(a) Filing of Application.
(1) Application for a building permit to construct, alter, repair, move, add to, excavate or demolish any resource in a Historic District, such as the Franklin Village Historic District, shall be made to the Building Department. The Building Official shall determine whether the property is in a Historic District such as the Franklin Village Historic District. Plans shall be submitted showing the structure in question and also showing its relation to adjacent structures.
(2) Upon the filing of such application, the Building Department shall immediately determine the zoning classification of the parcel, and if it is determined to be located within a residential zoning district and for work on a new or existing residence or a new or existing residential accessory structure, the Building Department shall immediately notify the Historic District Commission of the receipt of such application and shall transmit it together with accompanying plans and other information to the Commission. If the parcel is determined to be within any zoning classification other than residential or for consideration of any kind of request other than work on a new or existing residence or new or existing residential accessory structure, then processing requirements for site plan review, as set forth in Section 1268.30 of the Zoning Code, must be completed and approved prior to review by the Historic District Commission. The Planning Commission may, however, at any time during its review, refer such application to the Historic District Commission for the Historic District Commission's preliminary review. Upon approval of the required site plan in accordance with Section 1268.30 of the Zoning Code, the Building Department shall immediately notify the Historic District Commission of the application and shall transmit the application to the Historic District Commission for its review.
(3) The application shall include the applicant's certification that the property where work will be undertaken has, or will have before the proposed project completion date, a fire alarm system or smoke alarm complying with the requirements of the Stille-Derossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, 1972 PA 230, M.C.L.A. 125.1501 to 125.1531.
(4) The Building Department shall not issue a permit and no proposed work shall proceed until the Commission has acted on the application by issuing a certificate of appropriateness or a notice to proceed.
(b) Action Upon Application.
(1) The Historic District Commission shall meet within 35 days after a complete application has been received by the Building Department, and shall review the plans according to the duties and powers specified in this section and in Section 1230.04. In reviewing the plans the Commission must make every effort to confer with the applicant for the building or demolition permits. No fee shall be charged to process a permit application through the Commission beyond the existing Building Department fees, unless it is necessary for the Historic District Commission to review the application pursuant to Section 1230.10.
(2) The failure of the Historic District Commission to approve or disapprove of such plans within 60 days from the date of a completed application for permit, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by the applicant and the Commission, in writing, shall be deemed to constitute approval, and the Building Department shall proceed to process the application without regard to a certificate of appropriateness.
(c) Approval of Application.
(1) If the Commission approves the application, it shall issue a certificate of appropriateness which is to be signed by the Chairperson, attached to the application for a building permit and immediately transmitted to the Building Department. The Chairperson shall also stamp all prints submitted to the Commission signifying its approval.
(2) After the certificate of appropriateness has been issued and the building permit granted to the applicant, the Building Department shall, from time to time, inspect the work approved by such certificate and shall take such action as is necessary to enforce compliance with the approved plan.
(3) The Commission shall not issue a certificate of appropriateness unless the applicant has provided the fire or smoke alarm certification required by division (a)(3) above.
(4) Period of validity. Approval granted under this section shall be effective for a period of one year. If a building permit has been obtained pursuant to an approval granted under this section, then the effective period for such approval shall be automatically extended to coincide with the expiration of any such building permit. If a building permit issued pursuant to an approval granted under this section is cancelled, terminated or otherwise expires, then any corresponding site plan approval would otherwise have expired, it shall be deemed to have thus expired. Notwithstanding any provision of this division, the Historic District Commission may, on proper application, grant an extension or extensions of any approval granted under this section for good cause shown. No such extension shall be granted unless there is full compliance with all applicable Village of Franklin requirements which may be in effect at the time of the application for extension.
(d) Denial of Application.
(1) If the Commission disapproves of the application, it shall state its reasons for doing so and shall transmit a record of such action and reasons therefor, in writing, to the Building Department and to the applicant. The Commission may advise what it thinks is proper if it disapproves of the application submitted. The applicant, if he or she so desires, may make modifications to his or her application and shall have the right to resubmit the application at any time after so doing.
(2) A denial of a permit application shall be binding on the Building Department, Building Official or any such other relevant authority.
(3) The denial of the plan shall also include a notice to the applicant of his or her rights of appeal to the State Historic Preservation Review Board of the Michigan Historical Commission within the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries and to the Circuit Court.
(e) Ordinary Maintenance and Prior Permit Work. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent ordinary maintenance of a resource within a Historic District, or to prevent work on any resource under a permit issued by the Building Official or another duly delegated authority before this chapter was enacted.
(f) Notice to Proceed. Work within a Historic District shall be permitted through the issuance of a notice to proceed by the Commission, if any of the following conditions prevail and if the proposed work can be demonstrated by a finding of the Commission to be necessary to substantially improve or correct any of the following:
(1) The resource constitutes a hazard to the safety of the public or the occupants of a structure;
(2) The resource is a deterrent to a major improvement program which will be of substantial benefit to the community, and the applicant proposing the work has obtained all necessary planning and zoning approvals, financing and environmental clearances;
(3) Retention of the resource would cause undue financial hardship to the owner when a governmental action, an act of God or other events beyond the owner's control created the hardship, and all feasible alternatives to eliminate the financial hardship, which may include offering the resource for sale at its fair market value or moving the resource to a vacant site within the Historic District, have been attempted and exhausted by the owner; or
(4) Retention of the resource would not be in the interests of the majority of the community.
(Ord. 99-53. Passed 5-10-99; Ord. 2003-01. Passed 4-14-03; Ord. 2010-06. Passed 5-10-10; Ord. 2017-05. Passed 7-10-17.)