A project which proposes renovations or possible reconstruction of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Chancellor’s House is scheduled for public review starting in June, but several residents have already begun voicing their concerns.
The 7-acre property and its 56-year-old building, located along La Jolla Farms Road, will be submitted to the state’s Office of Historical Preservation within the next two weeks by two La Jolla historical society members in a attempt to place it on an historically protected national register, according to La Jolla attorney Courtney Coyle and resident Patricia Dahlberg.
“Being listed or eligible for the national register does not stop development, but it does give it greater scrutiny,” Coyle said of the UCSD House, stating that the register would preserve both the original architecture and archaeological findings on the site. “It expects that developers be held to a higher standard and for them to do their best to preserve the historical integrity.”
Dahlberg and resident Don Schmidt originally submitted the nomination to the state’s office on Feb. 1, but it was returned because information had not been correctly prepared according to federal and state guidelines, said Cynthia Howse, supervising state historian at the Office of Historical Preservation.
Schmidt and Dahlberg submitted the nomination independent of the historical society, the residents said.
Plans to make changes at the UCSD site were initiated in 2004 when UCSD conducted a renovation investigative study of the house, determining that the building required necessary repairs and was not safe for occupancy. A UC president-appointed working group determined that demolition and reconstruction was the preferred alternative.
UCSD’s planning department held a public scoping meeting in October 2006 to gather comments necessary for the project’s draft environmental impact report (EIR). Coyle spoke on behalf of client Carmen Lucas, a member of the Kwaaymii Laguna band of Indians, who lives on a reservation in San Diego County and believes the UC House property is a burial site for her ancestors.
Coyle, who specializes in environmental litigation and natural and cultural resources, said Carlsbad archaeological firm A.S.M Affiliates Inc. has since conducted tests and confirmed that the site contains cultural resources.
UCSD’s planning department, in its efforts to complete the draft EIR by June, has also been surveying the site, according to Catherine Presmyk, the university’s assistant director of environmental planning.
“We are still on the same schedule presented in October and there are no new issues “” those raised in October are the same issues,” Presmyk said by phone message. “The field work we did over the winter was with two Native American monitors who were present on site and in full coordination. We are working with the folks on the historical side as well.”
The university’s planning department was not aware of the nomination as of Monday, Feb. 26, according to Presmyk. If the house and property were placed on the national register, UCSD would consider the rationale behind the designation and evaluate its options, she said.
The Office of Historic Preservation is required to notice the landowner of the nomination before it is heard by the State Historic Resources Commission, according to Coyle and Howse.
The state’s Historic Resources Commission must review the nomination to ensure it is complete. If deemed eligible for the national register, the nomination will be added to an official list kept by the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., Coyle said.
“It will then be put on the list, except if there is an objection by the landowner,” Coyle said. “If there is an objection, it is just deemed eligible.”
For more information about the UCSD House project, contact UCSD’s Physical Planning Department, (858) 534-6515, or visit www.physicalplanning.ucsd.edu. For more about the Office of Historic-Preservation, visit www.ohp.-parks.ca/gov.