A Message From The Mayor
By Sue Kempf
Dear Laguna Beach Community,
The revised Historic Preservation Ordinance is slated to be heard at the California Coastal Commission on February 10, 2022. Now a bit of background: In August of 2020, the City Council approved a revised Historic Preservation Program intended to balance property rights with preservation of historic resources (properties). Prior to City Council approval, we had many Planning Commission meetings and we even had a working resident subcommittee to provide additional input on the topic. Like most complicated issues, it took us years to formulate and adopt a workable ordinance, but we did it!
There are four key components of the Historic Preservation Ordinance: (1) inclusion of the definition of the term “Historic Resource” has been provided to ensure compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); (2) the addition of “owner consent” as a criterion for listing on the local register; (3) the elimination of references to the outdated 1981 Historic Resources Inventory; and (4) expanded historic preservation incentives. This ordinance allows us to retain our historic character as we evolve thoughtfully over time.
You may hear claims that these revisions will “remove” protections for locally historic resources. Such claims are inaccurate. The City’s Local Historic Register, which includes 325 properties, will be maintained. References to the outdated 1981 historic resource inventory will be omitted, as it is not legally valid and does not create the presumption that a property is historic.
The City’s updated Historic Preservation Program still affords strong protection of historic resources as required by CEQA and other applicable laws, including properties that are listed on the City’s Local Historic Register, the California Register of Historical Resources, the National Register of Historic Places, or properties that have been determined to be eligible for the State or National Historic Register. Most importantly, a protected historic resource shall also encompass a property or structure for which the City is mandated by law to treat as a historic resource based on substantial evidence in light of the whole record.
Bottom line: if the City is required to treat a property or structure as historic under the criteria outlined above, it will do so.
The most powerful provision of the ordinance is the opportunity for incentives to restore old properties that may be considered historic. For example, the Mills Act is available, which can significantly reduce property taxes in exchange for maintenance and rehabilitation of a historic structure. Approximately 116 of the City’s 325 properties on the Historic Register have Mills Act contracts, and program eligibility is proposed to be expanded to all properties on the Historic Register. Other incentives include reduced parking requirements, density bonuses for new dwelling units, and relaxed setback standards offered to historic properties. If you are interested in finding out more about any of these incentives or programs, I encourage you to contact Senior Planner Martina Caron at [email protected].
In other news, the City recently conducted two employee engagement surveys to assess engagement levels and satisfaction with both the City organization and Police Department. While our survey results reflected an overall employee satisfaction of nearly 80%, we strive for continuous improvement with all of our City staff. As is the case in any organization, people are our greatest and most valued asset.
We thank those of you who completed the resident and business survey. We will have the results soon and look forward to sharing your feedback with our community. The City Council will consider your feedback and employees’ recommended strategies, and we will make plans accordingly when we meet on March 4 for our yearly strategic planning session.
We will be back in a few weeks with more Laguna Beach news. Until then, be safe and enjoy the best place on the planet that we call home.
Sue is the Laguna Beach mayor and was elected to the Laguna Beach City Council in 2018.
From Sue Kempf: “Bottom line: if the City is required to treat a property or structure as historic under the criteria outlined above, it will do so.” Exactly the problem. The City is changing the criteria and the definition of what qualifies as a historic resource in Laguna. The City’s pledge to protect those historic resources that fall under the new, and highly restrictive definition, is hardly cause for excitement. The ordinance eviscerates codified protections for hundreds of local historic resources that qualify as historic now but no longer would if it goes into effect. It is anti-preservation to its core and should be rejected.