Politics & Government

Historical Commission Helps to Update City Code

The commission looks at its own guidelines and makes recommendations.

Additions and a few corrections were made to the city’s Historic Preservation code on Monday night.

Members of the Loma Linda Historical Commission continued their effort to update the city's historical preservation codes and make recommendations that night. The work was part of an ongoing effort by city staff to update the city's development codes.

Some of Monday night's work entailed copy editing the document, which details everything from the commission’s responsibility to its powers. The code also lists procedures for a location’s historical designation.

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The code has been reworked and, in some cases, reworded to make it easier to understand, said Deborah Woldruff, Community Development Director. Among the big changes was the addition of two paragraphs that detail the commissions intent.

The new paragraphs state:

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“Loma Linda has a number of structures, features and other cultural resources that warrant adaptive re-use and/or preservation (rehabilitation or recreation, when appropriate) so that they are not “lost” as the community continues to row. Examples of such elements include the large residences (currently or formerly) associated with the citrus groves and buildings from the early years of the university. Other long-time features within the community that have taken on the character of local landmarks include the rows of palm trees along Citrus Avenue and the many remaining citrus groves.

According to the general plan, Community Design Element (Guiding Policy 3.2.1), it is the city’s policy to employ adaptive reuse of structures that have local historic value because of their scientific, aesthetic, educational, cultural, architectural or historical significance in order to incorporate them into any new adjacent development and prevent their demolition."

“We wanted to kind of bring it in line with more current preservation values and to also reflect policy in the general plan so we just kind of updated it a bit,” Woldruff said while explaining the addition of the paragraphs.

Commission chair James Shipp liked the change.

“I thought those two paragraphs were a welcomed addition to further explain the purpose of the commission and the purpose of the ordinance as well,” Shipp said.

The commission will continue their work to update the code at their next meeting at 5:30 p.m. on April 2. The commission meets in the Community Room at the Civic Center, 25541 Barton Road.

Information: (909) 799-2800.


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