City wants a deal with developers to preserve sense of history
CITYWIDE — Looking to keep the city’s historic housing stock from becoming extinct, the City Council is expected tonight to offer incentives that developers can use to maximize their investments in exchange for preserving historic structures that would most likely be demolished.
The incentives include an expedited review process for construction projects, an exemption from affordable housing requirements and the elimination of some key restraints to increasing building heights and density.
If approved, the incentives will allow developers to be more creative in the design phase, incorporating key elements of the given historic structure, while at the same time maximizing space, which could include adding an extra floor.
The owner of a modest Victorian cottage on Fifth Street that was designated a city landmark in 2002 developed the incentives along with local architects in an effort to slightly move the home closer to the street to make room for three condominiums at the rear of the property. Without the incentives, architects working on the project said the owner would be inclined to abandon the project or have the cottage removed.
While there are only a handful of properties that would be eligible for the incentives, those who specialize in housing development and the preservation of historic landmarks said the proposed ordinance is significant in that it gives property owners another option to demolishing an historic structure.
Currently, if a developer wants to build condominiums or some other project on a lot where an historic structure sits, they must maintain that structure in its current form. Depending on where the structure is located, developers are often limited as to where and what they can build on their property, creating significant restraints that increase costs. The only option currently available is to develop as is, or apply for financial hardship and have the historic building demolished.
“These incentives will preserve historic resources in Santa Monica by providing some flexibility that is meaningful,” said Robert Chattel of Chattel Architecture, the firm in charge of the condo project on Fifth Street, just north of Wilshire Boulevard. “This also ensures a strong historic preservation program because it requires a variance process that conforms with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for the treatment of historic properties. So, these incentives are not just available for any project. There is a process you must go through that requires creativity and respect for the historic building.”
Few if any have claimed financial hardship, historical preservationists said, however, the possibility exist and may become more frequent if the incentives are not approved.
“With the high cost of real estate in Santa Monica, there is a lot of pressure from development on older, smaller buildings,” said Ruthann Lehrer, an architectural historian and member of the Landmarks Commission, which supports the incentives. “There have been a lot of teardowns in residential neighborhoods because it is such a hot real estate market and people want to maximize their zoning potential and build big.”
Many of the city’s oldest homes have already been lost and many more are in jeopardy, Lehrer said.
“These homes represent the birth of Santa Monica,” Lehrer said. “These structures represent the first housing stock that was built in the first residential neighborhood of the city. They are small-scale Victorian cottages and are the last remaining window into the past. There are only a handful of them left. It would be a shame to lose them.”
The council seems very supportive of the incentives, having already given preliminary approval during a meeting on Sept. 26. The ordinance is up for a second reading tonight, and will likely be approved.
“We are all about solving problems here and I think we have found a way to balance the wants of redevelopment with the need to preserve Santa Monica’s historic resources,” said Council member Pam O’Connor, who works in the realm of historic preservation for Kaplan Chen Kaplan Architects in Santa Monica.“Property owners are giving a public benefit by maintaining a building that has received landmark designation. I think there needs to be recognition for that and this ordinance does that. It is a two-way street. With designation comes a public benefit, and in return, we should offer some incentives.”
O’Connor said many people have the misperception that historic preservation is about “freezing something in time.”
Rather, it is more about identifying the unique features and characteristics that “communicate a time and era”
“These buildings aren’t museums,” O’Connor said. “They are still part of an ever-evolving environment and I think there needs to be flexibility to co-exist. There is no single recipe on how to do that. It is a case-by-case basis, but one that will get the creative juices flowing to come up with the best possible project.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 3, 2006. Read the original PDF.