San Juan Bautista
– The Historic Resources Board, home to some of the most vocal
defenders of the Mission City’s history, may be coming to an
end.
San Juan Bautista – The Historic Resources Board, home to some of the most vocal defenders of the Mission City’s history, may be coming to an end.
City Manager Jan McClintock said the HRB and the city’s planning commission may soon be combined into one entity. Under a new plan, the HRB would be dissolved – a move McClintock said would save the city money and streamline the planning process.
The commission would take on two new members who would be charged with keeping up with laws governing historic preservation.
Those two extra members are needed for San Juan Bautista to maintain its “certified local government” status with the state, McClintock said, which makes the city eligible for state and federal grants. Members of the HRB who live in San Juan Bautista will be considered for the positions, she said.
City leaders are hoping the change will improve the city’s planning process without sacrificing its history.
But HRB member Cara Vonk said that if the city moves forward with its plans, planning commissioners will need to become more educated and provide more scrutiny.
“The planning commission will have to get much more involved,” Vonk said.
In addition to advising the city’s planning commission, Vonk said the HRB successfully secured a grant to survey the Mission City’s historic buildings, a project that was completed last September. Board members are now applying for another grant to enter downtown San Juan Bautista onto the National Register of Historic Places, Vonk said.
“We’ve laid the groundwork for good planning in the future,” she said.
Other locals are less enamored with the HRB. Jim Gibson, who co-owns both Hollister Super and the Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, said he doesn’t have a problem with the HRB specifically, but he thinks it adds another step to a planning process that is already too complicated and hostile to new development.
“(In Hollister), if your property is zoned for a specific use, it’ll probably be approved,” Gibson said. “But in San Juan … in all likelihood they will be vigorously opposed. There’s a core of people who think (the city) is a museum.”
Gibson said he’s had to deal with that resistance himself – it took six years to get the Windmill Market approved, and the city nixed his plans for an adjacent Subway restaurant.
Councilman Rick Edge, who used to sit on the planning commission, said that although the HRB was created with good intentions, it has turned out to be another layer of bureaucracy.
McClintock said streamlining the planning process could lead to an improved downtown, as property owners have to cut through less red tape to renovate or repair their buildings. McClintock said that in the past, a proposal for new sign could be held up at the HRB for months.
“It’s really a disincentive for people to maintain their property,” she said.
Patricia Riley, who owns a downtown real estate office, agreed that too many storefronts are empty or decrepit. She said there are a combination of factors that have prevented her – along with other business owners – from pursuing more improvements.
The city’s lengthy planning process is a factor, she said, but so are the costs involved in remodeling and the fact that many property owners live out of town.
But some locals who have come under the board’s scrutiny appreciate the board members’ efforts. Hollister architect David Huboi, who is working with Gibson to install a mural at the intersection of Highway 156 and the Alameda, said the board dug much deeper into the mural’s details – including the type of material and lettering he used – than the planning commission.
“They set a good example for our city,” Huboi said.
McClintock said the proposal has gone to the state for consideration. If all goes smoothly, the planning commission and the city council could vote on the new structure in May, she said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or ah*@fr***********.com.
