Homeowners Submit Signatures for "Freedom of Choice Initiative"

By Jorge Casuso

Sept. 26 -- Sponsors of an initiative that would require an owner's permission before the City can designate a single family home as a landmark submitted 12,867 signatures to the City Clerk Thursday in the hopes of forcing a special election.

The proposed "Homeowners Freedom of Choice Initiative" would need the valid signatures of 9,300 registered Santa Monica voters to be placed on a special election ballot next Spring and 6,200 to make the Nov. 2004 ballot.

Sponsors of the initiative waited until just hours before the six-month deadline to gather as many signatures as possible before submitting the signed petitions.

"I think we have a good shot" at a special election, said Tom Larmore, who authored the measure. "On Thursday we were still getting signatures, harvesting volunteer petitions."

The signature gathering drive -- which came amidst a groundswell of opposition to an effort to carve out a historic district North of Montana -- went smoothly, garnering the support of both homeowners and tenants, Larmore said.

"I'm sure there were a lot of tenants who signed," said Larmore. "We worked the markets, and both the landlords and tenants came by. This was a very easy one to get people to sign."

The target of the campaign were homeowners in the single family districts North of Montana and Sunset Park, where residents received mailers and door-to-door visits from signature gatherers who combed the neighborhoods.

Many of the homeowners who signed the petitions also donated money to the campaign, Larmore said. "It was one of the easiest fundraising things," he said. "People got it. They understand."

Currently homeowners have no say when the Landmarks Commission designates their homes, although they can testify before the commission and appeal its ruling to the City Council. The proposed measure would also require a homeowner's permission to designate the home as a structure of merit or include it in a historic district.

Initiative supporters argue that current City law -- which limits renovating and replacing designated homes -- unduly impinges on a homeowner's rights, while giving the Landmarks Commission the "unwarranted' power to impose restrictions, according to a statement filed with the City Clerk in March.

Members of the Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation, the group pushing the measure, include property owners whose homes are in potential historic districts on 18th Street north of Montana Avenue and on Cedar Street in Sunset Park.

Landmarks Commissioners have called the initiative -- which is similar to laws in Laguna Beach and Fullerton -- "political" and warned that if passed, it would erode Santa Monica's preservation efforts.

Landmarks Commissioner Roger Genser, who denounced the initiative, said the commission is moving toward increasing incentives for owners of homes that are given historic designations.

"Long before the political demagoguery and misinformation that's gone on by the Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation, the commission had been looking to increase incentives for property owners, and we're still working on that," Genser said.

"The City Council hasn't prioritized the staffing that we need to move forward in a more timely way," Genser said. "But that's clearly the goal of the commission, as well as the Planning Commission. Santa Monica is a creative city. We can look at a lot of ways to give incentives and enhancements to homeowners."

The City Clerk's Office has six weeks to verify the signatures, at which time the measure would go to the City Council.