(A) Creation of Historic District Commission. In order to execute the purposes declared in this subchapter, there is hereby created a commission to be called the Saginaw Historic District Commission.
(B) Membership of Commission. The Historic District Commission shall consist of seven members who reside in the city. Members shall be appointed by the City Council for terms of office of three years, except that the initial appointments of some of the members shall be for less than three years so that the initial appointments are staggered and that subsequent appointments do not recur at the same time. Subsequent members shall be appointed for terms of three years as terms expire. Members of the Historic District Commission may be re-appointed after their terms expire. The terms of office of the members shall begin as of the effective date of Ord. D-1914 (March 7, 2002).
(C) Membership eligibility.
(1) A majority of the members shall have a clear and demonstrated interest in or knowledge of historic preservation.
(2) All members must have their principal place of residence within the city; removal from the city causes the member's seat to become vacant. One or more duly organized historic preservation organizations within the city shall be requested to submit a list of citizens' names as nominees for any vacancy; at least two members of the Historic District Commission shall be appointed from these nominations. At least one member of the Historic District Commission shall be a graduate of an accredited school of architecture who has two years of architectural experience or who is an architect registered in the state, if such person resides in the city and is available for appointment.
(3) A vacancy occurring in the membership of the Historic District Commission for any cause shall be filled within 60 calendar days by a person appointed by the City Council for the unexpired or new term.
(4) The members of the Historic District Commission shall serve without compensation.
(D) Duties and powers of the Historic District Commission.
(1) The Historic District Commission shall have the authority to review all work affecting the exterior appearance of a resource in a historic district and shall not consider interior arrangements, nor shall it deny applications except in regard to considerations as set forth in § 153.539.
(2) If an application is for work that will adversely affect the exterior of a resource the Commission considers valuable to local unit, state, or nation, and the Commission determines that the alteration or loss of that resource will adversely affect the public purpose of the local unit, state, or nation, the Commission shall attempt to establish with the owner of the resource an economically feasible plan for preservation of the resource.
(3) Work within a historic district shall be permitted through the issuance of a notice to proceed if any of the following conditions prevail and if the proposed work can be demonstrated by finding of the Commission to be necessary to substantially improve or correct any of the following conditions:
(a) The resource constitutes a hazard to the safety of the public or to the structure's occupants;
(b) The resource is a deterrent to a major improvement program that 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;
(c) Retaining the resource will cause undue financial hardship to the owner when a governmental action, 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; and
(d) Retaining the resource is not in the interest of the majority of the community.
(4) The Historic District Commission shall have the following powers and duties in regard to the identification of historic resources:
(a) To establish basic standards for the selection of sites, buildings, structures, and districts to be placed on the list of potential historic districts;
(b) To compile and maintain a current list of potential landmarks and districts, such list to include a description setting forth the general characteristics and location thereof, and the reasons for its inclusion in the list.
(E) Rules of the Historic District Commission.
(1) The Historic District Commission shall elect from its membership a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson whose terms of office shall be fixed by the Commission. The Chairperson shall preside over the Commission and shall have the right to vote. The Vice Chairperson shall, in the case of the absence or disability of the Chairperson, perform the duties of the Chairperson.
(2) The Associate Planner, or his or her designee, shall be Secretary. The Secretary shall keep a record of all resolutions, proceedings, and actions of the Historic District Commission and report periodically to the City Council.
(3) A quorum will consist of four members. The Historic District Commission shall adopt rules for the transaction of its business which shall provide for the time and place of holding regular meetings. They shall provide for the calling of special meetings by the Chairperson or by at least two members of the Historic District Commission. All meetings of the Historic District Commission shall be open to the public and any person or his or her duly constituted representative shall be entitled to appear and be heard on any matter before it reaches its decision.
(4) The Historic District Commission shall keep a record, which shall be open to public view, of its resolutions, proceedings, and actions. The concurring affirmative vote of a majority of members shall constitute approval of plans before it for review or for the adoption of any resolution, motion, or other action of the Historic District Commission.
(5) The Historic District Commission shall promulgate regulations, guidelines, and standards to enable the Commission and applicants to evaluate proposals. The Commission may delegate the issuance of certificates of appropriateness for specified minor classes of work to the Chief Inspector. The Commission shall provide to the Chief Inspector specific written standards for issuing certificates of appropriateness under this division. The Commission shall review the certificates of appropriateness issued by the Chief Inspector on at least a quarterly basis to determine whether or not the delegated responsibilities should be continued.
(6) The Historic District Commission shall submit an annual report to the Council of the general activities of the Historic District Commission for the preceding year and shall submit such special reports as requested by the City Council.
(Prior Code, § 153.573) (Ord. D-1418, § 2504, passed 11-22-1982, effective 1-21-1983; Ord. D-1679, passed 11-9-1992, effective 11-19-1992; Ord. D-1852, passed 1-24-2000, effective 2-3-2000; Ord. D-1914, passed 2-25-2002, effective 3-7-2002; Ord. O-10, passed 8-11-2003, effective 8-21-2003; Ord. O-144, passed 4-15-2013, effective 4-25-2013; Ord. O-242, passed 12-20-2021, effective 12-30-2021; Ord. O-248, passed 5-9-2022, effective 5-19-2022)