Pursuant to the request of Commissioner Alex Fernandez, the above item has been placed on the January 20, 2022 City Commission meeting agenda as a referral to the Land Use and Sustainability Committee (“LUSC”) and the Historic Preservation Board (“HPB”).

Chapter 118, Article X, “Historic Preservation,” creates a presumption that a contributing building demolished without obtaining a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Board “shall only be replaced with a new structure that incorporates the same height, massing and square footage of the previous structure on site, not to exceed the floor area ratio (FAR) of the demolished structure, and not to exceed the maximum FAR and height provided under the City Code . . . .” See Sec. 118-503(b)(2).

Further, Section 118-503(b)(3) expressly empowers the HPB to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether the replication of an original, contributing structure is warranted.

Commissioner Fernandez would like the LUSC and HPB to consider whether the City Commission should amend the Land Development Regulations to provide that, when a contributing building is demolished without a Certificate of Appropriateness, the presumption shall be that the building must be replicated, if certain criteria are satisfied. This would strengthen and build upon the current presumption, which is that the demolished building “shall only be replaced with a new structure that incorporates the same height, massing and square footage of the previous structure on the site . . . .”

Under the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, reconstruction may be considered as a treatment:

• when a contemporary depiction is required to understand and interpret a property's historic value (including the re-creation of missing components in a historic district or site);

• when no other property with the same associative value has survived; and

• when sufficient historical documentation exists to ensure an accurate reproduction.

The Standards for Reconstruction are summarized as follows:

 The Standards will be applied taking into consideration the economic and technical feasibility of each project.

1. Reconstruction will be used to depict vanished or non-surviving portions of a property when documentary and physical evidence is available to permit accurate reconstruction with minimal conjecture, and such reconstruction is essential to the public understanding of the property.
2. Reconstruction of a landscape, building, structure or object in its historic location will be preceded by a thorough archeological investigation to identify and evaluate those features and artifacts that are essential to an accurate reconstruction. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
3. Reconstruction will include measures to preserve any remaining historic materials, features and spatial relationships.
4. Reconstruction will be based on the accurate duplication of historic features and elements substantiated by documentary or physical evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different features from other historic properties. A reconstructed property will re-create the appearance of the non-surviving historic property in materials, design, color and texture.
5.  A reconstruction will be clearly identified as a contemporary re-creation.
6.  Designs that were never executed historically will not be constructed.

 See Standards for Reconstruction, Technical Preservation Services, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, at https://www.nps.gov/tps/standards/four-treatments/treatment-reconstruction.htm.

 The above criteria may already be considered by the HPB when determining whether to require reconstruction of an original historic building. However, Commissioner Fernandez would like the LUSC and HPB to consider whether the above Standards for Reconstruction should be codified as part of the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.

 Commissioner Fernandez’s intent is to strengthen the HPB’s authority to require the replication of an original contributing structure.

 Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.