ACTION ALERT • HPC DISBANDING
Ad hoc committee folding HPC into Planning Commission
On May 26, 2026 (at 3:00 p.m.) a committee of City Council Members will discuss disbanding the Historic Preservation Committee. Their initial recommendation on May 5, after a year of closed session meetings, is to disband HPC. People who want heritage places protected should comment, write letters, and attend to support our HPC.
The recently adopted Ventura 2030 General Plan (GP) has a "Preservation Element" – an entire chapter devoted to historic preservation. The Conservancy supported the GP with no changes because the GP is full of goals and actions involving the HPC and recognizing historic preservation as an economic driver and a pathway to meet our housing goals through adaptive reuse of historic buildings. We don't understand why the ad hoc is now changing course and recommending folding the HPC into the Planning Commission. Historic preservation is a technical field with architectural historians, planners, archeologists, historians, and architects using their training to review projects against the Secretary of the Interior's Standards (required in the General Plan) and deciding the best ways to enhance and maintain our historic and prehistoric resources along side new developments and ongoing city improvements.
The City Council made preservation a priority in the GP and now the ad hoc is suggesting this expert committee that oversees cultural resources should be merged with a commission that may not even be able to read blueprints. The Planning Commission is meant to look forward and make Ventura's future projects better. In contrast the HPC is meant to review significant sites in the existing built environment to maintain the charm, vitality, and authenticity that makes Ventura a special place. A historic place.
We don't understand the disbanding recommendations because the staff report and the committee are short on WHY the change is needed. Very few people dislike preservation, history, and authenticity. Removing the HPC, an important expert committee that was established in 1973, and has done so much to protect Ventura's historic downtown, west side and midtown landmarks and districts seems to be counter to what the public is looking for. Preservation doesn't stop housing or development. From the Elks Lodge, to Watermark, to 24 Hour Fitness at the mall, to new buildings like 60 California Street, which fit into their context and feel right, HPC review and comment has made these projects better. Projects near landmarks and districts require review by the Historic Preservation Committee which can recommend mitigations and changes that make developments more compatible – resulting in a win-win of growth AND harmonious infill.
For heritage places to be protected from incompatible development, our heritage sites must be identified and listed BEFORE developments are proposed. AND the Historic Preservation Committee needs to remain an advisory panel that can determine which landmarks, districts and archeology should be listed by the city; where the experts on HPC can review impacts from development projects and offer real improvements and mitigations to make future projects fit more harmoniously into our city.
HPC Highlights
- Landmark nominations should be reviewed by a committee of experts.
- The General Plan requires historic projects to follow the General Plan.
- The HPC will need fewer meetings since the City-Wide Survey identified historic places.
- The HPC is the only group that qualifies as a CLG and can get preservation grants.
- The HPC is the only committee expert in the Secretary of the Interior Standards.
- Mills Acts (property tax reductions) should be reviewed by a committee of experts.
- Historic District contributors and non contributors should be reviewed by a committee of experts..
- Commercial developments on historic properties should be reviewed by the HPC.
- A General Plan goal to create an adaptive reuse ordinance will require HPC review.
- AB 529 and AB 1490 adaptive reuse laws will require expertise from HPC.
- Compatibility with California's Historic Building Code requires HPC expertise.
- HPC doesn't stop housing and development, it suggests ways of making projects compatible with landmarks.