In considering an application for a certificate of appropriateness, the Historic Preservation Board shall apply the design guidelines approved by the City Commission and, where applicable, by the United States Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings. The Design Guidelines and the Secretary of Interior’s Standards shall be made available to the property owners of historic landmarks and property owners within the historic districts.
(A) Every reasonable effort shall be made to adapt the property in a manner which requires minimal alteration of the building, structure, object, or site and its environment.
(B) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a building, structure, object or site and its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural features should be avoided when possible.
(C) All buildings, structures, objects 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 shall be discouraged.
(D) Changes which may have taken place in the course of time are evidence of the history and development of a building, structure, object or site and its environment. These changes may have acquired significance in their own rights, and this significance shall be recognized and respected.
(E) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure, object or site shall be kept where possible.
(F) Deteriorated architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced, wherever possible. In the event replacement is necessary, the new materials should reflect the material being replaced in composition, design, color, texture and other visual qualities. Repair or replacement of missing architectural features should be based on accurate duplications of features, substantiated by historical, physical or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different architectural elements from other buildings or structures.
(G) The surface cleaning of structures shall be undertaken with the gentlest means possible. Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials shall not be undertaken.
(H) Every reasonable effort shall be made to protect and preserve archeological resources affected by, or adjacent to, any project.
(I) Contemporary design for alterations and additions to existing properties shall not be discouraged when alterations and additions do not destroy significant historical, architectural or cultural material, and design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the property, neighborhood or environment.
(J) Wherever possible, new additions or alterations to buildings, structures, objects or sites shall be done in a manner that if the additions or alterations were to be removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the building, structure, object or site would be unimpaired.
(Ord. 618, passed 8-28-2001)