The Landmarks Commission shall use the provisions of this section to preserve the exterior character-defining features of individual landmarks; the exterior of individual buildings in landmark historic districts; and exteriors and interior public spaces of city-owned landmarks.
(A) Activities not subject to the provisions of this section.
(1) Alterations to building interiors, exempting those owned by The City of Union.
(2) Application of exterior paint color when color is not specifically noted in Record of Designation.
(3) Alterations to landscape features not specifically identified as historically significant in Record of Designation.
(B) No landmark or exterior landscape or archaeological element noted as significant in the Record of Designation shall be altered, relocated, or demolished, or a new building or structure constructed within the area defined in the Record of Designation without a certificate of appropriateness signed and issued by the Historic Preservation Officer. Certificates must be presented to the Building Official before a building or demolition permit is issued.
(1) An application for a certificate of appropriateness must include a description of the proposed activity, accompanying maps, photographs, drawings, and other documentation. The Historic Preservation Officer may establish additional standards for a complete application, including defining different criteria for a complete application under divisions (C), (D), and (E) of this section.
(2) Upon acceptance of a complete application, the Historic Preservation Officer shall decide within ten days if the proposed work is subject to provisions (C), (D), or (E) of this section.
(3) The Historic Preservation Officer shall prepare a staff report that summarizes the proposed project, notes the criteria specified in this chapter under which the application shall be considered, and make a recommendation to the Commission to approve, approve with conditions, or deny the application for a certificate of appropriateness. Materials that may be used in the preparation of the staff report include the Record of Designation; and/or National Register nomination; and/or other archival photos, maps; and/or other documentary evidence specific to the subject property; and/or observations from on-site inspections from the public-right-of way to document its historic appearance or alteration over time; and/or documents and publications of the National Park Service or Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. Documents that are not available from the city at the time of application for a certificate of appropriateness shall be made available to the applicant at least ten calendar days before a public hearing is held or administrative decision is made.
(4) The Commission shall review and act upon applications for the alteration, relocation, and demolition of a landmark. Applications for the alteration of a landmark may be approved, approved with conditions, or denied. Applications for the relocation or demolition of a landmark may be approved, approved with conditions, or the action delayed for up to one year. The Commission shall develop written findings to support its decisions. The Historic Preservation Officer shall include any conditions imposed by the Commission in the certificate of appropriateness pursuant to this section.
(5) A certificate of appropriateness issued for the alteration of a landmark shall be effective for a period of one year from the date of its issuance. A certificate of appropriateness for alteration may be extended by one year approved by the Historic Preservation Officer. A certificate of appropriateness issued for the relocation or demolition of a historic resource shall be effective for a period of one year. A certificate of appropriateness for relocation or demolition may be extended by one year approved by the Historic Preservation Commission.
(6) A landmark may be altered, relocated, or demolished without a certificate of appropriateness if the Building Official attests in writing that the condition of a Landmark poses a clear and immediate hazard to public safety. The comments of the Building Official with sufficient evidence to support his or her conclusions shall be provided to the Historic Preservation Officer within 15 days of making his or her decision. The Historic Preservation Officer will make these materials available to the Commission at their next regular meeting. The property owner(s) must submit an application for a certificate of appropriateness as required under this chapter within 30 days of the Building Official submitting his or her written statement to the Historic Preservation Officer.
(C) The Historic Preservation Officer may issue a certificate of appropriateness for the alteration of a landmark without a public hearing when the proposed alteration will not significantly change the qualities that merited the listing of the landmark in the Local Landmark Register. A completed certificate of appropriateness must be presented to the Building Official before a permit is issued. The Historic Preservation Officer shall make a list of certificates issued in this manner available to the Commission at each regular meeting. Activities eligible for a certificate of appropriateness issued as described in this provision include the following:
(1) Construction of a fence that meets applicable code;
(2) Demolition of an outbuilding noted as sharing a lot with a landmark and specifically noted as not historically significant in its designation. Pursuant to applicable code; and
(3) New addition to a landmark or new construction not visible from the public right-of-way.
(D) A public hearing before the Commission and a signed certificate of appropriateness shall be required for activities not exempted in divisions (A)(1) through (A)(3) and (C)(1) through (C)(3) of this section.
(1) Prior to submitting an application for a permit pursuant to this section, proponents are encouraged to request a pre-application conference to review concepts and proposals. The Historic Preservation Officer may assign a staff member to perform these duties or contract with other parties to complete the consultation. The Commission may also form ad-hoc committees for this purpose. Commission members participating in pre-application conferences shall disclose their conflict of interest, bias, or ex-parte contact.
(a) Conflict of interest: are financial. The decision is going to affect the Commission member personally, or his/her business. It doesn’t matter whether the effect is good or bad.
(b) Bias: a particular tendency or inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question.
(c) Ex-parte contact: you talked to somebody about the “case” outside of the hearing.
(2) Upon acceptance of a complete application the Historic Preservation Officer shall schedule a public hearing pursuant to applicable local and state laws.
(3) In order to approve an application for the alteration of a landmark, the Commission must find that the proposal meets the following guidelines as applicable:
(a) A property shall be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships;
(b) The historic integrity of a property shall be retained and preserved. The relocation of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property shall be avoided;
(c) A property shall be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, shall not be undertaken;
(d) Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved;
(e) Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved;
(f) Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced. If the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features shall be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence;
(g) Chemical and physical treatments, if appropriate, shall be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials shall not be used;
(h) Archeological resources shall be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures shall be undertaken;
(i) New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment; and/or
(j) New additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.
