What is
Design Review?
Design review is the evaluation of any proposed exterior work, visible from a right-of-way, to a property within a local historic district to ensure work is consistent with the standards and guidelines adopted for the district.
Which properties require design review?
Any exterior work to properties within a local historic district requires review.
What is a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA)?
A COA is the approval document certifying that a proposed project is consistent with the historic district design standards and guidelines. An applicant must apply for a COA prior to beginning a project. The Design Review Board or Planning and Zoning Staff will review the project and determine if it meets the Standards. If the Standards are met, a COA is issued. After a COA is issued, the applicant may then apply for a building permit.
What work requires design review?
All work involving a change to the exterior requires design review. This includes alterations to existing buildings, additions, new construction, relocation, and demolition. Interior alterations and ordinary maintenance do not require design review.
What happens if work begins before a COA is issued?
If work begins prior to approval of a COA, a stop work order may be issued with the property owner subject to fines and an order to restore the condition of the property.
Are there any other review procedures?
Review of projects by the Design Review Board (DRB) may not be the only review required before work may proceed. Other city departments and boards may be required to examine a project for compliance with: land use and zoning regulations, building and fire codes, sign ordinances, and, tree and landscape ordinances. Planning and Zoning Staff can assist with this determination.
Design Guidelines Do:
Design Guidelines Do Not:
Explain, expand, and interpret general design criteria in the local preservation ordinance.
Help reinforce the character of a historic area and protect its visual aspects.
Protect the value of public and private investment, which might otherwise be threatened by the undesirable consequences of poorly managed growth.
Indicate which approaches to design a community encourages, as well as which it discourages.
Serve as a tool for designers and their clients to use in making preliminary design decisions.
Increase public awareness of design issues and opinions.
Serve the same legal purpose as the design review provisions of the ordinance. An ordinance is a law, but local design guidelines are typically not laws.
Limit growth or regulate where growth takes place. Guidelines address only the visual impact of individual work projects on the character of a local historic district. Growth itself is a separate issue that must be separately addressed through zoning ordinances and preservation planning.
Control how space within a building is used. They usually deal only with the exterior, publicly visible portions of buildings, not with how interior space is laid out or used.
Guarantee that all new construction will be compatible with a historic area or the guarantee of creativity that is essential to the best kind of sensitive design.
Guarantee “high quality” construction. Since materials are generally not specified in design guidelines, final visual results are not guaranteed.