{"id":356316,"date":"2025-11-05T01:32:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T01:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/356316\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T01:32:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T01:32:15","slug":"mayor-todd-gloria-to-reform-historic-preservation-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/356316\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Todd Gloria to reform historic preservation process"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/a>Number One Fifth Avenue Bar, located in Hillcrest in San Diego, is seen Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Photo by Vito DiStefano\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Mayor Todd Gloria is beginning to overhaul the city\u2019s historic designation process, and historic preservationists are not happy.<\/p>\n

It currently takes a year for San Diego city officials to determine if a property should be protected as an historic resource<\/a> \u2014 but the timeline isn\u2019t the focus of the first batch of reforms he\u2019s pushing.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s instead focused on stopping <\/a>neighbors from using the process to shut down housing projects, while giving the city council the power to overrule decisions by the Historical Resources Board.<\/p>\n

Those changes are headed to the city\u2019s Planning Commission Thursday and could reach the council in January.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Right now, anyone can ask the city to determine if a property qualifies as an historic resource. Once they \u2014 whether the property owner or anonymous nearby residents \u2014 do, city staff writes a report on the relevant history and makes a recommendation, which then goes to the appointed Historic Resources Board for a decision.<\/p>\n

While that process plays out, property owners and developers cannot conduct any construction on the property, leading critics to allege the process hampers housing production.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a fact that we\u2019re working at a year delay,\u201d said Ione Stiegler, the founder of La Jolla<\/a>-based IS Architecture who specializes in historic renovation architecture, at a Historic Resources Board meeting where Gloria\u2019s reform package was discussed. \u201cIn better times, it\u2019s been about three months, which would be lovely to get back to.\u201d<\/p>\n

That delay can be significant. The San Diego American Indian Health Center, a community health center in Bankers Hill, is now stuck in the process as it tries to build a 6-story office atop a 4-story parking garage. After the center requested permits to expand its service \u2014 it provides culturally sensitive healthcare for indigenous populations \u2014 unnamed neighbors applied for historic designation because of the property\u2019s connection with pioneering modernist architect Lloyd Ruocco.<\/p>\n

The center has now killed its request for permits for the new building, and plans to announce new plans once the city has made an historic determination. The Historical Resources Board delayed its vote last month, but expects to decide this month.<\/p>\n

A Hillcrest gay bar likewise had to change its plans.<\/p>\n

Brian Jinings bought Number One Fifth Avenue in 2019 and immediately started receiving proposals from Camden, a developer, who approached him to include the bar site in its neighboring 8-story apartment project.<\/p>\n

Jinings proposed selling Camden his property, with them leasing the bar space back to him to operate the business. The project would have been bigger, but would have incorporated the bar and noise mitigation with apartments built above it.<\/p>\n

The commercial building at Number One\u2019s address was built in 1934, but a city survey of potential historic sites<\/a> in Uptown categorized it as \u201caltered beyond recognition.\u201d Nonetheless, it was flagged in the survey as possibly historic due to its cultural significance as a decades-old gay bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1983, organizers meeting on Number One\u2019s patio created the AIDS Foundation, the city\u2019s first grassroots AIDS service organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Number One Fifth Avenue Bar\u2019s back patio, as seen on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Photo by Vito DiStefano\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

City staff told Jinings it would take 18 to 24 months for a decision on the bar\u2019s historical designation. Camden could not pursue any construction in the meantime. The deal collapsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the thing that killed it, because it was just going to take way too much time to go through that process,\u201d Jinings said.<\/p>\n

To Jinings, it\u2019s what happened in the bar that is significant, not the building itself. He argues the preservation should focus on maintaining the business as a gay bar.<\/p>\n

Camden went forward with the 8-story Denizen apartment construction on the lots it already owned. Less than a year after the residence opened, conflicts over noise are already disrupting bar operations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gloria\u2019s first batch of reforms would give the council power to overturn an Historical Resources Board determination, and would let property owners appeal decisions that found their property was not historic. The right to appeal a positive historic designation already exists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The package also broadens who could sit on the board, which is tough to fill and meet a quorum. <\/p>\n

Bruce Coons, executive director of Save Our Heritage Organisation, opposed the council appeals proposal at a press conference this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision today is made by a group of experts in their field,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want to be able to overturn \u2018em for any reason at all. Turn a fact-based project into a political process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have a fair, transparent process, one that includes expert analysis, public participation and a right to appeal,\u201d said public advocate Shane Harris, who organized the press conference. \u201cThis proposal does not improve that system. It weakens it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next year, Gloria anticipates bringing another batch of reforms that would address tax breaks on historic sites.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Number One Fifth Avenue Bar, located in Hillcrest in San Diego, is seen Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":324544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,112506,1582,276,99669,7720,76111,173777,3549,173778,7264,11883,67,586,132,5230,17008,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-356316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bankers-hill","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-developers","13":"tag-hillcrest","14":"tag-historic-preservation","15":"tag-historical-resources-board","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-san-diego-american-indian-health-center","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-todd-gloria","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-uptown","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115494515552289046","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}