The Planning Commission ignored the November 14, 2007, Memorandum,
Office of the City Attorney regarding the status of this house under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The California Appellate
Court has directed in League for the Protection of Oakland and Historical Resources v. City of Oakland that demolition of historic resources requires the City of San Diego to prepare an Environmental Impact Report. The City Attorney failed to explain how Appellate Court decision, Architectural Heritage Association v. County of Monterey, 122 Cal. App. 4th 1095, changed the CEQA Guidelines to clearly state that a building more than 50 years of age need not be listed on a local, state, or federal register to qualify as CEQA significant.
In this “Monterey Jail” case, the Court also directed that an EIR needs
to be prepared when demolition of a CEQA significant building is
proposed.
During the February 5th City Council
hearing, Toni Atkins asked the developers to allow someone to move the
house to another location instead of demolishing it. The developers
claimed they would wait 60 days for someone to come forward to claim the
house. Yet they immediately applied for a demolition permit and made
no attempt to advertise the availability of the house to the general
public.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana, The Life of Reason or The Phases of Human Progress: Reason in Common Sense, 1905