Historic Design Battle Brews in San Clemente : Architecture: As some fight to preserve city’s ‘Spanish Village by the Sea’ look, others question cost.

For Francine Deskin, the value of her childhood home--with its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and rambling hillside garden--is not in its age or 1920s Spanish-style architecture, but in the land it sits upon.

“This place is coming apart,” Deskin said. “The termites are holding this house together.”

Last June, Deskin learned that her house, built in the late 1920s, is one of about 235 properties included on the city’s historical preservation list. The find came as an unpleasant surprise to Deskin because she is trying to sell the house to a neighboring motel owner who would like to level it and make way for a luxury resort.

While Deskin said she has no idea why or when the house, which has been in her family for 42 years, was put on the historic properties list, she knows one thing for sure: She wants off the list.

Deskin is not alone.

Amid the white stucco walls and red tile roofs of this picturesque seaside community, a dispute of historic proportions is brewing between those who want to preserve their property rights and those who want to preserve the “Spanish Village by the Sea” envisioned by city founder Ole Hanson.

What it comes down to, proponents and opponents agree, is dollars. How much is San Clemente willing to pay to preserve its architectural heritage?

At the center of controversy is the city’s Designated Historical Structures list, initially compiled back in the early 1970s by Marion Moon, a local resident enthralled with the Spanish Colonial Revival style that marked San Clemente during its beginnings in the late 1920s. A modified list has been used as the basis of the city’s cultural heritage design ordinance, which was approved in 1980.

The design ordinance does not preclude remodeling as long as a project remains true to design standards. It is similar to other preservation policies in Orange County. However, some critics claim that the historical properties list was never officially approved by the City Council and that property owners were never officially notified they were on such a list. City officials have not found records either supporting or denying these allegations.

With the growing debate, the city Planning Commission recently took preliminary steps to get residents involved in revising the criteria by which homes and other structures are deemed historic. Once the new criteria are set, officials say they plan to revise the list, which now covers a broad range of structures, from the palatial Casa Romantica, Hanson’s former mansion, to the San Clemente Municipal Pier and a converted garage that now houses Scalzo Bros. Auto Parts on South El Camino Real.

Some residents, such as Jim Hill, believe that a property owner’s consent should be the top new guideline in placing a home or business on the preservation list.

“These existing criteria are so vague that an outhouse could qualify,” Hill said. “It’s dumb to have properties listed when there’s nothing significant about them. We have a number of people here whose homes were put on this so-called list without their approval. We cannot afford a bunch of lawsuits, and people are ready to file lawsuits to get their properties off the list.”

Indeed, many of the homes appear to be on the list merely because they’re old, Planning Commission Chairman John T. Tengdin said.

“I think there is no question that certain properties ought to be on the list and we ought to encourage their preservation,” he said. “But the criteria can be quite subjective.”

Robert and Anne Stanbrook are among those who believe that their property should never have been placed on the list. About two years ago, the retired couple went to get the necessary permits to tear down a 688-square-foot Ole Hanson-era cottage on Santa Ana Lane to make way for an ocean-view condominium project.

To their chagrin, the Stanbrooks were told that they would have to first place newspaper ads seeking someone to possibly relocate the cottage. Under the design ordinance, property owners seeking to tear down a structure on the preservation list must wait 90 days before gaining a demolition permit.

The Stanbrooks eventually found a man to move the cottage. The only problem was, he wanted to put it on a small lot deemed “substandard” by the city. Earlier this month, the City Council turned down the relocation bid, allowing the Stanbrooks to move forward with the demolition. But that action came as little satisfaction to the Stanbrooks, who figure the delay cost them $60,000.

“The time and money we have spent on this project is a sin,” Robert Stanbrook said.

Probably no other two properties on the historic properties list have received more attention in recent months than the home owned by Deskin and her mother, Melanie Robison, and the neighboring Beachcomber Motel, a string of beach bungalows built in 1945.

Recently, the City Council, in a hotly debated 3-2 vote, endorsed preliminary guidelines allowing a 123-room luxury resort to be built in place of the aging Beachcomber Motel and the Deskin/Robison home, just south of the San Clemente Municipal Pier. The resort proposal and some changes made to the design ordinance last year by the council have been largely responsible for bringing attention to the list and preservation policy after all these years.

Beachcomber owner Robert Laidlaw said he doesn’t believe that there’s anything historic about the motel.

“It’s just falling down like the rest of them,” he said. “The city has caused some real problems for people who want to do something with their properties.”

While the Deskin/Robison house, also known as “Vista de las Olas,” has all the makings of a grand home, it has also fallen into disrepair over the years. Deskin said she doubts that it could even be moved to another location.

“What are we after here, keeping cracker boxes that are falling down?” she asked. “There’s no financial gain. The bottom line is the rights of property owners.”

