(A) Intent. It is the intent of this chapter to ensure, insofar as possible, that properties designated as historic shall be in harmony with the architectural and historical character of the town. In granting a Certificate of Appropriateness, the Board shall take into account the architectural and historical significance of the structure under consideration and the exterior form and appearance of any proposed additions or modifications to that structure as well as the effect of such change or additions upon other structures in the vicinity.
(B) The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.
(1) When considering an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for new construction, alteration, repair, or restoration, the Commission shall use the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation as guidelines in making its decisions. In addition, the Board may adopt more specific guidelines for local historic districts and local historic buildings. These guidelines serve as the basis for determining the approval, approval with modifications, or denial of an application.
(2) The Secretary's Standards for Rehabilitation are:
(a) A property will 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 character of a property shall be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
(c) Each property will 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 buildings, will not be undertaken.
(d) Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved.
(e) Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved.
(f) Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
(g) Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
(h) Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
(i) New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale, and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.
(j) New additions and adjacent or related new construction will 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.
(Ord. 92, passed 11-21-2023)