BREA : Historic Preservation Policy Is Adopted

The City Council has adopted a policy to preserve historic homes, neighborhoods and structures.

How to identify and preserve such historic sites and places will be addressed in detail by a city ordinance that has yet to be adopted, officials said.

“This is the first step,” said Councilman Carrey J. Nelson after the council’s unanimous vote last week, adding that the ordinance will address concerns such as the rights of residents whose properties are designated “historic.”

Officials said the policy was adopted to allay fears that the city’s aggressive redevelopment plans would result in many historic homes and buildings--particularly those in the downtown area--being razed, changing forever the city’s character.

The council did not indicate, however, when the ordinance will be passed.

Fifty acres of the old downtown are being converted into a mixed residential-commercial enclave in a $100-million development project that is being partly financed by the city. Several downtown homes and 14 buildings have been identified as “historic” by the Historical Committee.

Three of those homes will be moved to separate lots owned by the Brea Redevelopment Agency on one-block-long Redwood Avenue, which has been declared historic.

It was the city’s Historical Committee, appointed by the council, that spearheaded efforts to adopt a preservation policy. Committee Chairwoman Sharon Dean said the policy is the result of hard work by committee members.

The council created the committee in 1989 “to establish policies to guide preservation of Brea’s historic resources.” It was also created to inform the residents about the city’s past.

One of the committee’s first tasks was to survey all areas within the city and document structures that were considered historic, using as a guide a catalogue put together by a private firm in 1981.

The committee identified 105 structures, landmarks, landscape features, objects and sites that have existed since before 1940.

Based on the survey, the committee, now composed of new members, hopes to establish historic districts and recommend structures for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, as state historic landmarks and for a local historical register.

It is also recommending that the council establish a museum to house artifacts, memorabilia, official city archives and photographs, a museum in the downtown area as well as an oil-citrus museum in the canyon areas.

During the council meeting, City Atty. James Markman cautioned the council that it must address a number of thorny issues that typically come with creating large historic districts and preservation of buildings.

Such questions include the size of the historic district and the rights of property owners. For instance, he said, the ordinance must tell a property owner what rights he or she has to remodel or tear down a home that has been declared historic.