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

Mayor Todd Gloria is beginning to overhaul the city’s historic designation process, and historic preservationists are not happy.

It currently takes a year for San Diego city officials to determine if a property should be protected as an historic resource — 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 Resources 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 resource. Once they — whether the property owner or anonymous nearby residents — do, city staff writes a report on the relevant history and makes a recommendation, which then goes to the appointed Historic Resources 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,” said Ione Stiegler, the founder of La Jolla-based IS Architecture who specializes in historic renovation architecture, at a Historic Resources Board meeting where Gloria’s reform package was discussed. “In better times, it’s been about three months, which would be lovely to get back to.”

That delay can be significant. The San Diego American Indian Health Center, a community health center in Bankers Hill, is now stuck in the process as it tries to build a 6-story office atop a 4-story parking garage. After the center requested permits to expand its service — 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 Resources 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 2019 and immediately started receiving proposals from Camden, a developer, who approached him to include the bar site in its neighboring 8-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 1934, but a city survey of potential 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 1983, organizers meeting on Number One’s patio created the AIDS Foundation, the city’s first grassroots AIDS service organization.

City staff told Jinings it would take 18 to 24 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 said.

To Jinings, it’s what happened in the bar that is significant, not the building itself. He argues the preservation should focus on maintaining the business as a gay bar.

Camden went forward with the 8-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 Resources Board determination, and would let property owners appeal decisions that found 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 today is made by a group of experts in their field,” he said. “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, public participation and a right to appeal,” said public 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.