City of San Mateo
City Council Meeting
POST PACKET
PUBLIC COMMENT
1 From: Jeremy Levine
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2025 4:28 PM
To: Rob Newsom; Adam Loraine; Nicole Fernandez; Lisa Diaz Nash; Danielle Cwirko- Godycki; City Council (San Mateo)
Cc: Alex Khojikian; Prasanna Rasiah; Zachary Dahl
Subject: Public Comment on Special Meeting Agenda Item 1: Historic District Good evening city council members. Thank you to staff and the council for your work navigating the complexities of historic preservation.
In order to ensure historic preservation harmonizes with the housing needs of current and future San Mateo residents, HLC supports the following components of any historic ordinance:
Affirmative consent by the owner for any property to be designated history, and supermajority (2/3) affirmative consent of all property owners included within a proposed district, with the costs for officially acquiring such consent to be born by the applicants seeking to create a historic resource.
Allow ADUs and duplexes to be built ministerially within historic districts Embed decision-making authority in the planning commission rather than creating an independent commission
Clarify the criteria for listing a historic resource to be more specific and tailored to the needs of San Mateo than the broad, easily abused California Register of Historic Resources Criteria. HLC can provide suggestions for language as the process evolves.
The council should set a high bar for the standards of historic preservation to ensure San Mateo can honor its heritage without smothering its future. As the staff report notes, " CEQA restrictions apply whether a resource is determined to be eligible for or actually listed on the CRHR. These CEQA restrictions require environmental review to determine whether a proposed development project may have a “substantial adverse change” in the significance of the resource." Historic preservation will only maintain its integrity so long as it clearly emphasizes making history accessible for all, not making housing more difficult to build.
Thank you for your consideration,
Jeremy
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Jeremy Levine (he • him)
Policy Manager
Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County
2905 El Camino Real
San Mateo, CA 94403
www.hlcsmc.org
650.242.1764
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6/2/25
Historically, we know, that our society has made many mistakes.
In fact, in this country, we are now renaming schools and places because we are finding that not all things of the past need, or deserve, to be protected, or, as in this case , made once again, exclusive.
Only in our exclusive past, would we have thought the owners of a property need NOT be considered when deciding to restrict anything about their private residence.
As we now know, San Mateo is better when we are together.
If you feel compelled to allow some type of a change to the status of our homes then please be sure to set a very high bar for individual owner consent.
Also, make sure not to divide the people of San Mateo any further. Fashion any policy in a way that makes us MORE inclusive. We need any new policies to work for the good of ALL San Mateo residents.
Thanks,
Rick Bonilla