Fresno allows ‘demolition by neglect’ of historic gem — city’s unique adobe house | Opinion
Preservationists have a term for what’s happening to one of Fresno’s most unique and architecturally significant buildings: demolition by neglect.
That is when a historic property is willfully and intentionally allowed to deteriorate by its owner, to the point where the structure is beyond repair and must be knocked down.
You’d have to look hard to find a more blatant example than the Jose Garcia Adobe, Fresno’s last remaining adobe house constructed using traditional brick and hardpan techniques. The historically listed structure is being left to rot near Shaw Avenue west of Highway 99 despite a 19-month-old compromise between the city and the developer of a luxury townhouse community to preserve two of its walls.
Members of the Fresno Historic Preservation Commission received an update about the Garcia Adobe from city staff during Monday’s meeting, and the news isn’t good. The chain-link “security fence” that used to surround the house is gone, and the plastic protective tarp shredded, leaving the adobe exposed to the elements (and any passersby) as winter approaches.
Furthermore, Eric Frampton, the planning department’s engineering manager, found evidence that the removal of a wooden carport compromised the structural integrity of at least one wall where water damage has since occurred.
“It’s imperative that the roof and walls be protected as soon as possible,” Frampton said after describing the safety risk.
Commission members were understandably frustrated with the latest development. And after devoting two prior columns to the sad demise of this historic home, occupied until late 2009, so too am I.
Multiple times since 2020, Mazen Al-Hindi, the owner/developer of Casa di Fortuna townhomes, has agreed to provisions and mitigation measures designed to protect the Garcia Adobe from further deterioration.
And multiple times, as brought up by commissioners during Monday’s meeting, he reneged on those promises.
Vice chair James Sponsler asked city staff what recourse can be taken against developers that violate minimum maintenance standards for historic structures.
“They’re not following the agreement that was made to this body that they need to mothball (the house),” Sponsler said. “To me, it looks like they’re waiting for it to melt back into the ground so they can go, ‘Oops, there’s nothing left.’ ”
That way, construction crews can demolish the Garcia Adobe and be done for it once and for all. Just as Al-Hindi originally requested, in 2019, before agreeing to a series of compromises and mitigation measures that were soon violated or ignored.
Photos taken last December show the house protected from the elements, indicating the damage to the tarps likely occurred during the intense rain and wind over last winter and spring.
Planning director questioned
Commissioner Don Simmons questioned Jennifer Clark, the city’s planning director, about how the commission can be better and more regularly informed about the condition of “at risk” historic buildings.
“Degradation doesn’t happen overnight,” said Simmons, noting that the commission has been discussing the Garcia Adobe since 2008, when the house was in far better condition.
“That doesn’t seem to me like someone’s on top of this and that we kind of accidentally find out these things are falling apart. How does that change going forward?”
There’s no easy answer to that question, but first let’s start with the good news.
Since Karana Hattersley-Drayton’s retirement in 2016, Fresno has shuffled through historic preservation specialists. The latest is Lisha Chen, who joined city staff in September following Alicia Gonzales’ departure in July 2022. Chen holds a doctorate in historic preservation from the University of Florida and has worked on projects in nationally historic communities including St. Augustine, Florida, and Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Also, somewhat relatedly, commission members discussed a historic property disclosure ordinance that could appear on a future city council agenda.
“It’s basically a letter that goes out to somebody who closes escrow on a historic building,” Sponsler said in a subsequent interview. “We want people to be aware of what they’ve gotten themselves into.”
While those steps should help, the only real solution for what is occurring to one of Fresno’s most unique and historic homes is a specific set of rules in the city’s Municipal Code that defines and penalizes demolition by neglect.
“We don’t have a demolition-by-neglect statute,” Sponsler said. “We don’t have a tool in the toolbox that says, ‘OK, since you didn’t fix the building like you said you would, so we’re going to go in, fix it ourselves and send you the bill.’ ”
Until Fresno fashions itself such a tool, historic treasures like the Garcia Adobe will continue to be in the hands of people who willfully allow them to deteriorate.
