There is an important meeting this Saturday morning (Feb 24) in Balboa Park’s Recital Hall from 10am to noon. It involves a discussion of the draft Uptown Historic Survey. The purpose of a survey is to “recognize the community resources that have value and that should be retained as functional parts of modern life.” A further purpose is to incorporate the survey into the planning process to: “effectively use historic resources, to respect their value and extend their lives, it is necessary to integrate historic preservation into community planning.”
The survey shows that out of 11,104 parcels in Uptown a total of 5,130 structures had potential historic significance standing alone with many more contributing to historic districts and conservation areas. It also identified 19 areas proposed as historic districts.
Sadly, there are forces in San Diego who oppose any form of preservation, and they have been effective in preventing the adoption of the North Park Historic Survey — which was finalized in 2002 but still has not been adopted. If we do not act now, the same will happen with the Uptown Historic Survey.
The Uptown Survey was scheduled for adoption by the City’s Historic Resources Board on November 30, 2006. Inexplicitly, at a late date it was announced it was only an information item, and it is now in bureaucratic limbo. Supposedly, it will be place on the March 2007 agenda of Historic Resources Board (they will also again be deciding if Hillcrest’s historic House of Heirloom building should be saved. >)
Unfortunately, potentially historic buildings are being torn down in Uptown on a regular basis — often without more than cursory historic review. This is an unacceptable situation and is offensive to all of us who have worked for decades to make this community both a safe and unique place to live and work.
Once the Uptown survey is adopted, a task force of residents, property owners and developers should be created to work on drafting reasonable and effective design guidelines for our unique neighborhoods.
(Leo Wilson is the chair of Uptown Planners and the Park West/Bankers Hill Community Association.)
