Pasadena : Preservation Law Extended

An emergency ordinance designed to protect historical structures has been extended again, this time for 30 days, by the Pasadena Board of City Directors.

Originally passed in June, the ordinance placed a 90-day moratorium on unauthorized removal of fixtures from structures more than 50 years old. The emergency law was enacted in response to the controversial actions of Texas rancher Barton English, who bought Pasadena’s landmark Blacker House early last summer and promptly stripped it of its original lighting fixtures. Preservationists complained that English “raped” the turn-of-the-century home designed by pioneering California architects Charles and Henry Greene.

The ordinance was reinstated for 120 days in September while city officials struggled to come up with a permanent law to protect historical buildings that would please both preservationists and property owners. A permanent ordinance tentatively approved by the board in September was scrapped after real estate agents and property owners said that it usurped their property rights.

At Monday’s board meeting, city staff members asked directors to extend the emergency law for four more months to give the Planning Commission and Cultural Heritage Commission time to draft an acceptable ordinance. The board voted instead to reinstate the emergency provision for 30 days, and asked for a speedier review.