(4) In addition to meeting the applicable guidelines in division (D)(3)(a) through (3)(j) of this section, in order to approve an application for the alteration of a landmark the Commission must find that the proposal meets the following design standards as applicable:
(a) Vacant buildings shall be weather and vandal-proofed in order to minimize further deterioration and the threat to public safety;
(b) Rehabilitation work, especially on the exterior and the principal facades shall preserve the existing historic features or replace them if absolutely necessary with features and materials known to have existed on the building through verifiable evidence such as photographs. Alterations to landmarks shall not be based on speculation, but instead on documentary evidence;
(c) New additions shall be subordinate to the original building, meaning lower in height, attached to the rear or set back along the side, smaller in scale, and have less architectural detail;
(d) Height, width, setback, roof shape, and the overall scale and massing of new buildings within historic districts and on lots with existing landmarks, or additions to landmarks shall be compatible with the existing historic building(s) and, in the case of historic districts, the overall streetscape;
(e) In historic districts and on lots with existing landmarks, materials on at least the primary facade(s) of new buildings shall be similar in size, shape, color, and texture to the original materials on the facades of surrounding historic buildings;
(f) Architectural details on new construction (including wood or metal trim, porches, cornices, arches, and window and door features, and the like) shall be complimentary, but shall not replicate historic features on surrounding historic buildings;
(g) Window and door opening should be similar in size and orientation (vertical to horizontal) to openings on historic buildings and shall take up about the same percentage of the overall facade as those on surrounding historic buildings;
(h) In historic districts and on lots with existing landmarks, the relationship of the width to the height of the principal elevations for new buildings and additions to existing landmarks shall be in scale with the surrounding structures and streetscape. Wider new building can be divided into segments that more closely resemble the facade widths of historic buildings;
(i) In historic districts and on lots with existing landmarks, the roof shape of new buildings and additions to existing landmarks shall be visually compatible with the surrounding structures and streetscape. Unusual roof shapes, materials, and pitches are discouraged;
(j) Moving landmarks shall be avoided, especially to create artificial groupings;
(k) The demolition of landmarks shall be avoided whenever possible; and/or
(l) Any applicable design guidelines adopted by the Commission in § 156.06.
(E) A public hearing before the Commission and a signed certificate of appropriateness shall be required to relocate or demolish a landmark or any property listed in the National Register of Historic Places individually or as part of a historic district.
(1) In order to approve an application for the relocation of a landmark, the Commission shall find that:
(a) The applicant has completed a replacement plan for the site, including drawings approved by the Building Official. Plans must be submitted for review by the Commission pursuant to § 156.10(D) as it relates to new construction;
(b) The Building Official determines and states in writing that the building may not be safely removed from the site; and
(c) The value to the community of the proposed use of the property outweighs the value of retaining landmark at the original location. Public testimony shall be considered when making this determination.
(2) (a) In order to approve an application for the demolition of a landmark, the Commission must find the conditions in § 156.10(E)(1)(a) through (E)(1)(c) have been met as applicable; and
(b) The property owner can demonstrate an economic hardship as described in § 156.12.
(3) In approving or denying an application for the relocation or demolition of a landmark, the Commission may impose the following conditions:
(a) Photographic, video, or drawn recordation of the landmark in its original location;
(b) In the case of demolition, the landmark be transported to a new site, and that, to the extent possible, the new location is similar to the original site and that the original setback and orientation of the building is replicated on the new lot;
(c) In the cases of properties listed in the National Register, that the applicant attempt to obtain permission to move the landmark from the National Park Service in order to retain the property’s listing in the National Register and/or assume all responsibility and cost of removing the if permission cannot be obtained; and/or
(d) Other reasonable mitigation measures.
(4) At the hearing of an application to relocate or demolish a landmark the Commission may, in the interest of exploring reasonable alternatives, delay issuance of a certificate of appropriateness for up to 180 calendar days from the date of the hearing. Not more than 60 and not less than 30 calendar days prior to the expiration of the delay period, the Historic Preservation Officer shall schedule a public hearing pursuant to local and state laws to allow the Commission to consider if there are still reasonable alternatives to explore, and if the group will request in writing that the City Council continue the delay for an additional period of up to 180 calendar days. Pursuant to applicable code.
(5) The Commission may not delay the relocation or demolition of a landmark for more than 360 calendar days subject to the provisions of this section. At the end of the waiting period, the Historic Preservation Officer shall issue a certificate of appropriateness for the relocation or demolition of the landmark.
(6) Upon issuing a certificate of appropriateness for the demolition of a landmark, the Historic Preservation Officer shall post a legal notice in a local newspaper of general circulation, in two public locations within the community and attach to the structure in an accessible area, weather proof announcement declaring a public hearing in regards to the demolition, the criteria under which the demolition was approved, the historic significance of the property, and invite the public to provide alternatives to the demolition for consideration by the Commission.
(7) Relocated landmarks shall remain listed in the Local Landmark Register unless removed under § 156.11.
(8) Demolished landmarks shall be removed from the Local Landmark Register using the procedures described in § 156.11.
(Ord. 526, passed 6-11-2012)