DEPARTMENT: Office of Historic Preservation
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Shanon Miller, Director
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City-wide
SUBJECT:
Potential amendments to the Unified Development Code relating to historic district designation and demolition penalties.
SUMMARY:
District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick has submitted a City Council Resolution to amend the process for initiating a new historic district and to remove penalties associated with the demolition of historic properties. These changes will require an amendment to Article 6, Sections 35-605 and 35-615, of the Unified Development Code (UDC). The Infrastructure and Growth Committee reviewed the CCR on June 18, 2015, and recommended that the item be forwarded to a City Council B Session for further review. The B Session meeting took place on September 16. Proposed UDC amendments related to this item were also recommended by the Zoning Commission on October 20 and the Historic and Design Review Commission on October 21.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The current designation process outlined in UDC Section 35-605 was created by City Council in December 2012. Under the current historic designation process, once the City receives an application for an eligible historic district, the City conducts an informational meeting for all owners in the potential historic district. The proponents must submit a petition demonstrating support from owners of at least 30 percent of the properties within the proposed district boundary in order to initiate the public hearing process. The application shall remain valid for two years. Once the petition is verified, the City initiates the public hearing process at the Historic and Design Review Commission, the Zoning Commission, and the City Council. Ultimately, historic designation is a zoning change, which is a decision under the purview of the Mayor and City Council exclusively.
In June 2010, a number of changes were made to the UDC based upon recom...
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