For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
ADDITION: Any expansion or increase in floor area or height of a building or structure.
ALTERATION: Any physical modification or change to a building, structure, site, or object that may have an effect on character defining features of a property. Alterations shall also include construction of additions or entirely new buildings and/or structures, but shall not include ordinary maintenance and repair.
ARCHITECT: A person who is licensed as an architect in any competent jurisdiction, or who has received formal training as an architect from an accredited educational institution, or who has otherwise demonstrated professional skill in the design and planning of buildings. The term "architect" shall include any partnership, architectural firm, or other professional group comprised of such persons.
BUILDING: A structure that is created principally to house any form of human activity, such as a house, barn, church, hotel, or similar construction, including accessory structures, such as guesthouses, detached garages, and sheds. "Building" may also be used to refer to a historically and functionally related unit, such as a courthouse and jail, or a house and barn.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA): Collectively, Public Resources Code section 21000 et seq., and the State of California CEQA guidelines, 14 California Code of Regulations 15000 et seq., as amended from time to time.
CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS: A certificate issued to approve alteration, restoration, construction, removal, relocation in whole or in part, or demolition of a designated landmark or property within a historic district.
CERTIFICATE OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP: A certificate authorizing work described in an accompanying certificate of appropriateness because of a finding of economic hardship pursuant to this article.
CERTIFICATE OF INELIGIBILITY: A certificate establishing that a property is not an eligible property and therefore is exempt from the provisions of this article.
CHARACTER DEFINING FEATURE: A prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, detail, or characteristic of a property that contributes significantly to its physical character and historical significance. Such features may include, but are not limited to, building shape, massing, projections (e.g., porches, balconies, and bay windows), openings (e.g., doors, windows, and arches), distinguishing aspects, roof attributes, architectural details, materials, moldings, sculptures, fountains, light fixtures, landscaping, and monuments.
CITY OF BEVERLY HILLS REGISTER OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES: A register containing those properties and geographical areas formally designated by the city council as landmarks or historic districts pursuant to this article. The register shall also include contributing properties within historic districts. The most recent version of the register shall be published on the city's official website, and a copy of it shall be available for review in the city clerk's office.
COMMISSION: The cultural heritage commission as defined in section 10-3-3207 of this chapter.
CONTRIBUTING PROPERTY: A property, including all buildings, structures, objects, and character defining features located on it, that adds or contributes to the significance of a historic district and satisfies all of the requirements for designation under this article.
DEMOLITION OR DEMOLISH: Any act or process that destroys a property in part or in whole such that the historic character and character defining features of the property are completely removed and cannot be repaired or replaced. The terms "demolition" or "demolish" shall include, but are not limited to, the act of pulling down, destroying, removing, or razing a property, or commencing work thereof with the intent of completing the same.
DIRECTOR: The city's director of community development.
ECONOMIC HARDSHIP: The inability of a property owner to make a fair beneficial use of the property or derive a fair economic return from the property in its current form, as set forth in this article.
ELIGIBLE PROPERTY: A property for which there is prima facie evidence to support a finding that all of the applicable requirements for designation as a landmark under this article can be met.
EXCEPTIONAL WORK: A remarkably superior example of architectural work that has been recognized as such by members of the architectural community. At a minimum, the work's exceptional quality shall have been documented by at least one of the following: a) it was the subject of a major architectural award; b) it was substantively discussed (i.e., not just mentioned) and photographically depicted in a monograph on a master architect's career; or c) it was substantively discussed or photographically depicted in at least two (2) publications (e.g., a book, treatise, trade magazine article, film, or set of photographs made available to the public by an institutional archive) authored by acknowledged experts in the field of architecture. A monograph or publication made available to the public solely in electronic form and without any reasonable expectation of compensation to the author, or substantially authored by the architect of the work, shall not count toward this minimum.
HISTORIC ASSESSMENT REPORT: A comprehensive report prepared by a qualified historic preservation consultant that assesses whether or not a specific property or geographical area, as the case may be, satisfies all of the requirements for designation as a landmark or historic district. The report shall include not only the requisite findings, but also all known facts and circumstances that either support or possibly refute those findings.
HISTORIC DISTRICT OR DISTRICT: A geographic area having a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, objects, or character defining features united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development that has been designated pursuant to this article and is listed on the local register.
HISTORIC PROPERTY: A property that has been designated as a landmark or contributing property pursuant to this article and is listed on the local register.
ICONIC PROPERTY: A property that has been visited and photographed so often by residents and visitors to the city that it has become inextricably associated with Beverly Hills in the popular culture and forms part of the city's identity to the world at large.
INTEGRITY: The ability of a property to convey its historical significance through its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, relevant association, and character defining features.
INVENTORY OF ELIGIBLE PROPERTIES: A list maintained by the city that contains all properties surveyed for historical or architectural significance and determined by the commission to be eligible properties. In creating and maintaining the inventory, surveys of individual properties or of several properties may be conducted, and any information obtained thereby shall be compiled in accordance with professional standards. The most recent version of the inventory shall be published on the city's official website, and a copy of it shall be available for review in the city clerk's office.
LANDMARK: Any property, including any building, structure, object, place, landscaping, or natural feature located on it that has been designated as a landmark pursuant to this article and is listed on the local register. In addition, any interior space or spaces of a landmark that is or was regularly open or accessible to the general public, or to which the public is or was regularly invited, including, but not limited to, a lobby area, restaurant areas, theaters and banks, may be included in the property's landmark designation.
