I was delighted to see Laurie Hietter’s call in her April 9 letter to the editor asking for “a fair 51% threshold for potential historic districts,” meaning 51% of owners should consent to being designated as historic. While I believe a slightly higher threshold is appropriate, thank you, Ms. Hietter, for calling for a fair threshold.
Ms. Hietter, in her role as president of the San Mateo Heritage Alliance, nominated Baywood as a “National Register” historic district back in 2023, and this nomination is still open, even though a majority of Baywood homeowners have gone on record opposing the nomination.
Since Ms. Hietter herself has called for a 51% consent threshold to create historic districts, I would like to ask Ms. Hietter and the SMHA to commit to withdrawing the Baywood National Register nomination until such time as SMHA can demonstrate that a majority of affected homeowners consent to the nomination.
San Mateo faces real challenges that demand our attention and energy — including a significant budget deficit that will require difficult decisions. Let’s resolve this dispute in a way that respects property owners’ rights and move on to the problems that actually affect all residents.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.