Editor,
As an owner of a C rated cottage, I have followed the events surrounding the city’s process to amend its outdated Historic Preservation Ordinance (HPO). The notion of “we’re subject to CEQA except when we legislate not to be” has always struck me as a bit odd and frankly, dangerous, partly because if a municipality has the right to exempt itself from portions of CEQA, it is not bound to do so in a manner less restrictive on its constituents. Given I am working on a project in a different part of California that requires a CEQA compliant document, I decided to dial up my environmental team and pay for an answer to the following question: “What is a historic resource pursuant to CEQA?”
Much to my surprise, I learned that CEQA has clear criteria of which only one need be met for a home to qualify as historic. Simply stated, these criteria are that a home must have a historic event, person, relic or architect associated with it or that it represents a special kind of workmanship. Based on these criteria, my cottage, while old and cute, does not qualify as a historic resource pursuant to CEQA. So why is my cottage C rated under the guise of historic preservation?
The answer to this question rests in the position that the city may have already exempted itself from CEQA by creating its own rules for what it deems worthy of preservation, rules that unfortunately appear to be far more subjective, less quantifiable and less related to historicity than those provided by CEQA. Some have said the entire concept of historic preservation in Laguna Beach has little to do with CEQA but rather is a thinly veiled attempt by the city to preserve our cottages without having to pay for that privilege. I’m not ready to go there just yet, but I do wonder why the city has yet to implement a voluntary and (real) incentive based historic preservation system as provided for in its General Plan. Regardless, it seems pretty clear to the extent the standard for historic resource qualification as provided by CEQA is not met, the issue of historic preservation in Laguna Beach is not at all a “CEQA issue,” but instead rests squarely in the laps of our local elected officials.
Dave DiCesaris, Laguna Beach
