Palm Desert panel's landmark rejection spurs debate over preservation process

A home on Silver Spur Trail as it appears today (left) and how it appeared prior to modifications. An application to designate the structure historic was denied by a city committee following substantial debate.

Rejection of a historic landmark bid for a 1956 home led Palm Desert’s Historic Preservation Committee to renew calls for a tiered designation system and criticize gaps in the city’s application process.

The committee voted 4-2 at its last regular meeting in June against recommending that the City Council designate the property at 47550 Silver Spur Trail as a local historic landmark.

Bobby Keatinge, an associate planner with the city’s Development Services Department, told the committee the home, built in 1956, originally served as the sales office and model home for the Silver Spur Ranch subdivision. Staff recommended the designation under criteria A and C of the city’s municipal code, citing the property’s association with the city’s post-war residential growth and its mid-century ranch architecture.

The property underwent a 2022 renovation that removed vertical wood siding, enlarged window openings and simplified decorative details, according to Keatinge’s presentation. Property owner Corina Morrison told the committee those changes were made for practical reasons before she considered seeking the designation.

“We did the renovations on the house before we even considered applying for this,” Morrison said, adding that replacing the wood siding was “more of a safety, fire safety thing.”

Commissioner Rachelle McCune argued the alterations left too little of the original structure intact to qualify as a landmark.

“With the windows gone, the roof, the windows, and the stanchions have been changed, the exterior only vaguely looks like it was,” McCune said. “It’s been changed substantially.”

Following the vote, McCune renewed a call for Palm Desert to adopt a two-tiered historic designation system, separating landmark status from a lesser “historic merit” category, a structure she said other cities already use.

“This building could possibly be considered historic merit, but I don’t see it being considered a landmark with as much changes that have been made to it,” McCune said. She added that without a tiered system, “we’re going to have more and more inappropriate applications, and it’s going to be harder and harder to say no to them.”

The same meeting saw committee members criticize the city’s online landmark application system, which they said omits information gathered under the previous paper application, including a required architectural description and a section for applicants to specify which designation criteria they are seeking.

Keatinge told the committee that as the city transitions applications into a new permit portal, “we are continually adding fields that existed in the paper applications,” and acknowledged the online submission for a separate landmark request lacked narrative detail that should be included going forward.

Incomplete applications have placed a burden on staff to fill in missing information rather than sending applications back to applicants for revision, one committee member pointed out

McCune said the quality of applications has declined in the two years since the city moved to the online system.

“I just feel sad that our standards have lowered,” McCune said. “I feel like our standards have lowered in the past two years.”

In other action, the committee voted 5-1 to recommend a separate property, at 73411 Bercera Way, for landmark designation, a 1957-58 desert modern residence built by Roberts Construction Company.