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What is the Preservation and Progress Initiative—and
What Does It Mean for San Diego?
July/August 2025
The 1914 Spreckels Organ Pavilion
In 2023, the City of San Diego launched a sweeping effort called the Preservation and Progress initiative, and promoted it as a way to “streamline processes for new homes and other uses while protecting places of historic, architectural, and cultural importance and encouraging their adaptive reuse.”
But behind this language lies a set of proposals that would weaken some of the most fundamental, hard-won tools we have to preserve San Diego’s historic neighborhoods, homes, and landmarks.
A Misguided Premise
The initiative, which you can read online, is rooted in a false and ficticious conflict, that historic preservation and housing are at odds. In fact, San Diego’s historic neighborhoods are home to thousands of modestly scaled, relatively affordable homes. These neighborhoods are not the problem. They are part of the solution.
Historic preservation has never been a major barrier to development. Historical resource reviews are not holding up new construction permitting, as some have alleged. Preservation-related reviews by city staff occur in only a small fraction of projects, and the city’s own data confirms that these reviews cause minimal delay. Yet this preservation initiative would roll back essential protections under the guise of speeding up construction.
What the City Is Proposing
While some aspects of the proposal offer promise, such as stronger enforcement tools for demolition by neglect, many of the central reforms would significantly erode preservation in San Diego. Our key points:
- Politicizing Historic Designation Decisions
Currently, the City’s independent Historical Resources Board (HRB), composed of experts in history, architecture, and planning, makes decisions about whether a property is historic. Under the new proposal, the City Council could override those decisions based on politics, not factual or professional criteria.
- Weakened Protections for National Register Historic Districts
Districts already listed on the National Register of Historic Places receive local-level protections. The proposal could lessen those protections, leaving many historic neighborhoods vulnerable to insensitive alterations, incompatible development, and demolition.
- Harder to Qualify for Individual Historic Designation
The proposal raises the bar for designating individual historic buildings and sites, making it more difficult to preserve properties that embody San Diego’s architectural, cultural, and social history. Designation is already a robust process; it should be made more accessible, not more difficult.
- Reduced Access to Mills Act Tax Incentives
The Mills Act is one of the financial tools available to owners of historic properties. The City is considering new restrictions that would drastically scale back or limit this successful program, undercutting the very incentive that helps make preservation feasible for many homeowners.
- Eliminating the Early Warning System for Potential Historic Sites
A key part of the City’s preservation process is screening building permit applications for potential historic significance. The City wants to eliminate this safeguard before completing a citywide survey of historic resources, leaving countless buildings at risk of demolition without review.
Where Things Stand
Despite requests from preservationists, community groups, and neighborhood leaders, the City has not (to our knowledge) conducted an economic analysis of how Preservation and Progress’s proposed changes would impact historic neighborhoods, housing affordability, or cultural heritage. In response, SOHO and its partners, including the Talmadge Historical Society, Mission Hills Heritage, and more than 80 individual donors, have commissioned and funded an independent study by PlaceEconomics. This internationally respected firm excels at analyzing the economics of preservation and providing data-driven and creative policy solutions to advance the public good of historic preservation. The San Diego study is underway.
SOHO and the Neighborhood Historic Preservation Coalition has asked the City to delay finalizing its proposed reforms until the study is complete. So far, they have not agreed.
SOHO maintains that responsible planning can, and must, include strong preservation protections. We support reforms that streamline processes without weakening safeguards for San Diego’s historic assets. We also welcome the opportunity to improve clarity, offer better education about preservation, and expand tools like adaptive reuse. But any changes must be developed in collaboration with preservation professionals and neighborhood leaders or developer driven.
How You Can Help
We urge you, your friends, family, and neighbors to speak up. Let your elected officials know that San Diegans value their heritage and that “progress” should not mean sacrificing our city’s unique character and legacy.
We urgently need your voice to push back against this attack on preservation. Here’s SOHO’s contact list for City of San Diego politicians.
Please act now by clicking on the options below for sample language, names, and addresses.
- Submit a Public Comment – The City has a portal for public feedback on the Preservation and Progress initiative. Make your voice heard now! Send a comment using our points, or advocate for preservation in your own words.
- Email your comments to the Historic Resources Department
- Write to City Leaders – Send a letter to Mayor Todd Gloria and the city council urging them to protect historic resources for the good of our city and for future generations.
- Call Your Representatives – A phone call makes an impact! Let them know that historic preservation matters to you and the future of San Diego.
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