Frivolous' landmarking attempts stunt housing, Berkeley council says

"Aiming to clear roadblocks to building housing in Berkeley, the city may soon create stricter requirements for its landmark designations process. In a city of about 120,000 residents, it takes only about 50 to trigger the process. If that designation is issued on the grounds that the site has some historic value, future attempts to alter the property become much more challenging. It's a tool councilmembers and housing advocates say has been weaponized to prevent or delay housing development in the city."

"Leila Moncharsh, president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, raised concerns the proposed changes could imperil a project her group is developing with UC Berkeley, which would honor the history of the San Pablo Park neighborhood in Southwest Berkeley, a part of town historically home to Black residents. That may all be going to the wayside because we have to be able to work with the council and we can't do that if we've got a bad relationship, and right now we don't have a good relationship with you folks. And that's really too bad because it may cost that project, Moncharsh said."

"Steve Finacom, a member of Berkeley's Landmark Preservation Commission, disputed claims that landmark designation requests are being made more often as a way to stop development. About 400 sites have received some sort of landmark designation in the last roughly 50 years, Finacom noted, most of which occurred decades ago. It's simply not the case that this is popping up all the time, Finacom said."

Berkeley plans to revise its landmark designation process to raise the signature threshold after concerns that the current low threshold—about 50 signatures in a city of roughly 120,000—allows designations that complicate or block housing development. The City Council unanimously asked staff to review and propose stricter requirements. Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani described the item as a stopgap to address what she called frivolous landmark attempts. Preservation advocates warned the changes could jeopardize a heritage project with UC Berkeley honoring the San Pablo Park neighborhood, historically home to Black residents. A commission member countered that roughly 400 sites were designated over 50 years and such abuses are not common.

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