Some business owners who are in historic structures are also worried that costs arising from the extra review and planning requirements under the design ordinance will keep them from expanding.

Alex Haynes Jr., general manager of Dewey’s TV & Home Appliances on Avenida del Mar, said his plans to expand the 42-year-old shop may be scrapped because of the historical designation on a two-bedroom rental house behind the business. Recently, Haynes said, his family has been considering demolishing the home to make room for a warehouse and showroom.

“I’m afraid it’s just not going to be feasible to develop that property,” he said.

Without the ability to expand, Haynes said he fears the business may be forced to move to another town.

Even some who are passionate about preserving Ole Hanson’s vision believe that property owners should not be forced to go along with the preservation policy.

“I would hope the owners of these properties would be sensitive enough about our heritage to try and save them,” said Dorothy Fuller, a longtime resident and member of the San Clemente Historical Society. “These properties tell the visual story of an exciting period in the country’s history.”

But local preservationists say that “goodwill” on the part of property owners won’t be enough to save the city’s heritage, which they believe is crucial to the city’s long-term financial health. Without some amount of “police power” in the design ordinance, many fear that the city will lose its original homes and much of its historic charm, an important draw for tourists.

“Historic preservation and economic viability are not mutually exclusive,” said Mary Jo Doherty, a member of the city Community Design Commission, which oversees design review on historic properties. “Communities keep finding that historic buildings are an asset to the economic and physical well-being.”

Doherty points to Old Town San Diego, which draws more than 4.5 million visitors each year, and Old Sacramento, which attracts more than 500,000 annually.

San Clemente “does have the right to govern its heritage,” said Marilyn Coduti, president of the year-old Spanish Village Heritage Group and owner of a 63-year-old home on the historic list, the 29th built in San Clemente. “These properties represent a way of life, a simpler time. They tell you what our town was like 50 years ago. Property rights are important, but with property rights come responsibility.”

Perhaps the greatest challenge to preservation in San Clemente is the lack of incentives for those who want to be included on the list and keep their properties in top shape, according to some residents.

Members of the Spanish Village Heritage Group and Community Design Commission have recently urged city officials to consider applying for the federal Certified Local Government program, which makes property owners eligible for state and federal tax breaks, low-interest loans and rehabilitation grants. The city could also enroll under the Mills Act, a little known and seldom-used state program that offers a tax break for homeowners in return for preserving heritage houses.

“I think a lot of people who are unhappy don’t realize there can be some advantages to preservation,” said resident Jay Gummerman, who has restored his 1930s-era home on West Marquita. “Right now a lot of people view it as, ‘I can’t change my toilet without checking with the city.’ ”

Incentives have been the key elements of historic preservation ordinances in such cities as Laguna Beach and Santa Ana, according to planners.

“We’ve tried to make it so advantageous to the property owner that they volunteer to be a part of it,” said Laguna Beach city planner Tamara Campbell. “So far, we’ve had over 120 people volunteer to put their structures on the register.”

Property owners who place their homes on the register qualify for waivers of planning fees and other design restrictions when they initiate rehabilitation projects, Campbell said.

“The whole idea behind our ordinance is to encourage people to add on, remodel or do what they need to to make the house livable by today’s standards,” Campbell said.

San Clemente Councilman Thomas Lorch agrees that the city needs to explore offering preservation incentives.

“I think there is a lot of value in the Ole Hanson historic houses,” Lorch said. “They relate to the ‘Spanish Village by the Sea’ logo.”

Even the smallest of homes could be relocated and used for such things as public restrooms in the downtown and beach areas, Lorch said.

Councilwoman Candace Haggard said that when economic times are better, she would also like to develop a North Beach heritage park, an “Oleville” of sorts, for some of the older homes.

“That could be one solution for people who have these homes and don’t want to live in them,” Haggard said. “They’re not for everyone.”

San Clemente’s Spanish Style

About 235 homes and businesses are now found on the San Clemente Designated Historical Structures List. The city’s more famous buildings:

* 415 Avenida Granada: Casa Romantica, palatial mansion of city founder Ole Hanson. Built in 1928. Owned by city of San Clemente. Listed on National Register of Historic Places.

* 202 Avenida Aragon: St. Clement’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, land originally given to city by Ole Hanson.

* 105 Avenida Pico: Ole Hanson Beach Club, deeded to city by Hanson and dedicated in May, 1928, during West Coast tryouts for the U.S. Olympic swim team. Being considered for placement on National Register of Historic Places.

* 1700 N. El Camino Real: Miramar Theatre.

* 100 S. El Camino Real: Bartlett Building, built in 1926, possibly the second structure built in San Clemente.

* 114 Avenida Del Mar: San Clemente Hotel, opened in 1927 with 60 rooms.

* 4100 Calle Isabella: Casa Pacifica, former home of President Richard M. Nixon (located south of historic district).

Source: San Clemente Historical Society; historian Marion Moon