Cultural Resource Management
Section 132. Cultural Resource Management Ordinance.
Section 132. Cultural Resource Management Ordinance.
(1) Purpose: The purpose of the Cultural Resource Management Ordinance is to further the public welfare through identification and management of cultural resources, in order to:
(a) promote public awareness and appreciation of the City's social, political, economic, architectural, and archaeological history;
(b) advance civic pride and identity;
(c) contribute to the City's economy;
(d) enhance local property values; and
(e) identify and resolve conflicts between preservation of cultural resources and alternative land uses.
(2) Definitions. These definitions apply only to Section 132 of this Ordinance.
(a) Alteration - any addition to, removal from, and/or change in the external appearance of any portion of a cultural resource. This definition includes changes in site landscaping if the landscaping is comparable in age to the resource structure, but excludes changes in newer landscaping or the addition of landscaping if there was none originally. This definition also excludes ordinary maintenance or repair of an exterior feature which does not affect the feature's appearance, if such repair has been certified by the City Building Official as necessary for safe occupancy.
(b) Cultural Resource - any building, structure, site, or object included in the Cultural Resource Inventory and therefore subject to the provisions of this Ordinance.
(c) Cultural Resource Inventory - a listing of sites within the City recognized by City Council resolution as being culturally significant.
(d) Demolition - any intentional defacement, destruction, and/or other action which would cause partial or total ruin of a cultural resource.
(3) Administering Boards.
(a) The Planning Commission shall be the administrative body for the Cultural Resource Ordinance. The Planning Commission shall make findings and recommendations to the City Council regarding any cultural resource applications, or policies and programs pertaining to historic preservation within the City of Hillsboro.
(b) The Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee is authorized to initiate and review applications for nominations to or deletions from the Inventory; to review applications for alteration, demolition, or relocation of a cultural resource; and to make findings and recommendations to the Planning Commission.
(4) Nomination to the Cultural Resource Inventory. The City of Hillsboro shall maintain a Cultural Resource Inventory which shall be updated as determined appropriate and as required.
(a) The Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee shall nominate to the Cultural Resource Inventory sites within the City which are determined to have potential cultural significance. The determination of potential cultural significance shall be based on the following criteria:
1. capability to be categorized as a building, structure, site, or object, as defined by the National Park Service;
2. association with significant historical or cultural events or persons important on a city, county, state, or national level; the site must have as an identifiable theme one of the 10 themes recognized by the National Park Service;
3. demonstration of architectural integrity in workmanship, design, type of construction, regional style, or individual uniqueness;
4. potential to provide archaeological information;
5. inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places or the State Archaeological site file; and
6. age of the building, structure, site, or object of at least 50 years, unless determined to be of exceptional significance.
(b) Any property owner who wishes his or her property included in the Inventory shall apply to the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee, and shall supply such information on the site as the Committee shall require. The Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee shall then review the application and adopt findings and a recommendation to the Planning Commission.
(c) Following the nomination and determination of potential cultural significance, or consideration of an owner-initiated application as described in subsection (b), the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee shall forward its findings and recommendation to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission shall consider the recommendation, and shall authorize notice of the nomination to be sent by registered mail to the owner or owners of the affected property. Notice of the nomination shall include the following:
1. findings of potential cultural significance, as adopted by either the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee or the Planning Commission;
2. the provisions of this Section which may become applicable to the property upon its possible inclusion in the Cultural Resource Inventory,
3. an explanation of the property owner’s rights to refuse to consent to the listing of the property on the Inventory; and
4. the date, time and place of the Planning Commission public hearing as described in subsection (d).
(d) At least 30 days after the notice described in subsection (c) has been sent to the property owner, the Planning Commission shall hold a public hearing on the nomination. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to owners of property within a 200-foot radius of the affected property, to recognized local and County historical societies, and to the State Historic Preservation Office. At the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall receive the findings and recommendation of the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee, and shall review the nomination based on the criteria listed in subsection (a).
(e) Following the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall make findings and recommendations to the City Council on the nomination. The Council shall add, by resolution, those sites it considers culturally significant to the Inventory. At any time prior to Council action on the nomination, the affected property owner or owners of record may refuse to consent to the addition of the site to the Inventory. This refusal to consent shall be in writing and filed with the Planning Director. The receipt of a refusal to consent shall remove the property from any continued consideration for nomination or listing on the Cultural Resources Inventory. If the City Council approves a resolution placing a site on the Inventory, the Planning Department shall prepare and record a document in the Deed Records of Washington county indicating the placement of the site on the Cultural Resource Inventory. (Amended by Ord. No. 4932/7-00, and 5807/10-07.)
