Historical Tools Board Those changes are headed to the city s Planning Commission Thursday and could reach the council in January Right now anyone can ask the city to determine if a property qualifies as an historic supply Once they whether the property owner or anonymous nearby residents do city staff writes a analysis on the relevant history and makes a recommendation which then goes to the appointed Historic Information Board for a decision While that process plays out property owners and developers cannot conduct any construction on the property leading critics to allege the process hampers housing production It s just a fact that we re working at a year delay declared Ione Stiegler the founder of La Jolla-based IS Architecture who specializes in historic renovation architecture at a Historic Materials Board meeting where Gloria s transformation package was discussed In better times it s been about three months which would be lovely to get back to That delay can be important The San Diego American Indian Medical Center a area robustness center in Bankers Hill is now stuck in the process as it tries to build a -story office atop a -story parking garage After the center requested permits to expand its amenity it provides culturally sensitive healthcare for indigenous populations unnamed neighbors applied for historic designation because of the property s connection with pioneering modernist architect Lloyd Ruocco The center has now killed its request for permits for the new building and plans to announce new plans once the city has made an historic determination The Historical Information Board delayed its vote last month but expects to decide this month A Hillcrest gay bar likewise had to change its plans Brian Jinings bought Number One Fifth Avenue in and right away started receiving proposals from Camden a developer who approached him to include the bar site in its neighboring -story apartment project Jinings proposed selling Camden his property with them leasing the bar space back to him to operate the business The project would have been bigger but would have incorporated the bar and noise mitigation with apartments built above it The commercial building at Number One s address was built in but a city survey of foreseen historic sites in Uptown categorized it as altered beyond recognition Nonetheless it was flagged in the survey as possibly historic due to its cultural significance as a decades-old gay bar In organizers meeting on Number One s patio created the AIDS Foundation the city s first grassroots AIDS provision organization Number One Fifth Avenue Bar s back patio as seen on Monday Oct Photo by Vito DiStefano Times of San Diego City staff stated Jinings it would take to months for a decision on the bar s historical designation Camden could not pursue any construction in the meantime The deal collapsed That was the thing that killed it because it was just going to take way too much time to go through that process Jinings mentioned To Jinings it s what happened in the bar that is critical not the building itself He argues the preservation should focus on maintaining the business as a gay bar Camden went forward with the -story Denizen apartment construction on the lots it already owned Less than a year after the residence opened conflicts over noise are already disrupting bar operations Gloria s first batch of reforms would give the council power to overturn an Historical Support Board determination and would let property owners appeal decisions that determined their property was not historic The right to appeal a positive historic designation already exists The package also broadens who could sit on the board which is tough to fill and meet a quorum Bruce Coons executive director of Save Our Heritage Organisation opposed the council appeals proposal at a press conference this week The decision the present day is made by a group of experts in their field he revealed They want to be able to overturn em for any reason at all Turn a fact-based project into a political process We already have a fair transparent process one that includes expert analysis population participation and a right to appeal disclosed population advocate Shane Harris who organized the press conference This proposal does not improve that system It weakens it Next year Gloria anticipates bringing another batch of reforms that would address tax breaks on historic sites