Shawn Raymundo
City council on Tuesday, Jan. 21 approved a contract award for a consulting firm to assist the city in its application process of getting the North Beach area nominated as a nationally recognized historic district.
Utilizing a $20,000 grant received from the state’s Certified Local Government Program in 2019, the city has entered into a professional service agreement with GPA Consulting, a historic preservation firm, to work with staff on nominating the North Beach Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places.
“Historic districts are ones the (San Clemente) Historical Society has wanted to see happen for a very long time. North Beach is ripe for the designation,” Larry Culbertson, president of the local group, told the council last week. “It’s never looked better, and now the Miramar is about to join that renaissance.”
In early December, it was announced that the Miramar Theatre, one of the four historic structures in North Beach, was sold to a Southern California restaurateur, who intends to turn the building into an event center, per the development entitlements the city approved in 2017.
According to the city, GPA Consulting will be tasked with coordinating research for the district and preparing the nomination forms.
“The primary goal of National Register recognition is to provide education and awareness of the North Beach historic properties that supports the City’s General Plan goal of promoting heritage tourism,” the city said in its report to the council.
Jonathan Lightfoot, the city’s assistant planner, previously stated that the city is looking to have the supporting documents completed and ready to submit to the California Office of Historic Preservation, which can then forward the North Beach Historic District nomination to the National Register, by about August and September.
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