The Santa Clara Planning Commission has recommended that the city council update the city’s inventory of historic properties and put objective design standards in place for multi-family homes.

At its most recent meeting, Jan. 14, the planning commission unanimously approved both items.

The update to the city’s Historic Resources Inventory (HRI) amends the city’s 2010 general plan update, Meha Patel, associate planner, told the commission. While the update adds 27 properties to the HRI, it does not contain “new significant effects,” she added.

The goal of the HRI, Patel said, is to “protect historic integrity and encourage adaptive reuse.” If adopted by the city council, the HRI will contain 327 properties.

The city conducted public outreach in September and December last year. 

Commissioner Priya Cherukuru called the city’s historic properties “jewels.”

Commissioner Lance Saleme said that, while he was not advocating for developers, he worried some people might try to weaponize the historic registry to halt development.

Alexander Abbe, assistant city attorney, said property owners could appeal at a state or federal level should their property be denied for historic designation. However, he added, their best remedy would simply to not sell — something the city would be unable to force them to do.

Mary Grizzle, the only member of the public who commented and co-founder of the civic group Reclaiming Our Downtown, said historic preservation is important when a building has “true historical significance.”

When the city designates properties willy-nilly, she said the impacts are vast, affecting zoning density, housing supply and future planning.

“Preservation should tell a story about our city — its history, its culture, its people,” she said. “It should not become a workaround to stop change, block housing or override adopting zoning policy. If everything is historic, nothing truly is.”

Following up on a study session from late last year, the commission also took up recommending the city adopt objective design standards for three types of developments.

An update to the housing element, the standards will apply to townhomes, podium-style and wrap-style multi-family residential and/or mixed-use developments. 

Alex Tellez, assistant planner, said these types of developments are common throughout the city. 

“The intent is to eventually create like a checkbox kind of when applicants submit to create predictable standards, so [developers] know beforehand when they invest in Santa Clara what they expect from staff when they review their applications,” Tellez said.

The adoption would insulate the city from state laws that remove local control in the interest of incentivizing development, Tellez said.

It creates a “user-friendly toolkit,” he added, intended to “streamline projects.”

Grizzle, whose group was the first to advocate for such standards, called objective standards the “best tool to maintain local control” because “everybody knows the rules.”

Commissioners Nancy Biagini and Yashraj Bhatnagar were absent. 

Join the planning commission meeting online at https://santaclaraca.zoom.us/j/91729202898 – Webinar ID: 917 2920 2898 or call in at: (669) 900-6833. Submit written comments by noon the day of the meeting at planningpubliccomment@santaclaraca.gov. 

The planning commission meets again at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com