LIST OF LOCAL MASTER ARCHITECTS: A list maintained by the city that includes master architects as defined in this article who have designed properties in the city. The most recent version of the list shall be published on the city's official website, and a copy of it shall be available for review in the city clerk's office.
LOCAL INVENTORY: The inventory of eligible properties.
LOCAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES OR LOCAL REGISTER: The city of Beverly Hills register of historic properties.
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR: See definition of Ordinary Maintenance And Repair.
MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL AWARD: An award given annually by an authoritative body in the field of architecture, and voted on by a jury comprised mainly of distinguished architects, for excellence in the design of a building or for a lifetime of architectural achievement.
MASTER ARCHITECT: An architect of widely recognized greatness in the field of architecture whose individual genius influenced his or her age.
MILLS ACT: The California Government Code section 50280 et seq., as amended from time to time.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES: The official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, and/or culture which is maintained by the secretary of the interior under the authority of the historic sites act of 1935, and the national historic preservation act of 1966, as amended (16 USC 470 et seq., 36 CFR sections 60, 63).
NATURAL FEATURE: Any naturally occurring tree, plant, plant community, or geographical or geological site or feature.
NOMINATED PROPERTY: A property that has been nominated by the commission for listing on the local register as a landmark or a contributing property.
NONCONTRIBUTING PROPERTY: A property within a designated historic district that is not a contributing property.
OBJECT: The term "object" is used to distinguish from buildings and structures those constructs that are primarily artistic in nature or are relatively small in scale and of simple construction. Although it may be, by nature or design, movable, an object is associated with a specific setting or environment. Fountains and sculpture are examples of objects.
ORDINARY MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR: Any work that meets the criteria established in subsection 10-3-3219B of this chapter.
OWNER: Any person(s), association, partnership, firm, corporation, or public entity identified as the holder of title on any property. For purposes of this article, the term owner shall also refer to an appointed representative of an association, partnership, firm, corporation, or public entity which is a recorded owner. Absent contrary evidence, the owner shown on the latest assessment roll of the county of Los Angeles shall be presumed to be the owner.
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE: The span of time that a property or geographic area attained the character defining features that qualify it for designation as a landmark or a historic district.
PERSON OF GREAT IMPORTANCE: A person whose activities had a substantial impact on the history of the nation, which impact can be demonstrated through scholarly research and judgment. At a minimum, a person of great importance is someone whose name and exploits were widely known across America during his/her lifetime, and whose widespread fame continues through to the present day. A person shall not be considered to be of great importance by virtue of his/her position or title, race, gender, ethnicity, or religion.
PERSON OF GREAT LOCAL PROMINENCE: A person whose activities had such a substantial impact on the history of the city of Beverly Hills that a public street or public park in the city was named after him or her.
PRELIMINARY EVALUATION: An evaluation by the director as to whether or not a property that is not on the local inventory is an eligible property.
PRESERVATION: The act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and/or materials of a property.
PROPERTY: The entirety of a site, including the buildings, structures, landscaping, objects, and other physical aspects of the location.
PROPERTY OF EXTRAORDINARY SIGNIFICANCE: A property having truly extraordinary significance in the field of architecture under applicable evaluation criteria and context as defined in: "Criteria Consideration G: Properties That Have Achieved Significance Within The Last Fifty Years" in the "National Register Bulletin: How To Apply The National Register Criteria For Evaluation".
PROPERTY WITHIN A HISTORIC DISTRICT: Refers to both contributing properties and noncontributing properties in a historic district.
QUALIFIED HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONSULTANT: A consultant that meets the secretary of the interior's professional qualifications standards, as defined in 36 CFR 61, or its successor.
RECONSTRUCTION: The act or process of reproducing by new construction the exact form and detail of a building, structure, object, landscaping, or a part thereof, as it appeared at a specified period of time prior to alteration or demolition.
REHABILITATION: Any act or process of making a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or character defining features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.
RELOCATION: The act or process of moving all or part of a property from one site to another site, or to a different location on the same site.
RESTORATION: The act or process of accurately refurbishing the form and details of a property and its setting as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of later work or by the replacement of missing earlier work.
SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR'S STANDARDS: The "Secretary Of The Interior's Standards For The Treatment Of Historic Properties With Guidelines For Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, And Reconstructing Historic Buildings" found at 36 CFR 68.3, as amended from time to time.
STABILIZATION: The act or process of applying measures designed to reestablish a weather resistant enclosure or the structural stability of an unsafe or deteriorated property while maintaining the essential form as it exists at present.
STATE HISTORICAL BUILDING CODE: Part 2.7 of the California Health And Safety Code, commencing with section 18950, and the regulations promulgated thereunder, as amended from time to time.
STRUCTURE: The term "structure" includes both buildings and other functional constructions made for purposes other than housing human activity, such as reservoirs and retaining walls.
SUBSTANTIAL INTEGRITY: Integrity that is considerable in importance, value, degree, amount, or extent, and that continues to exist, or would have continued to exist, but for work done without appropriate permits after the enactment of this article.
SURVEY: A systematic and standardized process for identifying and gathering data on the city's potential historic properties which can be used to determine whether any specific property is an eligible property that may be listed on the local inventory. A director's preliminary evaluation of a property may also qualify as a survey for the purposes of this article. Surveys may be conducted by or on behalf of the city, or by a qualified historic preservation consultant for a property owner; but in the latter case, the director shall have the discretion to approve or disapprove the adequacy of the survey results for the purposes of this article. (Ord. 15-O-2682, eff. 11-19-2015; amd. Ord. 16-O-2700, eff. 4-1-2016)