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Preservationists Defeat Council-Backed Landmarks Ordinance

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday November 06, 2008 - 09:45:00 AM

Berkeley’s battle of the buildings took another twist Tuesday, when Berkeley voters spurned the City Council’s changes to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). 

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office, Measure LL went down to defeat by a 57-43 margin, with 20,940 voting no and 16,015 in support. 

That leaves the ordinance in place, despite more than two years of efforts by Mayor Tom Bates and his allies on the council to effect changes that critics say would weaken support for maintaining the city’s historic buildings. 

After preservationists failed two years ago to win majority voter support for their initiative for their own new LPO in place of the council revisions, they took to the streets again to gather enough signatures to put the council’s version to the test at the ballot box. 

Turning defeat of Measure J in their first campaign into victory in the second required a great deal of effort, said Laurie Bright, one of the organizers of the campaign. 

Supporters of the old LPO collected enough signatures to call a referendum on the new ordinance, blocking its implementation until voters could have the final say. Instead of calling a special election, the council voted to delay the vote until Tuesday. 

One of the keys to victory, Bright said, may have been a mass mailing that opponents mailed out to coincide with the arrival of absentee ballots, while LL supporters sent out their mailing late in the campaign. 

Coalition for a Better Berkeley, sponsored by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, is the formal name of the major group that stepped forward to support LL, as well as the candidacy of Terry Doran, who was seeking election to the downtown seat on the City Council. 

While the PAC lost on both counts, Ted Garrett, the chamber’s CEO, is taking the losses philosophically. 

“After yesterday, today is a very good day to be an American,” he said, calling the race to elect Barack Obama “the most significant election in my lifetime.” 

The election was also Garrett’s first in Berkeley, he said, “and it helped crystallize my understanding of some of the issues around LL and preservation. The question now is how do we do this so everybody wins.” 

While the chamber may disagree with Arreguin on issues like downtown building heights, Garrett says he hopes the chamber will be able to work together with the new councilmember for the benefit of the business community and the city. 

Lesley Emmington, a former Landmarks Preservation Commissioner and activist with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), said the outcome of the vote “is so very nice for the city of Berkeley. It was a hard-fought little struggle, and ultimately the victory was the result of a small group of dedicated people.” 

The hardest part, she said, was getting the referendum on the ballot last December, gathering signatures in very cold weather and while many Berkeley residents were out of town for the holidays. 

“I think this will help the City Council understand two things,” said Steve Finacom, a member of the BAHA board. “First, that historic preservation has deep support in Berkeley, and second, that preservation is a progressive policy and an essential element in building healthy, sustainable communities.” 

Asked what the vote meant for his department, Dan Marks, the city’s director of planning and development, said, “We’ve been operating under the existing ordinance for quite some time, and I guess we’ll continue to do so.” 

Marks said the LPO “has caused us some difficulties in the past because of conflicts with other parts of the city’s zoning ordinance.”