Editor,
I was delighted to see Laurie Hietter’s call in her April 9 letter to the editor asking for “a fair 51% threshold for potential historic districts,” meaning 51% of owners should consent to being designated as historic. While I believe a slightly higher threshold is appropriate, thank you, Ms. Hietter, for calling for a fair threshold.
Ms. Hietter, in her role as president of the San Mateo Heritage Alliance, nominated Baywood as a “National Register” historic district back in 2023, and this nomination is still open, even though a majority of Baywood homeowners have gone on record opposing the nomination.
Since Ms. Hietter herself has called for a 51% consent threshold to create historic districts, I would like to ask Ms. Hietter and the SMHA to commit to withdrawing the Baywood National Register nomination until such time as SMHA can demonstrate that a majority of affected homeowners consent to the nomination.
San Mateo faces real challenges that demand our attention and energy — including a significant budget deficit that will require difficult decisions. Let’s resolve this dispute in a way that respects property owners’ rights and move on to the problems that actually affect all residents.
Andrew Ryan
San Mateo
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(2) comments
Yes, 51% is the standard used in the historic district nomination practice. If contractors, developers, and others had not gone door to door falsely telling residents a historic district designation would result in them not being able to install new windows, update wiring, or install a wheel chair ramp, the process could have gone according to long established procedures. Oh, and what are the city's historic ordinance requirements for a National Registered Historic District. Oh yeah, NONE.
Folks, for the rest of the story that Ms. Hietter may not be sharing. Sure, you can install new windows, update wiring, or install a wheel chair ramp, among other things, but only after going through more red tape that is more likely than not, going to cost more (perhaps much more) money than if you did not have a historic district designation. I wonder whether there is a requirement that a historic district “expert” must be consulted (on your dime, of course) or sign off on whether any modification meets historic guidelines/requirements? Potential costs whereas if there were no historic district designation, there would be, oh yeah, NONE.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.