Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Zeroing in on landmarks
A citizen task force IDs noteworthy San Clemente properties and ponders possible protections for them.
 

Story & photo by FRED SWEGLES

The Orange County Register

SAN CLEMENTE — How far should the city go toward protecting local landmarks?

A citizen task force that is drawing up a landmark preservation ordinance for San Clemente will meet this week to consider what kind of protections the members may want to apply to two dozen landmark properties they've identified around town.
Most properties on the proposed list are commercial buildings and homes that date back to the 1920s era when entrepreneur Ole Hanson founded San Clemente as an archetypical "Spanish Village by the Sea."

One of the properties isn't a building or public structure at all – it's the entry gate into the Cotton Estate at the south end of town. Hamilton Cotton was Ole Hanson's financial associate in 1925. The home that Cotton built eventually became President Richard M. Nixon's Western White House, making San Clemente world famous.

The 11-member Landmark Preservation Task Force has been drafting definitions and criteria for landmark status, along with preservation incentives, working with the Historic Resources Group, a firm the city hired to update San Clemente's historic resources survey.

The city presently has a list of more than 200 designated historic properties. That number is apt to be adjusted by a few, once the HRG firm and the Landmark Preservation Task Force conclude their work. Of the some 200 properties deemed historic, maybe two dozen might receive the added status of "landmark."

Jim Pechous, principal planner for the city, said this week's task force meeting – 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Community Development Department conference room at 910 Calle Negocio – will consider what kind of protections to apply to landmarks and possible changes to the city code on demolition of historic properties.

"The purpose of the amendment," Pechous said, "is to create a better process for evaluating and controlling the demolition of historic structures and make the process consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act review process."

Members of the task force include Pechous, City Council members Jim Dahl and Wayne Eggleston, Planning Commission members Donald Prime and Dorothy Prohaska, Parks and Recreation commission member Kathy Van Auken, San Clemente Historical Society representative Mike Cotter and four public members – Julia Darden, David Hahn, Brian Hannegan and Mary McMenamin.

"We're very excited," Cotter said. "The Landmark Preservation Task Force has spent many, many hours and I think we've really accomplished a lot."

Not only is the task force looking at encouragements for property owners to keep historic resources looking nice, Cotter said, but also a possible "demolition by neglect" ordinance.

Dahl said a lot more work is still at hand.

"We're just doing the preliminaries," he said.

Asked how the debates have gone, Dahl said, "At times it's been a little contentious, but I think it'll come out OK. It's still got to go to City Council."

Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127

Fred Swegles