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# Historic districts are for your protection
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/the-some-young-moon-dispatches/
- Published: 2002-05-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:16:53.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Beatrice H. Nemlaha Santa Monica*

Editor:

Misconceptions about neighbors’ roles in renovations to properties in historic districts continue to rage, as does the assumption that a process allowing a neighborhood to protect its integrity and character is not a good thing.

Shirley Bly’s recent letter asserts that a member of an historic district will be “forced to submit plans and drawings to a committee of his/her neighbors when they want to change the exterior paint color, add a window or remove a tree or simply add air conditioning.” None of these changes require the review or approval of neighbors in the Third Street Historic district in which Ms. Bly and I both live.

When an historic district is formed in Santa Monica, interested members of that community are involved in detailing how that district will operate and what property changes will be reviewed by neighbors, by city staff, and by the landmarks commission. Each district has its own unique district ordinance and design guidelines.

The Third Street Neighborhood Historic District Ordinance specifies only certain major exterior, visible alterations which the landmarks commission reviews. Only those proposed alterations are reviewed by interested neighbors, who neither vote nor control the outcome. The role of participating neighbors is to review proposals, comment, and forward input to the landmarks commission. Anyone can appeal the landmarks commission’s decision to the City Council.

Ms. Bly’s proposal to dig-out an on-street subterranean garage under her craftsman beach bungalow was unanimously denied by the landmarks commission based on its failure to meet and maintain architectural and preservation guidelines and on the damage it would cause to the integrity of the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District. (Ms. Bly currently has off-street parking on her property, and alternative less intrusive parking design choice are possible.)

Of nine major renovation projects proposed in the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District since its designation in 1990, this subterranean garage project is the only project which has ever been denied. It is presently on appeal to the City Council.

Your April 22, 2002 article “History Repeating Itself in Santa Monica” stated that “When asked if neighbors should be making decisions about others’ property, I said that home buyers knew they were moving into an historic district ahead of time.” Although that is true for homeowners who move into an historic district after its designation, that was not my response.

My answer was that we have a representative form of government which we use to fashion the rules by which we live and on which we rely for civil society. Here I would add two things.

First, neighbors aren’t “making decisions about others’ property” in an historic district. They have a process for review and comment which gives neighbors the opportunity to protect their neighborhood values and character.

Second, we don’t have absolute individual “property rights,” and in cities we never have had. Municipalities are responsible to protect the safety, health, welfare, and cultural resources of the community and they do so through laws affecting property use including zoning and preservation ordinances. Historic districts protect communities and enable neighbors to participate, cooperate in, and influence that protection.

Beatrice H. Nemlaha

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 13, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/051302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)