San Buenaventura Conservancy

criteria for historic designation
historic resource
younger buildings
restrictions
benefits / rewards

10 myths about historic property preservation Myth No. 1: If a property is designated as a historic landmark, it's protected forever and can never be demolished. Fact: Landmark designation ensures a more thorough review of demolition proposals, but it does not prohibit demolition outright. In Los Angeles, designation as a city historic landmark allows the City's Cultural Heritage Commission to object to a demolition permit, but only for 180 days. The City Council may then extend the objection for an additional 180 days. Editor's Note: In Long Beach, a request for a demolition permit automatically triggers the need for an environmental impact report and a delay of six months to a year. Myth No. 2: Historic designation will reduce my property values. Fact: Study after study across the nation has conclusively demonstrated that historic designation and the creation of historic districts actually increase property values. Why? In part, historic designation gives a neighborhood or an individual historic site a cachet that sets it apart from ordinary properties. Many buyers seek out the unique qualities and ambience of a historic property. Myth No. 3: If my property is designated as a historic site, I won't be able to change it in any way. Fact: Owners of designated historic structures may make very significant changes to their structures. Historic preservation laws are not meant to prevent change, but, rather, to manage change. The tool to manage change is the Secretary of Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, the nationally accepted benchmark for evaluating changes to historic structures. The most significant, or character-defining, historic elements of a property should be retained. Myth No. 4: Preservation is only for the rich and elite, and for high-style buildings. Fact: Today's preservation movement is increasingly diverse. Preservation today also focuses not just on grandiose architectural landmarks, but on more modest sites of social and cultural significance. Myth No. 5: Historic preservation is bad for business. Fact: Historic preservation is at the very heart of our nation's most vibrant economic development and business attraction programs. From Southern California examples such as Old Pasadena or San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, to traditional, historic Southern cities such as Charleston, S.C., or Savannah, Ga., to the recent boom in "heritage tourism," today's economic development strategists no longer see preservation and business development as competing values. The National Main Street Center, a program that uses historic preservation to revitalize town centers and neighborhood commercial districts, found in 1,700 Main Street communities nationally that more than 231,000 new jobs were created and resulted in more than $17 billion in reinvestment to date. Myth No. 6: Preservation is more expensive than new construction. Fact: This is certainly true at times, but historic preservation is typically more cost-effective than new construction. In Los Angeles, the State of California learned the potential savings from historic preservation in comparing the construction of two state office buildings: the new Ronald Reagan State Office Building and the Junipero Serra State Office Building just two blocks away. The historic renovation delivered office space at about half the cost per square foot of the Reagan building. Myth No. 7: If I buy a historic property, there's lots of government money available to help me fix it up. Fact: Few large government or foundation grants are available to owners of historic properties. What is available tends to be tax incentives for private owners of historic buildings. The state's Mills Act program allows historic property owners to take often-significant property tax reductions. Myth No. 8: Old buildings are less safe. Fact: Although historic structures do sometimes require structural retrofits or the addition of fire sprinklers to enhance their safety, historic buildings typically perform better than newer construction in earthquakes and other natural disasters. Los Angeles' signature historic structures have survived every major temblor of the past eight decades. Myth No. 9: Preservation is an un-American violation of property rights. Fact: Historic preservation laws no more infringe on property rights than do many other laws and private rules that Americans have long accepted. Zoning laws prevent you from replacing your single-family home with an apartment building or a five-story vertical mansion. Myth No. 10: Preservationists are always fighting new development and only care about the past. Fact: Historic preservation is not about stopping change and is certainly not about squeezing out creative and exciting new architecture and development. Preservation allows the community to retain the best of shared heritage to preserve sites of unique quality and beauty, revitalize neighborhoods, spur economic revitalization, and, quite simply, create better communities. - Source: Ken Bernstein, Director of Preservation Issues for the Los Angeles Conservancy from L.A. Conservancy Web site www.laconservancy.org What IS “historic”? National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places is the official federal list of properties recognized for their significance and deemed worthy of preservation. The National Register Criteria for Evaluation offer “an authoritative guide to be used by federal, state, and local governments, private groups, and citizens to identify the nation’s cultural resources and to indicate what properties should be considered for protection from destruction or impairment" (36CFR60.2). As established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, to be listed in the National Register, or determined eligible for listing, properties must meet certain criteria for historical significance. Qualities of significance may be found in aspects of American history, architecture (interpreted in the broadest sense to include landscape architecture and planning), archaeology, engineering, and culture. A property is eligible for the NRHP if it is significant under one or more of the following criteria: A. It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or B. It is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C. It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or D. It has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. To be eligible, qualities of integrity must also be evident in the resource, measured by the degree to which it retains its historic location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. In general, the resource must be 50 years of age to be considered for the NRHP, although there are exceptions and overriding considerations to the criteria. Listing in the NRHP does not automatically provide protection of an historic resource although federal agencies must consider a property’s eligibility in managing significant resources. The primary effect of listing or determination for the owners of historic buildings is the availability of financial and tax incentives. In addition, for projects that receive federal funding, the Section 106 process must be completed. State and local laws and regulations may apply to properties listed in, or eligible for, the NRHP. For example, demolition or inappropriate alteration of a National Register-eligible structure may be subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).