By Jonathan Friedman
Associate Editor

November 24, 2014 -- Santa Monica property owners could have a harder time preventing their section of town from turning into a designated historic district.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider a measure that would nix a 2003 amendment to Santa Monica’s landmarks ordinance that allows a historic district proposal to be automatically rejected if a majority of the area’s property owners oppose it through a petition.

Since the ammendment was approved in 2003, no historic districts have been created in Santa Monica.

This issue was a hot topic at a Council meeting last month, and several residents said the City was in danger of losing its historic resources because of the 2003 amendment, among other reasons.

At the conclusion of the discussion, council members told City staff to draft a measure that would reverse the 2003 amendment.

“There has been substantial discussion of designating additional districts, including a courtyard district on and near the western end of San Vicente Boulevard,” City Attorney Marsha Moutrie wrote in the report to the council for Tuesday’s meeting.

She added, “Most recently, with increased development pressures, community members have expressed concerns that if the City does not act to protect its historic resources, including clusters of courtyard apartments, they will be lost.”

If the measure were adopted, residents would still be able to challenge historic district designations, but victory would no longer be automatic through a petition.

The landmarks ordinance “would continue to ensure a full public process by requiring ample notice, a community meeting, a public hearing before the Landmarks Commission and public hearing before the City Council before a district could be designated,” Moutrie wrote.

Alternatives to approving the measure are limited, according to Moutrie. The council could keep the nullification procedure, which “could reduce the likelihood that new historic districts will be formed.”

The other option would be to postpone doing anything until “a comprehensive update to the landmarks ordinance” is considered, likely sometime next year.

Santa Monica’s landmarks ordinance was adopted in 1976 as one of the first of its kind in California. It has led to such things as the adoption of the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District in 1990 and The Bay St. Cluster in 2000.

The ordinance was challenged in 2003 via a measure placed on the ballot through a resident-signed petition. Had the measure been approved, it would have greatly reduced City officials' ability to designate landmarks.

However, Proposition A, also known by proponents as the “Homeowners Freedom of Choice Initiative” lost by a six-point margin in a controversial mail-in ballot election.