(a) The Design Review Board shall annually select one of its members to serve as chairperson and one as vice chairperson. The Mayor shall provide such staff assistance as is necessary and available. All municipal departments and agencies shall cooperate in expediting the work of the Design Review Board.
(b) The Design Review Board shall adopt rules and regulations, consistent with this Chapter, governing its procedures and transactions, which shall be subject to approval by Council. The Design Review Board shall meet as required to carry out the review of applications for Certificates of Appropriateness, and such other related work as may be accepted through request of Council or undertaken on its own motion. Meetings shall be held at least once each month when there are applications to be considered and not less than once every three months. Special meetings may be held at the call of the chairperson of the Design Review Board.
(c) The Design Review Board shall review any proposed new construction and alterations to property within the boundaries of any Preservation District. The Design Review Board's approval of such new construction or alteration must be secured before any owner of property may commence work thereon. In reviewing proposed alterations to property, the Design Review Board shall at a minimum use as evaluative criteria, the ten federal standards established by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior as follows:
(1) Every reasonable effort shall be made to provide a compatible use for a property which requires minimal alteration of the building, structure, or site and its environment, or to use a property for its originally intended purpose.
(2) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a building, structure, or site and its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural features should be avoided when possible.
(3) All buildings, structures, and sites shall be recognized as products of their own time. Alterations that have no historical basis and which seek to create an earlier appearance shall be discouraged.
(4) Changes which may have taken place in the course of time are evidence of the history and development of a building, structure, or site and its environment. These changes that may have acquired significance shall be recognized and respected.
(5) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure, or site shall be treated with sensitivity.
(6) Deteriorated architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced, wherever possible. In the event replacement is necessary, the new material should match the material being replaced in composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities. Repair or replacement of missing architectural features should be based on accurate duplications of features substantiated by historic, physical, or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different elements from other buildings or structures.
(7) The surface cleaning of structures shall be undertaken with the gentlest means possible. Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials shall not be undertaken.
(8) Every reasonable effort shall be made to protect and preserve archaeological resources affected by, or adjacent to, any project.
(9) Contemporary design for alterations and additions to existing properties shall not be discouraged when such alterations and additions do not destroy significant historical, architectural, or cultural materials, and such design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the property, neighborhood, or environment.
(10) Whenever possible, new additions or alterations to structures shall be done in such a manner that if such additions or alterations were to be removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the structure would be unimpaired.
The Design Review Board may amend and/or impose more refined design review criteria with Council approval based on the Preservation District's predominant architecture, historical significance, and its cultural/archaeological attributes.
(Ord. 01-34. Passed 4-9-01.)