Politics & Government

Historic Commission Saved by Council Vote

The commission, which Murrieta city staff had recommended retiring, was saved by a 3-2 city council vote Tuesday.

Commissioner term limits were axed in an effort to save the city of Murrieta's Historic Preservation Advisory Commission.

The commission, , was saved by a 3-2 city council vote Tuesday.

The vote came after Councilman Randon Lane made a motion to keep the commission intact, but do away with term limits. In doing so, Lane said he believes it will keep qualified citizens in place in the event the commission is needed again.

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Lane remembers a time when it was active. The slow economy has halted development projects, and a main duty of the commission is to advise the city council and planning commission when such projects may interfere with potentially historic sites.

"We did a lot, we were very involved," said Lane, who worked alongside the group when he served as a planning commissioner.

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"What concerns me is I haven't heard anything tonight that says not to [keep it]," Lane said. "...It is not like this commission is costing us anything extra...If we don’t need it for the time, we keep it in place. Then we call it up at a time [when it is needed]."

Before council members cast their votes, a public hearing was held. All those who spoke were in favor of keeping the advisory body in place.

Ayleen Gibbo, a longtime Murrieta resident who fought to get the commission formed and was successful in a 2003 ballot measure to rezone land in the downtown area for a historic park, said there was "a list of things we need to be working on."

"There's a whole box of historic things in Murrieta. The commission was supposed to be going through that and submitting to the historic registries," Gibbo said.

According to Mary Lanier, community development director, no sites in Murrieta are currently on a historic registry. The city has an inventory list of about 100 sites more than 40 years old, she said, but to get them on a historic registry requires extra steps.

"That is the area we really don’t have the staff resources for at this time, to provide the research for those," Lanier said.

That coupled with the staff time required to recruit and vet new commissioners as terms expire were given as reasons to retire it.

City Manager Rick Dudley said the cost of supporting the commission was negligible.

"It wasn't so much a financial issue. We have a commission that really doesn't meet at the present time," noting it met three times in the last year.

Local preservationist Darell Farnbach urged city council to keep the commission in place.

"I have to commend the city for forming a historic advisory committee," said Farnbach, who is the chair of the Riverside County Historical Commission. "Our historic resources are not that numerous. They are precious to us and not a lot of people are willing to stand up for them."

The council's motion included giving direction to the commission to bring back its thoughts on the doing-away-with of term limits. It would mean they served on open-ended terms.

There is currently one spot open on the commission, and the term of John Hunneman is set to expire in June.

Hunneman addressed the council, recalling well-attended meetings.

"We would hold joint meetings with the planning commission and some of those meetings drew very large crowds. It showed there are a lot of people in Murrieta interested in preserving its history," Hunneman said.

"I have enjoyed my six years on the commission, and I hope in some form or fashion the commission can be retained whether it is active now or not active, so that when development starts rolling in we can have those people in place."


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