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SOHO President's Message
By David W. Goldberg
January/February 2025
 Photo by Sandé Lollis |
At the beginning of each new year, I find it useful to reflect on the recent past as well as to contemplate the challenges and opportunities the next 12 months may hold. Like the year before it, 2024 was one for the record books in both good and not so good ways. Much energy was spent protecting hard-fought progress made since SOHO’s founding in 1969, refuting an onslaught of misinformation, and advocating for the positive role preservation plays in addressing the affordable housing crisis. In all likelihood, 2025 will follow a very similar course.
The older I get the more I appreciate the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This is true for much of our daily lives and is certainly true for historic preservation. Since I joined SOHO nearly 50 years ago (yikes!!), it’s continually been necessary to push back on claims that preservation is a roadblock to progress (it isn’t) and, more recently, that preservation perpetuates historic inequities and impedes the production of affordable housing (it doesn’t).
As housing prices continue to escalate throughout the state and in San Diego, preservation is increasingly being put under the microscope. Critics argue that preservation and the historic resources review process create uncertainty for builders and slow down construction permits, thereby delaying the creation of new homes. In fact, housing affordability is a complex issue and there are many reasons why rents and housing prices have risen dramatically. The argument that preservation and historic review adversely impact housing affordability and new housing construction isn’t one of them—and it's not just me saying this.
In February 2023, City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, a strong advocate for increased housing production, requested that the city’s Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) examine “potential and designated historic review policies and processes related to construction permitting.” He was concerned that the historic review process was “reportedly a major bottleneck in the construction permitting process.” The IBA report, however, found otherwise stating “we believe it is unlikely” that historic reviews as part of a multi-disciplinary permit review process are “holding up permit issuances.”
With only a small number of historic resources being designated annually in San Diego—just 29 in 2024—it’s ludicrous to argue that preservation and the historic review process have any real impact on new housing production.
As the City’s Preservation and Progress initiative to reform its Heritage Preservation program and policies marches inexorably forward, real issues including the benefits of preservation and the positive role preservation has and continues to play in providing affordable housing need to be acknowledged.
Other issues that need addressing—which the IBA report covers in varying degrees—are a robust citywide historic survey, a public database for potential historic resources, the current moribund status of the historic district program, and a comprehensive analysis of the Mills Act that looks at benefits as well as costs.
Also meriting an update are the qualifications needed to serve effectively as a Historical Resources Board (HRB) member. Without the appropriate background, training, knowledge of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, as well as the city’s adopted policies, procedures, and regulations regarding historic preservation, it’s not possible to do the job properly. Decisions based on personal opinions rather than a solid understanding of the underlying facts won't to lead to good outcomes.
Filling HRB positions with individuals who provide “balance” or an “alternate” perspective compromises the HRB’s effectiveness. If preservation reform and streamlining the historic review process are truly the city’s goal, then appointing only qualified individuals—and ensuring that all board vacancies are filled in a timely manner—is a good place to start.
2025 is shaping up to be another challenging year for preservation. If we can keep the focus on valid preservation policy and program reforms, not political talking points, positive outcomes can be achieved—and that will be the silver lining.
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