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Local Ordinances
[The following information is excerpted from The Power to Preserve]
INTRODUCTION
The gradual growth of interest in architecture as well as in history happened in the East after the founding of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1910. In New Mexico, the study of architecture may be said to begin with Victor and Cosmos Mindeleff in the early 1880s. The idea of protecting privately-owned historic properties grew out of the study of significant architecture, but did not become a nationwide concern until sometime after World War I.
A private entity might protect a single house; protecting a neighborhood or district required government intervention: either public funding to buy structures, or standards and guidelines for maintenance. Acquisition was and is too expensive to be seriously considered. The establishment of standards and guidelines has been the basic approach since the 1920s.
The Charleston City Council created the first preservation ordinance in 1931. A constitutional amendment in Louisiana (1936) permitted the City of New Orleans to protect the Vieux Carr6 through local ordinance. In 1939 San Antonio, Texas, protected La Villita, the original Mexican marketplace, with an ordinance. The number of local preservation ordinances grew slowly in the 1950s. Santa Fe established New Mexico's first local preservation ordinance in 1957. In the 1960s and 1970s, local preservation ordinances multiplied. The Supreme Court decision in Penn Central established confidence in the legal basis of historic preservation.
Early ordinances were intended to preserve houses or neighborhoods free of change, but in the 1950s and 1960s, it became clear that historic designation enhanced property values. This fostered the idea of historic preservation as a means to the revitalization of neighborhoods, and broader tolerance for adaptive reuse. City governments learned to attract investment and create revenue through historic designation and control. Perhaps as a result of some twenty years of such development, the federal tax laws began to stimulate preservation projects and plans. The Tax Reform Act of 1976 allowed 60-month amortization of rehabilitation costs. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 created the 25 percent investment tax credit for historic properties. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 receded somewhat from this strong incentive, but maintained favorable treatment with a 20 percent credit.
DISTRICTS AND LANDMARKS
A historic district is a geographically definable area-whether urban or rural, large or small-that possesses a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united either historically, by events, or aesthetically, by plan or physical development.
Within a city or county there may also be historic buildings, sites, structures or objects that are individually significant, either because of their special characteristics or because they are in areas that do not meet criteria for a historic district. A local ordinance may be useful in protecting these individually important historic structures. Historic district and landmark ordinances may be separate enactments, but it is much more common for them to be parts of the same ordinance.
COMPONENTS OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION ORDINANCE
In preparing a historic preservation ordinance, a municipality or county should look to essential elements. Most historic preservation ordinances contain the following parts:
Information on this page contains excerpts from copyrighted materials. The page will be posted as soon as final permissions for use are granted.
The gradual growth of interest in architecture as well as in history happened in the East after the founding of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1910. In New Mexico, the study of architecture may be said to begin with Victor and Cosmos Mindeleff in the early 1880s. The idea of protecting privately-owned historic properties grew out of the study of significant architecture, but did not become a nationwide concern until sometime after World War I.
A private entity might protect a single house; protecting a neighborhood or district required government intervention: either public funding to buy structures, or standards and guidelines for maintenance. Acquisition was and is too expensive to be seriously considered. The establishment of standards and guidelines has been the basic approach since the 1920s.
The Charleston City Council created the first preservation ordinance in 1931. A constitutional amendment in Louisiana (1936) permitted the City of New Orleans to protect the Vieux Carr6 through local ordinance. In 1939 San Antonio, Texas, protected La Villita, the original Mexican marketplace, with an ordinance. The number of local preservation ordinances grew slowly in the 1950s. Santa Fe established New Mexico's first local preservation ordinance in 1957. In the 1960s and 1970s, local preservation ordinances multiplied. The Supreme Court decision in Penn Central established confidence in the legal basis of historic preservation.
Early ordinances were intended to preserve houses or neighborhoods free of change, but in the 1950s and 1960s, it became clear that historic designation enhanced property values. This fostered the idea of historic preservation as a means to the revitalization of neighborhoods, and broader tolerance for adaptive reuse. City governments learned to attract investment and create revenue through historic designation and control. Perhaps as a result of some twenty years of such development, the federal tax laws began to stimulate preservation projects and plans. The Tax Reform Act of 1976 allowed 60-month amortization of rehabilitation costs. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 created the 25 percent investment tax credit for historic properties. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 receded somewhat from this strong incentive, but maintained favorable treatment with a 20 percent credit.
DISTRICTS AND LANDMARKS
A historic district is a geographically definable area-whether urban or rural, large or small-that possesses a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united either historically, by events, or aesthetically, by plan or physical development.
Within a city or county there may also be historic buildings, sites, structures or objects that are individually significant, either because of their special characteristics or because they are in areas that do not meet criteria for a historic district. A local ordinance may be useful in protecting these individually important historic structures. Historic district and landmark ordinances may be separate enactments, but it is much more common for them to be parts of the same ordinance.
COMPONENTS OF THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION ORDINANCE
In preparing a historic preservation ordinance, a municipality or county should look to essential elements. Most historic preservation ordinances contain the following parts:
- Purpose
- Statement of authority
- Creation of a historic preservation commission
- Criteria for designation of landmarks and districts
- Exceptions
- Procedures and criteria for nomination and designation of landmarks
- Types of actions reviewable by the commission; legal effect of review
- Criteria applied by commission to actions reviewed
- Consideration of economic effect of designation or review
- Appeals procedures
- Penalties for violations of ordinance
Information on this page contains excerpts from copyrighted materials. The page will be posted as soon as final permissions for use are granted.