Hello Members, Friends and Neighbors,
My first few months as President has been very eventful to say the least. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to our members and the Board of Directors for their personal commitment and exceptional support in time and talent in promoting our mission and in combating actions that threaten the historic resources and character of our community and its neighborhoods. My
heartfelt “thank you” to all.
Below are a few of the highlights from our activities thus far in 2022:
1. Launch of our updated website and our new member database that will ultimately improve our ability to communicate with our members and keep them abreast of issues that may affect our community in real time. Like any new significant website change there are always a few issues to work out. Our team is engaged and working hard to smooth out these issues. My apologies for members that may have experienced problems with our new website and had login or renewal issues. Please continue to notify me and our team of any problems you may have with the site. Many thanks to Rob Contin and the website committee for their diligence and hard work in
making this happen.
2. Inspiration Heights Walking Tour: This event highlighted many of the contributing properties in the newly established Inspiration Heights Historic District now listed on the National Register. Thanks to the volunteers that supported the event with their time and commitment and to the members and others that bought tickets and attended the very informative tour of
the district’s history and lives of the early residents. Also, a big “Thank You” to Martin and Jennifer Smith at 2055 Sunset for allowing us to use their front yard once again as a staging and starting location for the tour.
3. Legislative and Planning Advocacy:
– Letter to the Mayor and City Council stating MHH’s concerns with the local ADU ordinance that effectively up-zones single-family neighborhoods and creates “bonus” units not currently allowed by the zoning. We will post this letter on our website for members to view.
– Letter to Mayor Gloria urging the City to develop and implement an Adaptive Reuse Ordinance that will promote the reuse of historically significant properties that would be destroyed or severely impacted by development plans. We will post this letter on our website for members to view as well.
– Monitoring of the City’s posting of permit or planning inquires for properties that are over 45 years old. This is often the first time that we are aware of development activity that may affect historic properties. This requires attentive monitoring and diligence once these are posted; the public has 5 working days to respond with any comments. If we miss this short deadline, a project can move forward as having received no public comment on the historic nature of development projects.
Let me lay out what the Board has determined as our best course of action moving forward to continue our stated mission “…to preserve and protect the character, charm and historical resources of the Mission Hills community, for the education and welfare of the public…” as follows:
Individual: $50 per year
Household: $90 per year (this will include membership for all residents of a
household – both adults and any children)
Business/Professional: $150 per year
Any new membership or renewal before July 1 st will be at the rates as stated currently on our website that include a reduced fee for 2-year and 5-year memberships as well as the legacy (lifetime) member option. The new rates will not affect legacy members or existing memberships until the date of their current expiration. Renewals will be at current rates. Challenge #2: Raise money for the nomination of potential historic districts. Contributing properties in these districts will qualify for potential Mills Act tax relief and all properties would benefit with protection from local ordinances and state laws that permit lot splitting and up-zoning of single family lots within a historic district. We will be requesting contributions from residents who benefit from the creation of additional districts. Additionally, we are studying whether to switch our tax status to 501(c)(3) or partner with a 3 rd party organization that could collect such contributions on our behalf and offer a tax deduction to the donor.
As I said, we have a lot going on and I wanted to communicate what the Board has been working on and to request your continued support to protect our special neighborhood for the benefit of future generations of Mission Hills residents and all San Diegans.
Take care, stay safe and God Bless! See you around the neighborhood.
Kirk Burgamy
