Willow Glen Resident

News

District 6 residents talk to Oliverio about saving historic neighborhoods

By Emilie Crofton

Residents of District 6 came together with city officials to discuss preserving the city of San Jose before it's too late, and how to make the process simpler and less expensive.

Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio held a historic forum, "Preserving Our Historic Neighborhoods," on Oct. 6 at Galarza Elementary School in Willow Glen. Those in attendance were able to learn more about making neighborhoods and homes into conservation and historic areas.

"This forum was important because we're losing historical homes every day," Oliverio said. "New houses are being built, and we're losing that neighborhood feeling."

The forum was led by Sally Notthoff Zarnowitz, the city's historic preservation officer; participants included nine neighborhood representatives from within the district.

The forum outlined conservation areas such as Palm Haven, historic districts such as St. James Square, designated city landmarks, and historic preservation along with the benefits of being listed in the Historic Resources Inventory.

"It's a complex process with both advantages and disadvantages," said Larry Ames, president of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association. "But it's important to maintain the character of our neighborhood."

Some of the benefits include using the state historic building code, which allows increased flexibility and possible financial savings, unlike regular code requirements, as well as eligibility for certain federal tax credits, Notthoff Zarnowitz said.

San Jose's 2020 General Plan does contain goals and policies encouraging historic preservation; however, residents discussed the many difficulties they have faced with the city.

Willow Glen resident Jean Dresden said the biggest challenge is financial, and she emphasized the need for a simpler and less expensive process.

Historic resource surveys, conducted by qualified consultants, are mandatory but prove costly as they include a field inspection, photography and historical research on each property to establish historical and architectural significance. Based on experience from past surveys, this can cost thousands of dollars for a context statement, said Notthoff Zarnowitz.

"The process requires extremely expensive consultants," Dresden said. "While we wait to accumulate these thousands of dollars, we are going to lose much of our historic housing stock and destroy the integrity of potential conservation areas."

Dresden proposed increasing community involvement in the process.

"We must develop a more efficient path to qualifying historic conservation areas," she said. "The city should facilitate volunteer community researchers in developing applications that would be reviewed and finessed by qualified historic professionals."

Oliverio said his office was looking to create a historical group including District 6 residents in order to brainstorm and find creative ways to enable preservation.

"We must leverage the energy and enthusiasm of community members," Dresden said. "We are losing our historic heritage every day, bit by bit."