The how and why of preservation not always clear

Barbara Diamond

From cottages to castles, the architecture of Laguna Beach enriches

the tapestry of the city streetscape. Preserving it is a worthy goal.

Everybody says so.

But for many, lip service isn’t enough.

“The preservation process fails when everything is already done,

the fees have been waived, the benefits have been awarded, but the

approved plan is not always followed,” said Planning Commissioner

Anne Johnson, who chaired the Vision 2030 Community Character-Place

Committee. “The second most egregious failure is no punishment.”

Benefits of historic preservation status are substantial and

include approval of substandard parking, encroachments into setbacks

and waived fees. An owner is in little danger of reprisal if he fails

to live up to his end of the bargain, to city Heritage Committee

members said.

The Laguna Beach general plan outlines policies to promote and

protect the city’s historic resources -- the buildings that give the

city its character, some of which are listed on the national

Historical Register. The Historic Resources Element is being revised

and will be reviewed by the Planning Commission this fall. It

contains recommendations from the Vision Committee. The city also has

a Historic Preservation Ordinance.

Whether all that is enough is up for debate, however.

“What difference does it make if city officials don’t support it?”

said Molly Bing, whose children are the fifth generation of her

family to live in a house deemed worthy of historical status.

Bing is one of the city’s seven-member Heritage Committee, which

is flat-out furious at the lack of support given its recommendations.

Their advice is often ignored, sometimes denigrated, committee

members said.

The City Council recently allowed the owner of a registered home

to replace wood siding with fake wood siding, despite the strong

opposition of the Heritage Committee members, three of whom attended

the hearing.

However, Councilwoman Toni Iseman said that wood was not specified

in the Heritage Committee recommendations or the Design Review Board

motion to approve the project.

Councilman Wayne Baglin, the lone vote against the fake wood, said

the materials board, submitted by the property owner, did specify

wood.

“He knew it was supposed to be wood,” Baglin said. “It was a

flagrant violation of a commitment to the city and the heritage

status was, at the least, morally abused.”

The property owner said the fake wood was safer and no one would

be able to tell the difference between it and real wood, which

committee members disputed.

All three committee members testified that the property owner

promised to replace the wood siding in kind. “The council’s decision

threw us all for a loop,” said Heritage Committee member Bonnie Hano,

who also served on the Community Character -- Place Committee. “It

was such a flagrant flouting of what was agreed to.”

In another set-back for the Heritage Committee, the Design Review

Board approved a “standing seam metal roof” on a historic home, which

gave some committee members the shudders. It is an extremely modern

application, members said, and inappropriate on a historic home.

The developer of a proposed renovation and remodel of the Pottery

Shack is asking for historic status and a huge reduction in the

parking requirements, one of the incentives to preserve such

historically valuable structures. All the committee could do was

recommend Planning Commission approval of the project, including the

parking reduction, with the proviso that additional structure on the

site be limited to 2,500 square feet to comply with parking

requirements.

“We have no decision-making powers what-so-ever,” Bing said.

The Planning and Arts commissions and the Design Review Board also

act as advisors to the City Council, but their decisions stand if not

challenged by an appeal.

“I don’t think the Heritage Committee has the power that [the

review board] or the Arts Commission has, but I do think the council

should give considerable weight to their recommendations,” Baglin

said. “However, the City Council has the ultimate responsibility.

“Committees can make horrible mistakes, but that doesn’t mean they

will be removed,” Baglin added. “Council members don’t have that

luxury.”

Council decisions get scrutinized, reported in newspapers and

criticized in public, Baglin said. Political decisions, he said, may

not always be the right decision, but they will always be trumps.

“We have lips but no teeth,” said committee member Jon Madison,

owner of Madison Square and Garden Cafe, considered to be an

outstanding example of a restored Craftsman Bungalow.

One way to give the committee teeth is a proposal to elevate its

land-use authority to approve or deny alterations to historic

structures, as proposed in the Historic Element revision draft.

Another suggestion is to allow the city to revoke heritage status.

Right now, the committee is limited to tracking its

recommendations through the approval process decided by other, more

empowered boards and commissions -- up to the City Council.

“We will be attending the May 26 Planning Commission hearing when

the Pottery Shack project is scheduled to be heard,” Madison said.

The Historic Element was first adopted by the city in 1983. It

includes a history of the city and its architecture -- including

examples and descriptions of styles, such as Craftsman, Bungalow,

Beach Cottage, Period Revivals, Moderne and Eclectic.

Structures must be at least 50 years old to quality for the

register, which is about twice as old as some cities in South County.

