Irene Smith

Running for:

City Council District 3

Campaign Website:

1) The severely neglected state of Willis Polk's 1905 First Church of Christ, Scientist across from St. James Park has vexed residents and City officials for years. As D3 Councilmember, what actions would you take to hold current owner Z&L Properties accountable for their neglect? What actions would you take to facilitate its urgently-needed rehabilitation? Do you have a vision for the adaptive reuse of the structure?

SJC needs to have a concise step by step process with a timeline to enforce code violations so that all parties know what to expect when.
After multiple fines and multiple years the Church should go through receivership.
The parking lot can be used for Hillbrook parking and farmers market on the weekends. And eventually have the building taken by private ownership to showcase its history. This can be a revenue generator and an activation site for the arts or incubator for a future industry for the city's economic engine using new tech trained graduates from SJSU. I would prefer this not to be used for housing which would impact potential structural changes and integrity.

2) Are there other properties on PAC*SJ’s 2022, 2023, and 2024 “Endangered Eight” lists, or any other culturally important sites, whether in District 3 or beyond, that you would use your power of elected office to help address, and how?

I will focus on the structures in D3. here is not much left of the Lawerence Hotel but at least the facade can be preserved. This is ground zero for Westbank and we should challenge developers to look at how other great city use their historic areas to draw in tourists.

3) In the past five years alone, at least ten vacant historic buildings in San José have been lost to fire. Often, these properties are left vacant after tenants are displaced in anticipation of future development that may never materialize. Would you support entitlement conditions that hold property owners accountable, such as: ensuring sites are occupied and actively used by residents or businesses, rather than sitting vacant; providing effective physical and electronic site security and monitoring if occupancy is not feasible; providing surety bonds to ensure payment of fines for code violations or loss of historic structures; and allowing PRNS to designate appropriate City parklands as receiver sites for historic buildings suitable for relocation?

Long term vacant properties need to meet code enforcement conditions. When an owner proposes project to knock the building down the owner must protect the property until the project has been completed. If there are violations during the projects timeline and owner gets to the fine limit then the city can draw on the bond to pay for fines, services for security, and clean up. Developer and owner would need to be well defined as to size, commercial zoning, and other perameters. I would want to see how this impacts development and would not want to see another process that slows down development but to eradicate blight from the beginning I would like to do a year to five year pilot to test the impact on future devlopment.

4) In 2022 California passed SB9, which allows by-right redevelopment of up to four new units on most R1 (single-family-zoned) parcels statewide, but exempted historic properties, historic districts, and R2 (duplex-zoned) neighborhoods from eligibility. In 2025, City Council will consider expanding SB9-type entitlements to include historic properties and R2 districts. Do you believe this type of development can be appropriate for historic homes and older neighborhoods? If yes, how, and if no, why not?

I focus on local control and SB9/10/35 took local control away.

5) What role do you believe that historic places should play in building a vibrant and culturally diverse future for District 3 and San José? Is there a particular project or effort you have undertaken or would propose to undertake, either professionally or personally, that best embodies your vision for sustaining these places in San José?

I look to Chicago as a shining example for how to integrate historic buildings with new and striking architecture. SJ has do the same and use our historic buildings as part of our charm and a source of attraction to SJ.