(A) Under Public Act 169 of 1970, being M.C.L.A. §§ 399.201 through 399.215, as amended, the Village Council shall appoint a Historic District Study Committee to start the process of designating a historic district. The Committee shall make recommendations concerning the area to be included in the proposed historic district. The Committee shall contain a majority of persons who have a clearly demonstrated interest in or knowledge of historic preservation. It shall contain representation from one or more duly organized local historic preservation organizations. The Committee shall do all of the following:
(1) Conduct a photographic inventory of resources within each proposed historic district following procedures established or approved by the Center;
(2) Conduct basic research on each proposed historic district and the historic resources located within that district;
(3) (a) Determine the total number of historic and non-historic resources within a proposed historic district and the percentage of historic resources of that total. In evaluating the significance of historic resources, the Committee shall be guided by the selection criteria for evaluation issued by the United States Secretary of the Interior for inclusion of resources in the National Register of Historic Places, as follow.
(b) The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and:
1. Are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history;
2. Are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past;
3. Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
4. Have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
(c) The Committee shall also be guided by criteria established or approved by the State Historic Preservation Office, if any.
(4) Prepare a preliminary Historic District Study Committee report that addresses at a minimum all of the following:
(a) The charge of the Committee;
(b) The composition of the Committee membership;
(c) The historic district or districts studied;
(d) The boundaries for each proposed district in writing and on maps;
(e) The history of each proposed historic district; and
(f) The significance of each district as a whole, as well as a sufficient number of its individual resources to fully represent the variety of resources found within the district, relative to the evaluation criteria.
(5) Transmit copies of the preliminary report for review and recommendations to the Village Planning Commission, to the Center, to the State Historical Commission and to the State Historic Preservation Review Board; and
(6) Make copies of the preliminary report available to the public pursuant to division (E) below.
(B) Not less than 60 calendar days after the transmittal, the Committee shall hold a public hearing on its report and recommendations after giving due notice in the manner required by Public Act 267 of 1976, being M.C.L.A. §§ 15.261 through 15.275, as amended. Additional written notice shall be given by first-class mail not less than 14 calendar days before the hearing to the owners of properties to be included in the historic district. Written notice shall be considered sufficient when it is mailed to the person listed on the tax rolls of the village.
(C) After the public hearing, the Committee and the Village Council shall have not more than one year to take the following actions.
(1) The Committee shall prepare and submit to the Village Council a final report with its recommendations and the recommendations, if any, of the Village Planning Commission. If the recommendation is to establish a historic district or districts, the final report shall include a draft of a proposed ordinance or ordinances.
(2) After receiving a final report that recommends the establishment of a historic district or districts, the Village Council, at its discretion, may introduce and pass or modify and pass or reject an ordinance or ordinances. If the Council passes an ordinance or ordinances establishing one or more historic districts, the Council shall file with the Register of Deeds a copy of that ordinance or those ordinances, including a legal description of the property or properties within the historic district or districts, so that the designation of each property within the district or districts will be recorded in the land records of the county. Notice shall also be given to the State Departments of Transportation and Environmental Quality.
(D) The Council shall not pass an ordinance establishing a contiguous historic district less than 60 days after a majority of the property owners within the proposed historic district, as listed on the tax rolls of the village, have approved the establishment of the historic district pursuant to a written petition.
(E) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by the Committee in the performance of an official function shall be made available to the public in compliance with state law.
(F) (1) Additional historic districts may be designated, and the designation of an existing historic district may be amended or rescinded through the same procedures used for the original designation. Previously written Committee reports shall be considered.
(2) To eliminate a historic district a Committee shall show one or more of the following:
(a) The historic district has lost those physical characteristics that enabled establishment of the district;
(b) The historic district was not significant in the way previously defined; and/or
(c) The historic district was established pursuant to defective procedures.
(Ord. 140, passed 1-15-2002; Ord. 140, passed 6-27-2013)