UPDATED: City Council Candidate Requests Council Put Indefinite Moratorium On ALL Zoning Changes Including Outside Of Historic Districts

San Marcos City Council Place four candidate and San Marcos Historic Preservation Commissioner, Griffin Spell, is one of seven who signed a formal letter that was read during Tuesday’s city council meeting requesting…

Update- October 21, 2018— This story has been updated throughout with correction and now includes a City of San Marcos Historic Resources flyer that explains how to identify historic properties with no distinction whether the property is located inside and outside the current historical districts.

San Marcos City Council Place Four candidate and San Marcos Historic Preservation Commissioner, Griffin Spell, is one of seven who signed a formal letter that was read during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

The letter requested the “immediate postponement” or a moratorium on all zoning “considerations and requests.”

During the opening 30-minute Citizen Comment Period, Ryan Perkins, one of seven who serve on the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, read a formal letter addressed to the council.

The letter requests the city council, planning and zoning and the zoning board of adjustments to put a moratorium on ALL zoning requests.

“The immediate postponement of any current and future consideration and request(s) to the zoning ordinance, building code, general plan or other adopted policies of the city that may affect an individual property or area within the scope of the Historic Resources Study Areas until survey – a formal Determination of Significance – shall be complete.”

Additionally, the commission requested the moratorium stay in place until the city and commission can finish and finalize their on-going assessment on ALL property, public and private, for historical significance.

Furthermore, the letter does not make a distinction between inside the city limits or the ETJ.

This request is so broad that if the council approved this item, the San Marcos economy would come to a screeching halt, dry up and blow away.

According to the historic survey timeline, the final draft will not be completed until June 2019. The eight-month timeline does not include how long it will take to go through the city staff, historic commission, planning and zoning and on to city council for final approval.

What does this mean for you?

For the typical property owner, buyer or small business owner, who might need the simplest zoning change of any kind, with this moratorium you could not apply for or be heard on or given approval of your request until this on-going assessment can be completed and approved.

Does any of this sound completely ridiculous to you? It does to us!

When any city council appoints the majority of their city boards and commissions, these boards and commissions will mirror the beliefs of the council that appointed them.

You can read more about San Marcos Boards and Commissions at SM City Council’s Revolving Door Of Nonsense.

Spell is a city council candidate running for Place four in the 2018 General Election. This seat is currently held by council member Jane Hughson, who was required to resign her seat to run for mayor in this election season against incumbent Mayor John Thomaides.

Below you can find the flyer from the City of San Marcos on how to identify properties around San Marcos that explains how to help qualify historic properties and the original letter from the Historic Commission, which included a list of those who signed the attached letter (page 2) below and serve on your San Marcos Historic Preservation Commission,

• Griffin Spell
• Ryan Perkins
• Thea Dake
• Alex Arlinghaus
• Bob Holder
• Greg Standard
• Diana Baker

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Correction: This story has been edited with a correction and we regret our errors and any confusion or misunderstanding they may have caused. Mayoral candidate Hughson was incorrectly identified as the author of the amendment that limited PSA’s to being considered twice a year.