In considering the appropriateness of any proposed environmental change, including landscaping or exterior signage, the Design Review Board shall consider the following:
(a) The visual and functional components of the building and its site, including but not limited to, building height, massing and proportion, roof shape and slope, landscape design and plant materials, lighting, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, and signage.
(b) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a historic building, structure, site and/or its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural or environmental features should be avoided when possible.
(c) 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 inconsistent or inappropriate to the original integrity of the building shall be discouraged.
(d) Whereas 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, if these changes are deemed to have acquired significance, then this significance shall be recognized and respected.
(e) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure or site shall be treated with sensitivity.
(f) Significant architectural features which have deteriorated 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 placement of architectural features should be based on accurate duplication of the feature, and if possible, substantiated by historic, physical or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or availability of different architectural elements from other buildings or structures.
(g) The surface cleaning of masonry structures shall be undertaken with methods designed to minimize damage to historic building materials. Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials should be avoided.
(h) 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 material, and such design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the property, neighborhood or environment.
(i) Wherever 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 original structure would be unimpaired. Additions to the least significant and least visible of historic properties should be given priority over other designs. (Ord. 2000-14. Passed 7-24-00.)