In a tug of war between historic preservation and the hopes and dreams of new homeowners, San Clemente planning commissioners Wednesday night approved an addition to one of the town’s landmark homes in the Pier Bowl area, despite protests.
The commission’s 4-2 vote could allow Tom and Jill Ammirato to expand and remodel a home built in 1926 at 418 Cazador Lane, next to two other landmark homes clustered on a knoll overlooking the San Clemente Pier. The plan includes adding to the first and second floors and making changes to windows and balconies.
The Ammiratos and a majority of commissioners felt the proposed changes are tasteful and wouldn’t significantly alter the home’s character. Dissenting commissioners and historic preservationists felt the landmark would be compromised and that it would send a message that it’s OK to remake such homes to enhance ocean views or let more light into a dark master bedroom.
Complicating the two-hour hearing was Commissioner Wayne Eggleston’s question of whether the city should even accept an application for a home addition when the single-family home is being used as a three-unit rental without permission and without paying rental taxes. Eggleston also said the property has been getting tax breaks with the owners not having completed obligations under the Mills Act, California’s law governing tax breaks for historic properties.
City staff said code compliance is not the Planning Commission’s purview and that the city has filed a code-compliance case about the unauthorized rental units. The planned addition would restore the property to a single-family home.
The Ammiratos said the home was three separate units when they bought it and that they were unaware of the city’s rental tax at the time. They said they love the house and plan to make it their retirement home, with improvements for livability. They said they reached out to the San Clemente Historical Society and tried to be sensitive during a 15-month process of design, scrutiny and plan modification.
”It has been really stressful,” Jill Ammirato said. “It’s really not this big, massive (remake), (with) this beautiful little house that’s going to become some darn castle.”
Larry Culbertson, president of the Historical Society, said the changes don’t come close to meeting city design guidelines, federal historic-preservation standards and the California Environmental Quality Act. “This project is bad for historic preservation in San Clemente, yet it’s being supported by the city staff and the cultural heritage commission,” Culbertson said.
City Planner Jim Pechous said it’s a rehabilitation and that federal standards allow for flexibility. Associate City Planner John Ciampa said the plan also would repair deteriorated features and support long-term preservation.
Commissioners agreed on a 4-2 vote. Eggleston and Kathleen Ward dissented. Ward said the home is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and should be held to the most stringent standards.
Commissioner Julia Darden said federal standards aren’t meant to prohibit change but to guide it, and changes like those planned by the Ammiratos were approved by the City Council in a recent plan to rehabilitate the city’s landmark Ole Hanson Beach Club to enhance use of the building.
“We talk a lot about these properties being the resources of the community,” Darden said, “but I think we also have to look at the fact that the people who choose to invest in them are also a very important resource to this community.”
She said the home might continue to deteriorate if the Ammiratos didn’t invest their retirement savings into it “to give it the loving care that it needs.”
Georgette Korsen, former Historical Society president, said the Ammiratos are “lovely people,” yet the society still has issues with the plan as modified. “We are doing exactly what the society is entrusted to do,” Korsen said.
The Planning Commission’s decision is final unless appealed to the City Council or brought up for review by the council.
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