(5) Removal from the Cultural Resource Inventory
(a) The property owner or owners of record of a site listed on the Cultural Resources Inventory prior to September 1, 2000, may request removal of the site from the Inventory by submitting a written request to the Planning Director. The request shall describe the site and its location with particularity, and shall include evidence documenting the formal objection of the property owner of record at the time the property was listed on the Cultural Resource Inventory. The Planning Director shall submit the request to the Planning Commission for adoption of a resolution acknowledging the request and forwarding the request to the City Council for approval. Upon receipt of the resolution of the Planning Commission, the City Council shall adopt a resolution removing the site from the Cultural Resources Inventory. The Planning Commission shall not conduct a public hearing on the request, but may recommend that the City Council conduct a hearing. The City Council may, but need not, conduct a public hearing on the request. The City Council may require that the site be documented in a manner consistent with accepted historic site documentation practices. The City shall not issue a permit for demolition or modification of a site subject to this subsection for at least 120 days from the date of the resolution removing the site from the Cultural Resources Inventory. (Added by Ord. No. 4932/7-00.)
(b) In the absence of an objection to the initial listing, the property owner or owners of record of a site listed on the Cultural Resources Inventory may also request removal of the site from the Inventory by submitting a written request to the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee. The request shall cite the reasons why the property owner believes the site no longer qualifies as a designated cultural resource, based on the criteria listed in section 4 (a). The Committee shall consider the request, and shall forward its findings and recommendation to the Planning Commission.
(c) The Planning Commission shall hold a public hearing on the request. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to owners of property within a 200-foot radius of the affected property, to recognized local and County historical societies, and to the State Historic Preservation Office. At the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall receive the findings and recommendation of the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee, and shall receive any testimony submitted by interested parties.
Following receipt of testimony, the Planning Commission shall deliberate and analyze the significance of the resource site and the environmental, social, economic and energy consequences of allowing, limiting, or prohibiting uses which would conflict with the Cultural Resource designation. Based on that analysis, the Planning Commission shall make a determination whether to approve or deny the request. A decision to approve the request shall be made as a recommendation to the City Council. A decision to deny the request shall be final unless appealed.
(d) The City Council shall receive and consider a recommendation from the Planning Commission to remove a site from the Cultural Resource Inventory, and may delete the site from the Inventory by resolution. The Council may also choose to conduct its own public hearing on the recommendation.
(e) The City shall not issue a permit for demolition or modification of a site subject to this subsection for at least 120 days from the date of a resolution removing the site from the Cultural Resources Inventory.
(f) Following approval or issuance of an alteration, relocation or demolition permit on a designated cultural resource, according to the requirements of Sections 6 and 7, the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee may re-evaluate the site's conformance with the criteria in Section 4(a) of this Ordinance, and may forward findings and a recommendation to the Planning Commission. If the Commission finds that the site no longer exhibits the characteristics which justified its inclusion in the Inventory, the Commission shall forward a resolution to the City Council recommending deletion of the site from the Inventory. City Council shall then consider the matter and may delete the site from the Inventory by resolution.
(Amended by Ord. No. 5802/10-07)
(6) Application for Alteration of a Designated Cultural Resource.
(a) No designated cultural resource shall be altered without prior review by the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee and approval of the Planning Commission.
(b) Cultural resource owners desiring to alter a cultural resource shall submit and application to the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee. The application shall include site plans, exterior building elevations, and materials specifications on any proposed alteration. The Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee shall review the application with respect to the criteria listed in subsection (d) and shall make findings and a recommendation to the Planning Commission regarding the proposal.
(c) The Planning Commission shall hold a public hearing on the request. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to owners of property within a 200-foot radius of the affected property, to recognized local and County historical societies, and to the State Historic Preservation Office. At the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall receive the findings and recommendation of the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee, and shall receive any testimony submitted by interested parties. (Amended by Ord. No. 5778/8-07)
(d) The Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee and the Planning Commission shall evaluate a proposed alteration based on the degree to which the alteration would meet the following standards:
1. The alteration would enable the resource to be used as it was historically or to be given a new use requiring the least practicable change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
2. The historic character of the resource property would be retained and preserved, and the relocation of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
3. The alteration would recognize a physical record of the resource’s time, place, and use, and changes that create a false sense of historical development (such as adding features from other historic properties) are not proposed.
4. The proposed alteration would retain and preserve changes to the resource that have attained historic significance in their own right.
