Conservancy News

A triptych includes three garden images; a ladybug crawling on long light green leaves of coyote mint, the top branches of a desert willow with purple blooms and a bright green chrysalis hanging from the baseboard above a building's foundation.

Spring is gone except for a few straggling blossoms reminding us that we had an absolutely, gorgeous Spring bloom this year with an abundance of bright orange California poppies plus two new annual wildflowers:

  • The diminutive yellow Beach Evening Primrose. They are also called Beach Suncup and have shown us the lovely way they spread their silvery grey-green leaves to bask in the sun.
  • The taller Mountain Phlox has softly spiked stems which are each topped with a cluster of five-petaled white blossoms.

There are only a few of these annual blooms left, which tells us for sure Summer has arrived. Here are some of its vivid colors:

From the street you can see the bright pom poms of Red Buckwheat which are in front of the bushy bright red Island Snapdragon and, to the south, the shorter scarlet California Fuchsia. If red is not your favorite color, check out the tall flat tops of white yarrow interspersed with the bold plates of golden yarrow. And notice how the white yarrow has deep green foliage while the yellow yarrow has gray green leaves. They’re cousins (feathery foliage and corymb or flat-topped blooms), but they don’t dress alike!

If you’re intrigued by the garden’s aroma, pinch a leaf from the Coyote Mint that snuggles up to the front porch or crumble some of the thin gray-green leaves from the California Sagebrush on the other side of the walk. Both these plants have been nicknamed Coyboy Cologne. But only one of them makes good tea—the mint (sagebrush is bitter!).

Fall is the preferred time to plant California natives, but the Santa Monica Conservancy was able to get a couple of new additions started this Spring in weather which seemed to be endlessly cooler than normal and even gave us rain.

  • We added a Cleveland Sage next to the front porch on the south side of the garden. Sages (along with mint and sagebrush) are known for their fragrance and this one is a favorite for many people. We’ll be happy to have you brush against it as it fills in its new space.
  • We also added a Desert Willow on the south side of the house. It’s in the trumpet vine family and has showy clusters of blossoms that are a rich lavender color (adding to our rainbow of colors) and very attractive to hummingbirds.

One more thing that’s always a delight to see in the garden is the onslaught of Monarch butterfly caterpillars that happens every summer. We have a little forest of milkweed plants in the garden bed on the south side of the house. Depending on the caterpillars’ growth cycle, the plants may look full, lush and leafy green or they may look like spindly, denuded stick figures. The Monarch butterflies seem to know exactly when to lay their eggs, and the milkweed seems to be invigorated by getting an annual crew cut from the caterpillars. We often have more than 15 caterpillars munching at once. Look closely. See how many you can count.

By Hilda Weiss

Photos from left to right: A ladybug crawls on the Coyote Mint, the Desert Willow’s spring bloom, and a chrysalis hangs beneath the siding of the Shotgun House

During our Annual Meeting on June 10, we recognized seven exemplary contributors to the preservation of Santa Monica’s architectural and cultural heritage. The awards were announced by members of the Awards Committee including David Kaplan (chair), Margarita Jerabek, Ruthann Lehrer, and Carol Lemlein. Special guest, Councilmember Caroline Torosis, and Conservancy Board President Tom Cleys presented the awards to each project team and individual honoree.

2023 Preservation Award Winners
Cultural Heritage Award: Broadway to Freeway: Life and Times of a Vibrant Community, Santa Monica History Museum with the Quinn Research Center
Cultural Heritage Award: Culture Mapping 90404, 18th Street Arts Center
Rehabilitation and Adaptive Reuse Award: Sears Building
Rehabilitation Award: The Georgian Hotel
Media Award: The Street Seen, Mark Gorman
Volunteer Award: Catherine Conkle
Volunteer Award: Robin Venturelli

Click here to read all about this year’s winning projects and individuals, who collectively  demonstrate that the field of historic preservation in Santa Monica is multidisciplinary, collaborative, creative, and rooted in authentic storytelling about people and place.

The Conservancy congratulates these exemplary individuals, organizations, and teams for their preservation, advocacy, and stewardship in our city!

Important City Council Budget Session Tuesday, May 23
*Attend Meeting and/or Write to Council*

Your Conservancy Board is very concerned about the negative impact the city budget cuts of the last three years have had on our Historic Preservation Program. These cuts have reduced the number of Landmarks Commission meetings, limited Commission responsibilities, and raised the cost of designation applications so only the wealthiest property owners can afford to apply for landmark protections.

