SAN CLEMENTE : State Aid in Historic Preservation Sought

The City Council has formally applied to a state program for help in targeting homes and businesses for preservation in an effort to help maintain the community’s Spanish Village by the Sea character.

Planners told the council on Wednesday that the city has an excellent chance of receiving Certified Local Government status from the California Office of Historic Preservation because of its longstanding preservation policies.

Such status would make the city and historic property owners eligible for state and federal tax breaks, low-interest loans and rehabilitation grants.

If accepted, the city could also receive free help from a state historian in developing an updated list of historic properties, which officials hope will ease controversy over what properties should be considered historic.

In the past 13 years, the city has relied on a list of about 235 historic properties, initially compiled in the early 1970s.

The list was made by a resident enthralled with the Spanish Colonial Revival style that marked San Clemente during its beginnings in the late 1920s.

That list has increasingly come under fire from some property owners who say they want to preserve their property rights, not structures they believe lack any historical significance.

Some also say they were never officially informed they were on the historical properties list.

Properties on the list are subject to extra design restrictions and review in cases of remodeling or redevelopment.

While the city preservation policy does not preclude owners from tearing down a listed property, they must wait 90 days and try to relocate the structure before gaining a demolition permit.