By MICHAEL BUHLER
Stretching from Vinegar Hill in San Pedro to Stonehurst in the San Fernando Valley, and embracing turn-of-the-century mansions as well as mid-century tract homes, Los Angeles’ patchwork of historic neighborhoods reflects the diversity of its residents and reinforces a sense of community that is sometimes lost in our sprawling urban landscape.
The city adopted its first historic district ordinance following the wholesale destruction of entire communities such as Bunker Hill and Chavez Ravine. Starting with Angelino Heights in 1983, Los Angeles has adopted 22 historic districts (known as Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, or HPOZs) comprising more than 11,000 households in economically and ethnically diverse enclaves across the city. Over a dozen more communities are now seeking HPOZ status as a way to intelligently manage not prevent change in their neighborhoods.
Despite its undeniable success, property rights advocates deride the city’s HPOZ program as an unacceptable governmental intrusion into the sanctity of home ownership (“Preservationists Demand Control Over Other People’s Land,” Oct. 9.). In fact, just the opposite is true: HPOZ designation is invariably the result of successful community engagement and consensus building, with property owners empowering themselves to have a say in how their neighborhood grows. Indeed, there is little chance of establishing an HPOZ without united and organized community support. A majority of HPOZ board members must be residents of the district, countering claims of outside interference.
Historic preservation laws no more infringe on property rights than do many other laws and rules that Americans have long accepted, such as zoning regulations that prevent someone
from replacing a single-family home with an apartment building or a five-story mansion. In Los Angeles, the oversight of HPOZ boards is narrowly defined, with review limited to exterior alterations only. Interior modifications, such as bathroom or kitchen remodeling, may proceed
without any HPOZ review whatsoever. New additions are permitted, and no one can be forced to “fix up” their property.
Benefits outweigh costs
As thousands of Angelenos can attest, the benefits of historic designation far outweigh the costs of additional regulation. Historic districts give residents two rare and economically valuable assurances: that the very qualities that attracted them to their neighborhood will endure over time, and that they can safely improve their home without fear that their neighbor will undermine this investment with a new “monster home” or inappropriate development. Study after study across the country consistently finds higher appreciation rates in historic districts than in neighborhoods lacking that distinction, with price stability translating into longer owner tenure and enhanced neighborhood stability.
Historic properties within HPOZs can also take advantage of property tax incentives under the state’s Mills Act program. The Mills Act is the single most important economic incentive program in California for the restoration and preservation of qualified historic buildings by private property owners.
Two current lawsuits seeking to overturn recent HPOZ designations in Windsor Square and Hancock Park threaten to undo progress made since the program’s inception. The Hancock Park suit challenges the constitutionality of the entire HPOZ Ordinance, imperiling the city’s authority to establish historic districts anywhere. Though both HPOZs were supported by an overwhelming majority of neighborhood residents and approved by unanimous votes of the City Council, property rights advocates insist that HPOZ status illegally impinges on their rights as homeowners. These claims are based on false and misleading assertions that designation prevents owners from making changes or building additions to their property, or even abating environmental hazards such as lead paint. A stroll through any of the city’s 22 historic districts, with the ever-present hum of construction activity, reveals just the opposite.
Los Angeles’ historic neighborhoods are tangible expressions of our city’s diverse architectural and cultural heritage. The HPOZ movement should not only be celebrated for its key role in maintaining the unique character of these enclaves, but also for the community values it embodies.
Michael Buhler is director of advocacy for the Los Angeles Conservancy, a private, membership-based non-profit that strives to preserve and revitalize historic architecture and cultural resources in Los Angeles County.