Environmental Coalition Orange County prepared an inventory of

historically valuable structures in 1980, laying the groundwork for

the Historic Element.

Laguna Beach artist Karen Turnbull participated in the inventory

and memorialized many of the buildings in her book, “Cottages &

Castles,” unfortunately now out of print.

“‘E’ is the top rated structure,” Bing said. “K-rated structures

are excellent examples with special significance -- maybe William

Wendt lived there. C-rated is not necessarily a spectacular

structure, but it contributes to the overall character of the

neighborhood.”

Committee member Hano would like to see the Mills Act -- a state

program of tax breaks for historical structures -- expanded to

include K- and C-rated structures.

Along with historical preservation, the preservation of

neighborhood character and consistency with the pattern of

development ranks high with city officials and is often a determining

factor is approvals or denials of projects.

“When people move into a small house in a small neighborhood they

aren’t going to get a media room and a bedroom for every child,” Bing

said. “If a man marries a short, plump woman, she won’t look like

[model] Jerry Hall and he can’t get mad at her for not looking the

same in designer clothes.”

Still, property owners who don’t get what they want often take

umbrage.

“I am personally tired of threats of tear-downs or law suits,”

said Madison, who, besides restoring a historic structure in town,

has a law degree.

Another ploy is for the applicants or their representatives to

agree to whatever restrictions the committee imposes and come back

later for changes.

One couple asked to have their home put on the historic register

and for approval of a small addition in the rear. The committee

recommended approval.

A month later, the homeowner came back with plans for a two-story

addition that substantially changed the character of the historic

home. The committee asked the applicants to revise the proposal. It

was finally recommended for approval, based on limiting the reduced

alterations to the back of the structure, which kept the integrity of

the front facade.

Now, the neighbors have filed an appeal.

Sometimes, the property owners accept the committee’s

recommendations and then seek approval of changes in such small

increments they are viewed as insignificant, Bing said.

“But the cumulative effect can be dramatic and sometimes

unfortunate,” she said. “You don’t see the total effect until the

project is done and then it’s too late.

“It isn’t a historic home any more. It should be taken off the

register. The council isn’t going to make you tear it down.”

The committee has been accused of being purists to the point of

discouraging preservation.

“A council member said we couldn’t expect a homeowner to wire a

house as it was in the 1900s,” Bing said. “Of course not. We are not

interested in what happens inside. We are only interested in the

exterior.”

Once designated a historical structure, only the owner can take it

off the register.

“It is outrageous that people get on the Historic Register and

then flout the restrictions and still have the benefits,” Hano said.

The Historic Element draft revision recommends a city-initiated

process to remove structures that no longer meet the criteria of a

historic resource from the register.

With the best will in the world, some homes eligible for

preservation can’t be saved or moved, even to city-owned properties.

Those homes are supposed to be documented before a demolition

order is issued.

Under strict interpretation of the city codes, the city should

document, photograph and encourage the relocation of the six homes on

Third Street, which will be demolished or moved to make way for the

Seniors/Community Center. The Planning Commission wanted more, said

Commissioner Norm Grossman.

“A majority of the commission felt that six homes constitutes a

neighborhood and just documenting the individual houses wasn’t

enough,” Grossman said. “We wanted a policy [council] decision that

stronger action is needed if a whole neighborhood is being destroyed.

“We asked for a finding of over-riding consideration that the

project was more important than the loss of a historic neighborhood.”

The Community Character Place Committee recommended using

city-owned property for temporary or permanent relocation of historic

homes that are slated for demolition.

“I would like to see them used to house critical city employees,”

Commissioner Johnson said.

The city has a lot of leeway in preservation. The Historic Element

is not mandated by the state or the federal government and it can

differ.

It is the opinion of the state historian in the Office of Historic

Preservation that maintaining the location of openings -- windows --

is more important than putting in vinyl clad windows. Her test is

whether the original owner would recognize the structure 100 years

later.

However, both the National Register of Historic Places and the

state encourage retaining original materials if feasible.

The city can impose its own guidelines with the blessings of the

national and state organizations. .

“We don’t have to go by their rules,” Bing said. “We have Laguna

standards. If you agree to restore a building exactly like it was,

that is what we expect of you.”

Property owners who want national or state recognition, such as

the Mills Act, should familiarize themselves with the appropriate

regulations, officials said.

While the Heritage Committee is prepared to assist local property

owners in getting their structures listed on the national or state

levels, its main focus is the preservation of historic Laguna Beach.

“If you love the quaint streets and the quaint homes in Laguna,

you have to understand that the city won’t keep its character if we

overbuild or change the look,” Bing said.

* BARBARA DIAMOND is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at (949) 494-4321.