The Commission shall have the following powers and duties:
(A) To adopt its own procedural regulations;
(B) To conduct an ongoing survey to identify historically and/or architecturally significant properties, structures, and areas;
(C) To recommend to the City Council the designation of properties or structures having special historic, community, or architectural value as landmarks;
(D) To designate by ordinance areas and neighborhoods having special historic, community, or architectural value as historic districts;
(E) To keep a register of all properties and structures that have been designated as landmarks or historic districts, including all information required for each designation;
(F) To determine and promulgate an appropriate system of signs and markers for all landmarks and historic districts, and to determine and promulgate the design and implementation of specific signs and markers of streets and routes leading to designated landmarks and historic districts;
(G) To advise owners of landmarks and property or structures within historic districts on physical and financial aspects of preservation, renovation, rehabilitation, and reuse, and on procedures for including it on the National Register of Historic Places;
(H) To inform and educate the citizens of the city concerning the historic and architectural heritage of the city by publishing and holding programs and seminars;
(I) To hold public hearings and to review applications for construction, alteration, removal, or demolition effecting proposed or designated landmarks or structures of historic districts and issue or deny certificates of appropriateness or certificates of hardship for those actions. Applicants shall be required to submit plans, drawings, elevations, and specifications with their applications;
(J) To develop specific guidelines for the alteration, demolition, construction, or removal of landmarks or property and structures within historic districts;
(K) To review proposed zoning amendments, applications for special use permits or variances that affect proposed or designated landmarks and historic districts. This review shall be made prior to the date of the hearing by the Planning and Zoning Board;
(L) To administer on behalf of the city any property of full or partial interest in real property, including a conservation right as that term is used in the Illinois Compiled Statutes, which the city may have or accept as a gift or otherwise, upon designation or authorization by the City Council;
(M) To accept and administer on behalf of the city, upon designation and authorization of the City Council, any gifts, grants, and money as may be appropriate for the purposes of this subchapter;
(N) To call upon available city employees, as well as other experts, for technical or other advice;
(O) To testify before all boards and commissions, including the Planning and Zoning Board, on any matter affecting historically and architecturally significant properties and landmarks; and
(P) To review periodically the city zoning ordinance and to recommend to the City Council any amendments appropriate for the protection and continued use of landmarks or property and structures within Historic Districts.
(Am. Ord. 2013-67, passed 12-9-2013; Am. Ord. 2014-36, passed 9-8-2014)