The Nixon Library site, including private residences that haven't yet been purchased by the city, were named historical landmarks site at a May 25 Planning Commission meeting.

The action lays the groundwork for donating the land to the Richard M. Nixon Archives Foundation.

Land from the horse trail in back of the former president's birthplace west to Eureka Avenue is now historic, including the home of Edith Eichler, a friend of Nixon's mother who has told the city she isn't ready to leave her home or sell it.

Making the 12-acre plat a landmark allows the city to upgrade Eichler's property “if indeed we get the opportunity to upgrade her home,” said assistant city planner Corrie Kates.

In related business, the city also has postponed until August its demolition date for buildings the Yorba Linda School District will leave standing in the former Richard M. Nixon Elementary School.

The district plans to move most of the buildings to Mabel Paine Elementary School, but the district was having problems relocating by July 1 those buildings used by its children's center.

On Monday, the school board authorized the advertisement of bids for the transfer of three buildings from the Nixon School site to Mabel Paine Elementary School.

District officials hope to open the children's center at its new location by Aug. 26, said Superintendent Mary Ellen Blanton.