5. The alteration would preserve distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize the resource.
6. Deteriorated historic features would be repaired rather than replaced. If severe deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature would match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features would be documented by historical evidence. Replacement of original features, such as wooden window, doors, or siding, with features made from modern materials such as vinyl, metal, or fiberglass, would be discouraged.
7. Any proposed chemical and physical treatments would be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials would be avoided.
8. Any archeological resources would be protected and preserved in place. If archeological disturbance can not be avoided, appropriate mitigation measures would be included as part of the alteration.
9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction would not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the resource. To protect the integrity of the resource, new work would be differentiated from the old and would be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing
10. Any new additions and adjacent or related new construction proposed in the alteration would be constructed in a manner to allow their removal in the future without impairing the essential form and integrity of the resource and its surroundings.
For the review of exterior alterations of historic resources, the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee and the Planning Commission may use, as supplemental information for clarification, the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings, published by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service and codified in 36 CFR 67 for use in the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program.
(e) The Planning Commission shall work with the applicant, interested citizens and technical staff to minimize the negative impact of the proposed action, wherever possible.
(f) Following receipt of testimony, the Planning Commission shall deliberate and analyze the proposed alteration. Based on that analysis, the Planning Commission shall make a determination whether to approve or deny the request. The Planning Commission’s decision shall be final unless appealed.
(g) No provision of this ordinance shall be construed to prevent the ordinary repair or maintenance of a designated Cultural Resource, where such action does not involve a change in design, materials, or appearance. (Section Amended by Ord. No. 5778/8-07, and 5802/10-07.)
(7) Application for Demolition or Relocation of a Designated Cultural Resource.
(a) No designated cultural resource shall be demolished or relocated without prior review by the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee and approval of the Planning Commission.
(b) Cultural resource owners desiring to demolish or relocate a cultural resource shall submit an application to the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee. The Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee shall review the application with respect to the following standards:
1. The designated property has deteriorated beyond repair, and relocation or demolition is structurally necessary;
2. No prudent and feasible alternative exists to repair or use the structure in its present location; and
3. The relocation or demolition is economically necessary. To prove economic necessity, the applicant must demonstrate through presentation of at least one rehabilitation option that the resource cannot be reasonably rehabilitated in its present location, and that the condition of the cultural resource prevents any substantial beneficial use of the property; and
4. The proposed use of the property has been found to be in compliance with all applicable city, state and federal requirements including zoning and building codes; and
5. The value to the community of the proposed use of the property outweighs the value of retaining the designated Cultural Resource on its present site.
The Committee shall consider the request, and shall forward its findings and recommendation to the Planning Commission.
(c) The Planning Commission shall hold a public hearing on the request. Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to owners of property within a 200-foot radius of the affected property, to recognized local and County historical societies, and to the State Historic Preservation Office. At the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall receive the findings and recommendation of the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee, and shall receive any testimony submitted by interested parties.
(d) Following receipt of testimony, the Planning Commission shall deliberate and analyze the proposed relocation or demolition, based on the standards in subsection (b). Based on that analysis, the Planning Commission shall make a determination whether to approve or deny the request.
(e) Approval of an application for relocation or demolition may be delayed up to 60 days by the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission may place any of the following conditions on approval of a demolition application:
(1) interior and/or exterior documentation of the site prior to the proposed, demolition;
(2) preservation of selected architectural features and site landscaping; and
(3) a good faith effort by the applicant to sell the structure for relocation.
The Planning Commission may, however, approve a demolition permit at any time within the 60 day period if it feels the applicant has made an effort in good faith to retain, document, and/or preserve the culturally significant characteristics of the resource.
(f) The City Council may extend a demolition delay by an additional 60 days at the request of the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission or an interested party. (Amended by Ord. No. 5802/10-07)
(8) Annexation of County-designated Cultural Resources.
Any site designated a cultural resource by Washington County shall be placed on the Cultural Resource Inventory upon annexation and shall be subject to the provisions of this Ordinance.
(9) Preservation of Cultural Resources in Additional Open Space.
Upon redevelopment of a Cultural Resource site, additional open space area around significant structures, set aside at the option of the developer, may be subtracted from the net residential area of the development for density calculation. Additional open space so set aside shall be identified on the final plat (or final development plan if no land division is involved) as a conservation easement or a separate permanent open space tract. Responsibility for maintenance and preservation of such tracts or easements shall be specified in covenants, conditions, and restrictions or other legal instrument subject to approval by the Planning Director and recorded prior to approval of a final development plan.
(Added by Ord. No. 5778/8-07.)
(Section 132 Added by Ord. No. 3425/9-83.)