A MATTER OF HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
City Hall wants to get its history straight and it may cost about $280,000.
City staff is recommending that the City Council hire an outside agency to prepare a report on how many historic properties are in Santa Monica and others that may be potentially designated as historic.
The city’s historic resources inventory contains about 1,300 historically significant properties, according to surveys conducted between 1983 and 1993, and area updates between 1994 and 2004, according to city staff. However, the survey data is considered inconsistent because technological and historical preservation standards throughout the state have changed over the years, city staff said.
As a result, City Hall’s goal is to create a standard for evaluation within two years of the project’s start.
The inventory will be useful for city staff in land use planning throughout Santa Monica, as well as for evaluating proposed alterations and demolitions to properties that are identified as historic, which could be buildings that are more than 40 years old.
The consultant team will conduct a reconnaissance survey of all structures built in the city since 1968, which is about 11,350. The team also will reassess the 1,300 properties already listed on the inventory, according to a city staff report.
The survey results will be available online as public records. The project also entails a community outreach and education program to heighten awareness of the city’s goals and to inform property owners of whether or not their properties are considered historically significant.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 13, 2006. Read the original PDF.