Post #382677 by nichols on Tue, May 27, 2008 1:32 PM

Thanks for the nice words, Mr. Slick. Preservation laws vary from place to place. In California, you can nominate a building as a city, state or federal landmark. We have something unique called the California Environmental Quality Act (http://ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/), which compels developers to look at the impact their project will have on traffic, water, cultural resources, etc. If a building is recognized as important, it alone can trigger CEQA and a full review would have to be done. After all of this (and more) is complete, a developer can still claim economic hardship, they can say that the project won't pan out without that extra square footage, etc. and a DIFFERENT review board can decide that the new project is more important than the destroyed resources. Nothing is safe. The first step is always to landmark the important stuff so you have a chance to debate it. Many things disappear without a fight.