Hello City Council Members, City Attorney, and City Manager,

 

I am a Baywood resident and homeowner and I am appalled by the attempt of some of my neighbors to make Baywood a "historic" district for the sole reason of attempting to bypass SB9. I urge you to put a stop to this as soon as possible and not allow this divisive issue to further inflame tensions in our great city.

 

1. Baywood is not a "historic" district. As anyone can tell from walking around the neighborhood, Baywood has many beautiful, well-maintained homes from a variety of eras. Some are 100+ years old, others are 1 year old. You do not need to be a professional architect or historian to see that the idea that this entire large area of the city could somehow be "historic" is ludicrous.

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2. Baywood would be a 100x (1000x?) larger historic district than our two current small areas in downtown and in Glazenwood, making the designation even more suspect: why in the world do we suddenly need such an enormous "historical" district that we never needed before? Only because of SB9, obviously. Our city already has ample protections for historic buildings and rules around architectural review of new construction under SB9.

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3. The "historic district" designation of Baywood would be unlikely to pass legal muster if challenged in court, leading to high legal costs and embarrassment for the City when we face litigation from the State of California. California's Attorney General Bonta has already threatened Woodside with litigation over their attempt to declare the entire town a "mountain lion habitat" (https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-memorandum-declaring-woodside-mountain-lion-sanctuary) and we can expect that similar litigation would follow in our case. I have already emailed the AG's office to make sure they know what is going on, and I know that many of my neighbors will also not remain quiet on this matter.

 

I love San Mateo. I've owned homes and lived here for the last 22 years, raised a kid here in our public schools, and I'm proud to be a resident of this city. I want a future San Mateo that is accessible to more people and not stuck in some imagined "historical" past. I appreciate your time and consideration and will be watching your actions closely.

 

Thank you,

Andrew Ryan