'Frivolous' landmarking attempts stunt housing, Berkeley council says

"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."

"Looking to combat that trend, the City Council unanimously asked city staff to review the landmark designation process with the stated hope of greatly raising the required signature threshold. "The item before us tonight is intended as a stopgap measure because myself and colleagues are concerned about what we have called frivolous attempts to landmark structures in our city," Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani, who authored the item, said during a Nov. 10 meeting."

""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."

Berkeley officials are reviewing the landmark designation process to address alleged misuse that impedes housing construction. Currently about 50 signatures can trigger a designation that, if based on historic value, can make altering a property much more difficult. The City Council unanimously asked staff to consider greatly increasing the signature threshold to reduce frivolous landmarking and accelerate housing development. Preservation advocates cautioned that stricter rules could jeopardize community heritage projects, including a UC Berkeley collaboration honoring San Pablo Park's Black history. A preservation commissioner noted roughly 400 designations over the past 50 years, most occurring decades ago.

Read at The Mercury News