December 23, 2005

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Publication Date: Friday, December 23, 2005

Editorial: History wins at 902 villa

Council member Rosemary Stasek, in one of her final meetings, excoriated her colleagues in a fiery speech from the dais, calling the ordinance "dishonest."

Ninety-one property owners, already furious about a recently expired interim law that had blocked work on their buildings for two years, were suspicious of the city's plans to undertake a new inventory of historic properties. Preservation advocates believed the new law was so toothless that they enlisted a state agency and talked of a lawsuit in an effort to derail it. Both sides said the city did not have the resources to compensate property owners for the value of preserving their homes. Even a Voice editorial cried foul, predicting a slew of demolitions, starting with the house that touched off the battle.

But in spite of all the naysaying, the ordinance appears to have passed its first real test.

When city council members approved a new plan for a five-unit development at 902 Villa St. last week, they saved a piece of the city's heritage that just about everyone expected had seen its last days. The plan allows owner Tan Sung Lu to build a three-story apartment building on the lot with less parking and smaller setbacks than what the city's zoning code requires. In return, Lu will abandon his plans to demolish the house that officials estimate was built in 1888.

Much of the credit is due to the Anderson Brule architects, who helped Lu find a financially viable project and a way to take advantage of the ordinance - which rewards participants small but not insignificant property tax rebates. Together with the city planners and consultants, the architects reviewed the project with a fine-toothed comb at seven separate meetings before they had a solution they thought the council would accept.

While this is good news for the city, it's even better news for Yvonne Kwong, who owns House of Forgotten Treasures, the children's boutique at 902 Villa. The charm of the house is one of the most valuable assets the store has.

Of course, the picture is not perfectly sunny. Of the 91 private property owners on the original historic register, 56 have opted off. The city staff and the development review committee simply do not have the time to hold half a dozen meetings to discuss each one of the remaining properties. But if the voluntary ordinance can guarantee a few more of Mountain View's oldest buildings are around for another 100 years, we will owe hearty congratulations to those who wrote it.