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San Diego City and County Historic Designations
By Ann Jarmusch
July/August 2024
The City of San Diego’s Historical Resources Board meeting in May 2024 began with the presentation of six 2024 Preservation Awards of Honor during Preservation Month from the HRB. The board and the San Diego City Planning Department last gave out annual awards in 2016. Read about this year’s winning projects in this issue of Our Heritage News.
The board designated one house in North Park and reviewed final drafts of proposed updates to the City’s community plans regarding historic preservation in Hillcrest and the University area, including the Local Coastal Program Update. They re-elected Tim Hutter as HRB chair, and elected Michael Taylor first vice-president and Kristi Byers second vice-president.
Also observing Preservation Month, Kelley Stanco, deputy director for the City Planning Department, thanked HRB members for their “hard work and dedication month in and month out” to historic preservation, as well as historic property owners for their stewardship, and the heritage preservation staff for its myriad efforts.
Staff also announced that on June 3, 2024, the City Council would consider the appeals of three designations from Fall 2023: the Lucile Hamilton/Robert Mosher House, the Robert and Marion Hill House, and the Robert and Clara West Spec House #1. [Editor’s note: The applicant withdrew the appeals.]
There was a lot of public comment on the Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment Historic Preservation Component, as Hillcrest is one of San Diego’s most historic areas, in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement and in architecture. The City’s plan assumes that Hillcrest will absorb much taller buildings and greater density, two developments that concern preservationists because of the potentially negative/destructive impact on what is today a walkable “village” of mostly low-rise historic residential and commercial buildings.
“As written, the plan would allow too much destruction of historic material,” Coons said. He and Barry Hager of Mission Hills Heritage primarily advocated changes to two elements of the plan.
They and others said that the legal wording “new development by right” in the historic district would allow developers and historic property owners to avoid the City’s current project review requirements and oversight of historic resources. Stanco later said historic review would still occur, adding, “We want to maintain the vibrancy of Hillcrest.”
The preservationists also asked for increased setbacks, especially on Fourth, Fifth, and on University between Fourth and Sixth Avenues, which are lined with historic buildings, so that new structures would not overwhelm or negate the historic character, integrity, and context that the proposed historic district is intended to protect.
The plan proposes as little as 10-foot setbacks on University and Robinson for new construction. Preservationists argued for a minimum of 20 feet, and 50 feet above a height of 75 feet, as is the case on J Street downtown.
Advising the City Council, the board voted to approve the draft Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment Historic Preservation Component, with the addition of wording to encourage individual historic designations. The vote was 5-2, with Courtney Coyle and Carla Farley voting no. Three members were absent.
The draft University Community Plan and Local Coastal Program Update Historic Preservation Component includes a proposed amendment to the Historical Resources Guidelines of the Land Development Manual. Sixty-five tract house neighborhoods and master planned communities would be exempted from the City’s historical review of properties 45 years old or older, but not exempted from CEQA; HRB Criterion B, for association with historically significant people; or future historic resources surveys. Chair Hutter supported this exemption for streamlining future community plan updates and reducing the staff time involved.
In recommending the University Community Plan and Local Coastal Program Update Historic Preservation Component to the City Council, the board voted 6-0-1, with Coyle abstaining.
Separately, SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons addressed the board regarding comments made at its April 2024 meeting alleging that the National Register (NR) Historic District nomination process was broken. He disagreed, noting that the NR process works well in all 50 states and U.S. territories. However, we do have problems with San Diego’s process. “The National Register is not a broken process. The City’s process is decidedly broken and needs to be fixed,” he said, adding that the City last processed a local historic district in 2017 and has a backlog that may not be cleared for decades.
The State Historic Preservation Office staff gives the HRB a courtesy copy of a NR Historic District nomination for review and comments 60 days before the State Historical Resources Commission meets to consider it, and potentially recommends it to the National Register’s keeper. This recurring situation rushes HRB members and staff and limits their input on the nomination’s merits. HRB hearings on NR nominations are not mandatory, according to state rules for Certified Local Governments, like San Diego, but the board’s comments are valuable. (Coons 2024) He suggested that maybe there is a way for staff and applicants to work together to give HRB staff a heads up and more time to review NR Historic District nominations, thereby avoiding the rush and staff time crunch.
 The board designated 3545 Mississippi Street in North Park, a c. 1923 Craftsman style home with Colonial Revival influences, known as the Augusta and Fredrick Wendel/Alexander Schreiber House. It meets HRB Criteria C (architectural style and integrity) and D (master builder). Design features include a low-pitched, jerkinhead side-gabled roof with overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, horizontal wood siding, symmetrical primary facade, a small covered front entry featuring slim round columns, a brick chimney, and wood-framed double-hung windows in a six-over-one light pattern. The house is a notable work of Master Builder Alexander Schreiber, a prominent and accomplished San Diego building contractor who created quality houses, some of which have been historically designated. Incorporating a jerkinhead roof is one of his hallmarks. The designation includes the detached garage.
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The HRB’s June 2024 meeting was canceled.
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