SAN CLEMENTE : Parking for Historic Sites to Be Reviewed

In an attempt to encourage the preservation of about 250 historic buildings in this 62-year-old city, the City Council will consider a plan tonight to reduce current parking standards for those properties.

Under existing land-use laws, when property owners want to remodel or expand a historic structure, they must also upgrade it to meet current parking requirements.

Because of the parking rules, an increasing number of historic building owners are requesting that the structures be demolished and replaced with new buildings, according to a report by associate planner Jim Pechous.

The historic buildings are falling into disrepair, and the city has been rejecting remodeling plans because they do not include parking provisions. This makes it “virtually impossible to add to a historic building without tearing it down,” the report said.

The proposed reduction in parking requirements would only be granted if the home’s original architectural style and character are kept intact, Pechous said.

The properties range from 700-square-foot cottages to commercial buildings, such as the Miramar Theatre on North El Camino Real.

Most of the buildings were constructed according to the vision of San Clemente’s founder, Ole Hanson, a builder who set out in the mid-1920s to create a Spanish-style village by the sea. Hanson required the now-landmark structures to be built in a whitewashed, Mediterranean stucco style, with red clay tile roofs.