Important Meeting on Historic Preservation This Wednesday

On Wednesday, August 31st will be a Planning Commission Special Meeting at 5pm (at City Hall) that will be discussing a highly important topic which is a public hearing and possible recommendation to the City Council on a proposed amendment to the City Code. The proposed change would repeal Chapter 27, Historic Resources, and replace it with Chapter 27 Historic Preservation.

This proposed change has been worked on by City Staff and various committees for quite some time now. Back in 2018 part of the Strategic Plan that was adopted by the city, with a whole lot of input from residents included the key point that Historic Preservation should be a priority for the city overall. This was a highly discussed and emotional issue brought about by the demolition of the original hospital building back in 2015. Since that time City Staff, the City Council, and a variety of committees have been working on what a new Historic Preservation ordinance should look like for our community.

This proposal contained in the Agenda Packet HERE is the sum of that work.

There are many passionate points of view on this from both proponents and opponents to the measure. You can see the Historic District itself on the graphic above. Let’s review some of the work that has been done so far and the community outreach.

First was the North Wind survey completed in 2020 of the 517 structures within the historic district which we shared with you and you can review HERE. It was the first time the city had done such a survey since 1983. What it shows are ‘contributing properties’ which are homes that are still contributing to our National Historic Registry status, and also ‘non-contributing’ properties, which are not. Those are homes or structures that were built after 1945 or have been altered to the point that they are no longer in their historic condition. What is concerning is that in those 37 years Boulder City lost 48% of its contributing properties. This actually puts us at risk of losing our overall designation as a Historic Downtown.

Later in October of 2020 the Council approved the creation of the Historic Preservation Ordinance Ad Hoc Committee to do the deep-dive research to evaluate possible changes to the City Code related to Historic Preservation.

As these past two years have ground on, saddled of course by frustrations and meeting limitations created by the pandemic, there were meetings and surveys that the City has put out which we have also covered for you:

• There were workshops held in March, 2020 HERE


• Then, unable to hold more public meetings there was the online survey in November 2020 HERE


• Lastly this past May, 2021 the city asked for more in person feedback HERE

When you look at the roster of all of the in-person meetings both before the pandemic and after, frankly, attendance was abysmal. Also from the online survey form there were only 169 responses to the survey. This is despite our efforts to publish all of these opportunities for input along with the newspaper and the City itself.

Now, with all of that input and the effort behind this, City Staff is ready to bring this matter fully before the Planning Commission to have it visible and seek input from the public. Again, you can check the packet to see some of the survey responses, and we highly encourage you to do so.

The way this program may be potentially administered is as follows, taken directly from the staff report:

Currently, property owners within the City’s Historic District present certain modifications to their structures to the Historic Preservation Committee for advisory review based on design guidelines approved by the City Council. The Historic Preservation Ordinance Ad hoc Committee proposes an ordinance amendment requiring certain buildings within the district to receive approval from a Historic Preservation Commission or staff for structural changes and/or building demolition based on updated design guidelines and the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties before a building permit could be issued. In summary, the ordinance as proposed, would impact you differently depending on if your building is contributing or non-contributing to the Historic District. A contributing property is one that was built between 1930 and 1945 and because of its preservation still reflects the architectural integrity of that time period. A summary of how it will impact properties differently is provided below:

If your building is a contributing property:

• Modifications to the exterior of a building (e.g., additions, façade changes) that can be seen from the street would require review and approval by the Historic Preservation Commission, or staff depending on the type of modification.


• Modifications to the interior of the structure, ordinary maintenance, or improvements that otherwise do not require a building permit would not require review by the Historic Preservation Commission.


• Accessory buildings that can be seen from the street would require approval by the Historic Preservation Commission.


• Demolition of the building (full/partial) would require approval by the Historic Preservation Commission.

If your building is a non-contributing property:

• Additions/changes to the structure that cannot be seen from the street do not require review by the Historic Preservation Commission.


• Modifications to the interior of a building, ordinary maintenance, or improvements that otherwise do not require a building permit would not require review by the Historic Preservation Commission.


• Major modifications to the exterior of a building (e.g., additions) that can be seen from the street would require approval by staff following less restrictive design guidelines.


• Demolition of the building (full/partial) would require approval by the Historic Preservation Commission.


• Structures built after 1945 would follow less restrictive guidelines for review by staff.


• A new building built within the Historic District would be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission to make sure it does not negatively impact the district and follow less restrictive design guidelines.

A couple of key points for us laypeople out here.

1. This only applies to homes within the Historic District


2. This does NOT include regular maintenance. You can paint your home, repair a broken window and do the normal things your home needs without contacting the City or Commission for approval


3. The trigger for any review to be conducted by City Staff or the Historic Preservation Commission is the need for a Permit for work being done on your historic home – if you don’t need a permit no review is needed


4. This only applies to the front of the home – you can add onto the back of your home, do outdoor landscaping changes to your backyard, etc. Only the front of the home is under the scrutiny of the ordinance


5. The proposed ordinance in its current form WOULD protect any structure from demolition within the Historic zone


6. ‘Contributing’ and ‘Non-contributing’ homes ARE treated differently


7. The principles that will guide either the Staff or Commission ruling are the same rules that are set nationally by the Secretary of the Interior, and are pretty clear as to what is allowed, minimizing the need for interpretation by individuals, which can of course become subjective


8. Lastly, there is an appeals process if any resident is not happy with a decision and can bring their issue to the City Council itself

Personally, we do not have a home within this Historic District – those who do have homes within this district, we hope, are fully aware of what’s at stake for them and that they have the opportunity to share their views. We are certain Wednesday’s discussion will be a spirited one, and we will watch avidly to see what happens.