(A) If the Commission receives an application for work that will adversely affect the exterior of a resource that the Commission considers valuable to the city, state or nation, and the Commission determines that the alteration or loss of that resource will adversely affect the purpose of the this chapter, the Commission shall attempt to establish with the owner of the resource an economically feasible plan for preservation of the resource.
(B) Work, including moving or demolition of a historic resource located in 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 conditions:
(1) The resource constitutes a hazard to the safety of the public or the occupants of the structure and if, in the opinion of the Commission, demolition is the only reasonable way to improve or correct this condition.
(2) The resource is a deterrent to a major improvement program that will be of substantial benefit to the community and which outweighs the benefit to the public interest and the general welfare of the citizens of the city derived from the historic, architectural, or contextual significance of the structure.
(3) Retention of the resource would cause undue financial hardship to the owner, provided that any hardship or difficulty claimed by the owner is not self-created or is not the result of a failure to maintain the property in good repair which itself is not the result of financial hardship of the owner. All feasible alternatives to eliminate the financial hardship should have been attempted and exhausted, 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.
(4) Retention of the structure would not be in the interest of the community.
(C) If the Commission receives an application for demolition of a historic resource, the Commission may, because of the complexity of the issues involved and the potential for irretrievable loss to the city occasioned by the demolition of a historic resource, delay a determination on the application for a period of up to 60 days, during which time it may hold a public hearing to gauge public sentiment and interest or work with the applicant to find a method to save or preserve the historic resource.
(Ord. passed 3-27-2000; Am. Ord. 080324-1, passed 3-24-2008)