SAN FERNANDO MOVING TO PRESERVE ITS HISTORIC HOUSES.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

SAN FERNANDO - After two years of foot-dragging, San Fernando city officials said Friday that they are close to setting up a plan to preserve some of the Valley's oldest homes, the first step in reversing the city's poor record of saving architectural treasures.

San Fernando first embarked on the preservation plan in 2002 to save old Victorian, California Craftsmen, Spanish-style and colonial homes and buildings from the bulldozers.

But it has made such little progress that the Los Angeles Conservancy, which tracks preservation efforts countywide, gave the city a D-minus grade last year. That placed San Fernando in the same class of lax preservationists as El Monte, Covina and Torrance.

``We are getting impatient after two years of just static,'' said Manuel Godoy, who sits on the city's Historic Commission and owns an American Folk home built in 1905.

City officials said San Fernando got into the preservation effort late and blamed much of the delay on finding the right consultant to prepare a preservation plan. They are now confident they'll have the plan in place by summer.

``It's been tough,'' said Steve Veres, a councilman who owns a 1926 California Craftsmen. ``We started at ground zero. There hasn't been this kind of effort before. Glendale began their efforts in the 1970s; so did Los Angeles and Pasadena.''

The plan will have teeth in the form of a city ordinance to protect the 233 buildings identified as having historic value. Many of them were built soon after the Southern Pacific Railroad first rumbled through the outpost town in the 1870s.

Still, some residents are upset about the delays in putting a plan together.

``We are frustrated. These houses are old and we want to make sure they are preserved for the future of this city and the community,'' said Gus Casillas, a 31-year-old construction worker who owns and lives in an 1887 Queen Anne with his wife and two children.

``(A preservation plan) will increase the value of the home, keep the neighborhoods looking nice. You cherish these homes and to know that they're historical is awesome. I want the city to recognize it,'' he said.

Earlier this year, a 1920s American Folk home identified as a possible historic site, was deemed an eyesore and health hazard by the city and demolished to make room for a single-family home.

The city and its Historic Commission, which Godoy did not sit on at the time, determined there was no historic value to the home. But Godoy and other activists say that without preservation laws on the books, it's likely other potentially historic homes could be destroyed.

Preservationists say such plans increase an area's value, reinvigorate a sense of community and provide up to 75 percent property tax reductions.

San Fernando's preservation plan would be the first in the Valley, although parts of Van Nuys, Shadow Hills, and Granada Hills are seeking a historic zone designation with the city of Los Angeles.

``It provides the best tool to protect some of our most cherished neighborhoods and gives assurance that the very qualities that attracted people to their neighborhoods are preserved,'' said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation for the Los Angeles Conservancy.

``By failing to develop historic preservation, cities are missing out on economic incentives to property owners and the far-reaching economic benefits,'' Bernstein said, noting that San Fernando officials have made great strides over the past year.

The designation can also attract local businesses, including film crews. San Fernando already boasts some television credits with one of its fully restored Queen Anne homes featured in the opening scenes of ABC's ``The George Lopez Show'' and another historic Craftsmen featured in scenes from CBS' crime drama ``CSI.''

Veres said San Fernando's plan will be worth the wait.

``By the time we are done, we are going to have a far more advanced program than Los Angeles,'' he said, noting that San Fernando's plan will allow it to get a federally certified status that permits the city to nominate buildings for the National Register of Historic Places.

``We are taking the longer route with the expectations that we will have better results. We could have put together an ordinance in 30 days,'' said Richard Arroyo, a member of the city's Historic Commission and former board member of the San Fernando Historical Society. ``But we didn't want to get a boiler-plate plan.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Manuel Godoy plays with his 15-month-old daughter, Evelyn, in the front yard of their American Folk house, built in 1905 in San Fernando. Left, an antique watering can hangs on an iron hook at the Godoys' home.

(3) A U.S. flag decorates the entrance to the Godoys' American Folk style home.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer