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<\/a><\/p>\nThe goal of the HRI, Patel said, is\u00a0to \u201cprotect historic integrity and encourage adaptive reuse.\u201d If adopted by the city council, the HRI will contain 327 properties.<\/p>\n
The city conducted public outreach in September and December last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commissioner Priya Cherukuru called the city\u2019s historic properties \u201cjewels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Lance Saleme said that, while he was not advocating for developers, he worried some people might try to weaponize the historic registry to halt development.<\/p>\n
Alexander Abbe, assistant city attorney, said property owners could appeal at a state or federal level should their property be denied for historic designation. However, he added, their best remedy would simply to not sell \u2014 something the city would be unable to force them to do.<\/p>\n
Mary Grizzle, the only member of the public who commented and co-founder of the civic group Reclaiming Our Downtown, said historic preservation is important when a building has \u201ctrue historical significance.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the city designates properties willy-nilly, she said the impacts are vast, affecting zoning density, housing supply and future planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreservation should tell a story about our city \u2014 its history, its culture, its people,\u201d she said. \u201cIt should not become a workaround to stop change, block housing or override adopting zoning policy. If everything is historic, nothing truly is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following up on\u00a0a study session from late last year<\/a>, the commission also took up recommending the city adopt objective design standards for three types of developments.<\/p>\n An update to the housing element, the standards will apply to\u00a0townhomes, podium-style and wrap-style multi-family residential and\/or mixed-use developments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alex Tellez, assistant planner, said these types of developments are common throughout the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe intent is to eventually create like a checkbox kind of when applicants submit to create predictable standards, so [developers] know beforehand when they invest in Santa Clara what they expect from staff when they review their applications,\u201d Tellez said.<\/p>\n The adoption would insulate the city from state laws that remove local control in the interest of incentivizing development, Tellez said.<\/p>\n It creates a \u201cuser-friendly toolkit,\u201d he added, intended to \u201cstreamline projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Grizzle, whose group was the first to advocate for such standards, called objective standards the \u201cbest tool to maintain local control\u201d because \u201ceverybody knows the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n Commissioners\u00a0Nancy Biagini and Yashraj Bhatnagar were absent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Join the planning commission meeting online at\u00a0https:\/\/santaclaraca.zoom.us\/j\/91729202898<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Webinar ID: 917 2920 2898 or call in at: (669) 900-6833. Submit written comments by noon the day of the meeting at\u00a0planningpubliccomment@santaclaraca.gov<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The planning commission meets again at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n Contact David Alexander at\u00a0d.todd.alexander@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n SPONSORED<\/p>\n
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