By Susan Anawalt
In 1995 Monte Sereno enacted a Heritage Preservation Ordinance to join, at last, the ranks of other Bay Area communities. The purpose of the ordinance was to protect structure, sites and neighborhoods--anything that might have heritage significance in the community. Five citizens were appointed to a heritage committee in order to develop a heritage inventory. The role of this committee is strictly advisory, and it follows carefully developed guidelines for determining the heritage significance of anything in the community.
Since the enactment of the ordinance, most of the focus of the community--and now the present City Council--has been on property rights versus heritage. Property rights are developed and protected by a series of laws, or ordinances, which ensure that citizens respect each others' rights in some uniform way. We have building codes so my neighbor cannot build a 15-foot-high fence, and I cannot play loud music all night long or strew my garbage across my front lawn. None of these ordinances is voluntary.
Now the City Council has changed the General Plan to make preservation voluntary by the owner of a property nominated for the heritage list. It is a contradiction in terms to have a voluntary law or ordinance. More importantly, it puts heritage at risk. Saratoga has found that since 1987, five very important heritage homes are gone because of voluntary compliance.
The council has been so intent on waving the flag of property rights that it has practically turned as a body, with the exception of Councilmember Dorothea Bamford, against promoting heritage preservation in the community.
In fact, Councilmember Suzanne Jackson made a statement in a public meeting that there are only two buildings in Monte Sereno worth preserving: the John Steinbeck House and the Inglis House. That statement ignores places like the stately Victorian home of Dennis and Kathy Varni and the Malloy Home, which Los Gatos designated a Bell Ringer Home before realizing it was located in Monte Sereno.
Why heritage? Respecting community heritage brings a sense of pride, and, concurrently, a sense of commitment to the community. A bedroom community of commuters and people in transition finds ground to establish roots.
Respecting and valuing heritage brings stability to neighborhoods and a sense of place. Surely it is important what our fathers have left to us. Surely, we hope that we can leave something for our children and that we are not just planning for the present. John Steinbeck, who lived in Monte Sereno while writing The Grapes of Wrath, described in that book the Joad family's packing to come to California. They are sorting out their possessions and deciding what they can take with them. One of them says, as they are going through their meager possessions, "How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past?"
Four of five Monte Sereno Heritage committee members resigned when the ordinance was so drastically altered. The grounds on which we accepted our appointment no longer existed. The fifth committee member, an interim appointee for two months, has yet to accept reappointment.
We urge the council to appoint quickly a new heritage committee and to begin to work positively for heritage preservation. The former committee sent quite a lengthy letter suggesting improvements to the ordinance. We urge the council at last to work with this new committee and to support its efforts.
Susan Anawalt wrote this op/ed piece on behalf of the Heritage Preservation Committee, whose viewpoint she expressed.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, April 23, 1997.
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