Landmarks applications are in sharp decline and Santa Monica may already be losing significant historic resources that we can never get back.

What’s Going Wrong?

  • Landmarks applications cost $6000-$7000 to file, the most in California!
  • Timelines for landmark nominations see untenable delays of nine months or more.
  • Owners have little incentive to consider landmarking without reinstatement of planning division fee waivers and reasonable timelines.
  • Relying on the public to review demolition permits is not sustainable; Landmarks Commission review of demolition permits for buildings 40-years or older must be reinstated!
  • Without a timely and affordable process, we cannot seek out and recognize historic resources significant to historically marginalized groups that will contribute to the city’s stated commitment to social justice.

Acknowledging the city’s current funding constraints, we are asking Council to recommend Restoration of the Preservation Program in 2 Phases.

Phase 1 (NOW): Budget neutral optimization to reduce the cost burden on applicants right away!

  • Restore monthly meetings of the Landmarks Commission to ensure city-wide review of historic resources.
  • Reduce the cost of Landmark Applications by streamlining consultant and staff reports.
  • Streamline Certificate of Appropriateness analysis to focus on conformance with the standards.
  • Return Demolition Review to the Landmarks Commission.

Phase II (NEXT YEAR): Restore the 2019 Preservation Planner position (a credentialed professional in preservation and planning with skills in historical analysis) so that:

  • Landmark Application Analysis can be conducted in house just as all other discretionary building permits are evaluated, eliminating the need to hire costly outside consultants, and streamlining the process.
  • Applicants can be informed of Incentives such as encouraging the use of the State Historic Building Code and Zoning Ordinance exceptions to achieve programmatic goals while preserving historic features.
  • With reduced costs, fee waivers for nonprofit organizations can be restored to ensure equitable access to the program.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT THIS PROPOSAL

Attend the Council Meeting this Tuesday, May 23 to speak about the urgency of restoring the Preservation Program – AND/OR – Use the talking points above to write to Council by noon on Tuesday to put your support in the public record.

Send your email to councilmtgitems@santamonica.gov with “May 23, 2023 Agenda Item 7A Five-Year Financial Forecast Update, FY 2023-25 Proposed Biennial Budget” in the subject line.

To read the Conservancy’s letter to City Council, please click here.

Landmarks are irreplaceable, we can’t afford to wait to restore the city’s Historic Preservation Program!

We are seeking nominations for our 2023 Preservation Awards! Each year we honor exemplary projects and contributors to the preservation of Santa Monica’s architectural and cultural heritage. Award winners will be announced at our Annual Meeting in early summer.

The two-story American Colonial-style house at 401 Ocean Boulevard was the winner of a Rehabilitation Award last year. Photo credit: David Kaplan

Since 2004, winning projects have included residences as well as commercial and institutional buildings of all sizes. These projects have entailed restoration, renovation, rehabilitation, stewardship, and adaptive reuse as well as additions to historic buildings and homes. Awards are also presented to individuals for their stewardship of historic properties as well as to individuals and groups for community service as volunteers and advocates of preservation. Studies of historic districts and other preservation planning work is also eligible.

This year, we have integrated the concept of resiliency into our stewardship award category in recognition of the fact that historic properties and associated projects often contribute to community resilience through their energy efficiency and preparedness for climate impacts. For more information about how historic preservation aligns with resilience and sustainability, click here.

To nominate a project, person, structure, or group, please download the 2023 Preservation Award Nomination Form, follow the instructions and email your submission to awards@smconservancy.org. Not all questions apply to all categories so answer as many as you deem appropriate for your nominee.

The deadline for nominations is April 6, 2023. Winners will be announced at our Annual Meeting in early summer. Click here to view past awards. We are happy to answer any questions, please email them to the address listed above.

 

Housing Element Update

March 16, 2023

The Conservancy would like to thank the 700 citizens who wrote to our City Council to successfully urge them to write a letter to the State Housing and Community Development asking that the Neighborhood Commercial zones not be upzoned as required by the City’s new housing element. That upzoning would have allowed Montana, Ocean Park, Pico and Main Street to have buildings, by right, from 55’ to 88’ tall. The current Neighborhood Commercial zoning base height is 32’ but certain affordable housing  projects are already allowed to go up to 65’. The additional height of the upzoning would incentivize massive construction and the attendant demolition of many small businesses and buildings of historical importance further reducing the authenticity of these important neighborhood serving corridors. The State may or may not  approve this request  but it’s significant when this many citizens make their voices heard.