What is happening?

​​

The San Mateo Heritage Alliance, founded by Mike Nash (husband of current San Mateo City Mayor, Lisa Diaz-Nash) and Laurie Hietter in 2022, nominated 444 San Mateo Homes to be federally registered historic resources without the owners' awareness nor consent.

​​

They used 501(c)(4) donations to the Baywood Neighborhood Association to pay for historic architects and lawyers on this effort and have not accounted for the amounts spent to donors who have requested the information.

​

The strong majority of owners object to being put into a historic district and especially to the undemocratic historic districting process which counts a 'no response' = 'FOR the historic district'. Many of the very elderly owners are not in a position to respond. 

​

The nomination was made in November 2023. The State Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) gave feedback on the report in April 2024. A group of concerned community members hired another historical architect which found several major issues with the nomination which disqualify the affected homes from being a historic district. That rebuttal was provided to the OHP on Aug 15.

​​​

Why aren't the 444 Baywood Homes a Historic District?

​

Criteria used in the nomination to justify that these 444 Homes are a 'historic district' included:​

- Baywood was a "street car suburb" from 1927-1949.

- Baywood is "architecturally significant" at the national level.

These claims have been proven to be incorrect.

​

The nomination also has numerous errors. Many houses listed  as 'contributors' to the historic district, had actually been significantly remodeled before the nomination was submitted to the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP). This calls into question not only the quality of the work by Page & Turnbull, the firm hired by the SMHA, but the underlying motivation of the nomination.

​​

Additionally, the district boundaries do not logically justify themselves.

​

What happens next?

​​

The OHP will need to address the rebuttal. And the SMHA will need to address the primary case for the historic district and errors in their nomination. ​

​​​

How can I get a copy of the reports?

 

2023-11 SMHA Nomination

2024-04 OHP Feedback

2024-08 Rebuttal to the Nomination

​

​

​​