Willow Glen Resident

News

District 6 neighbors explore preservation

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

The second meeting in District 6 Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio's "Preserving Our Historic Neighborhoods" forums provided proposals and left residents ready to take the next step.

Oliverio held the historic forum on Dec. 13 at Willow Glen Middle School. For the approximately 50 residents in attendance, it was an opportunity to learn more about making neighborhoods and homes into conservation and historic areas.

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

At the first meeting on Oct. 6, city officials asked residents what they thought needed to be changed in the process of creating historic status. Those in attendance said the cost was too high, and the process took too much time.

At the Dec. 13 meeting, these two issues were addressed with a proposal to add a Conservation Study Area and Neighborhoods of Distinction to the already established designations of City Landmark, City Landmark District, National Register, California Register, Structures of Merit and Conservation Area.

The Conservation Study Area proposal is meant to address the issue of cost and time spent on achieving this status. It will essentially have the same protections as a Conservation Area but would not require individual evaluations up front, Notthoff Zarnowitz said. Only when a property owner wants to make extensive changes to the property would an evaluation be needed.

Historic resource surveys, conducted by qualified consultants, are mandatory but prove costly because 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 Washington neighborhood adjacent to North Willow Glen and Gardner in Willow Glen is undergoing a historic resource survey at a cost of $11,000 for its 900 homes; it will take about two years to complete, Notthoff Zarnowitz said.

The second proposal, a Neighborhoods of Distinction category, would allow neighborhoods that identified themselves through key features such as architecture, lot pattern and setbacks. This would also allow more neighborhoods to be protected that wouldn't have been otherwise because of lack of historic significance or because the homes were too new.

Although the majority of neighbors present were supportive of the two proposals, Oliverio said the program has not yet been reviewed by the council for citywide use and relies on extensive public participation.

"These historic communities are disappearing," said Willow Glen resident Jean Dresden.

Dresden said she liked this last proposal because it helps build neighborhood cohesiveness.

"Thank God for the mortgage crisis," she said. "Homes aren't getting torn down as quickly but we have to move promptly because if the economy recovers, we're in trouble."