Chapter 17.19 — REGULATIONS FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION OR "HP" COMBINING DISTRICTS

To provide regulation for the protection, enhancement, perpetuation, or use of places, sites, buildings, structures, and other objects having special historical value, and to protect cultural and archeological sites. Such sites may be of local or statewide significance and have anthropological, cultural, military, political, architectural, economic, scientific, religious, or other values.

Within the HP combining district, all uses of land shall comply with the regulations of the base zoning district and with the following regulations. (Ord. 796 Att. A(part), 1999)

The historic preservation combining district (HP) designation may be considered upon the request of the property owner, planning commission, or city council. Designations may be applied to:

• A. Real property, structures, or districts which have been officially designated as significant by local, state, or federal agencies; or

• B. Other real property, buildings, or structures having a special cultural character or historic value. (Ord. 796 Att. A(part), 1999)

All uses permitted in the base zoning district are permitted. The proposed alteration of any structure or site within an HP combining district shall require a use permit. No feature of any property zoned HP, which gives the property its special historical, archeological, or architectural character, shall be altered or demolished except in accordance with the provisions of the use permit. Minor alterations, which do not impact the site or building character, may be approved by the community development director. (Ord. 796 Att. A(part), 1999)

• A. A cultural resource is any material remains of past human life or activities which are of historical, archeological, or cultural value or interest, or of special character or special historic interest or value. Such remains are from prehistoric or historic periods and occur either below or above ground. Buildings forty-five years old or older shall be considered historic and may require an historic evaluation.

• B. Historical sites and structures are areas where artifacts, features, or structures can be tied to a particular time period. The types of sites in this category include, but are not limited to, historic structures and buildings representing mining, farming, residential, commercial, and industrial uses; bridges, wagon roads, and other historic transportation routes, and other areas, without structures, which provide evidence of historic cultural use.

• C. Cultural sites include, but are not limited to, Native American village sites; seasonal campsites, hunting or butchering sites; quarries or tool manufacturing sites; various types of rock paintings and carvings; and resource collection sites used today for the gathering of traditional Native American resources.

These sites usually contain some or all of the following characteristics: obsidian and/or chert flakes, evidence of stone tool making; dietary remains such as fish bone, animal bone, and shells; artifacts; darkened soil, stained by charcoal from cooking fires; depressions in the ground which may be ruins of house or ceremonial structures; and Indian burial grounds which can occur by themselves or within village or campsite areas. (Ord. 796 Att. A(part), 1999)

The city council may approve a designation to "HP" when it finds that the registered cultural resource or site has one or more of the following qualities as defined by the U.S. Department of Interior (36 CRF 800.10):

• A. Identification or association with persons, eras, or events that have contributed to local, regional, state, or national history in a distinctive or important way; or

• B. Of an architectural style with historic value, design, or method of construction, or notable architect, engineer, builder, artist or craftsman; or

• C. Has yielded, or is likely to yield, information of value about history, archaeology, or culture or that provides for existing and future generations an example of the physical surroundings in which past generations worked.

• (Ord. 796 Att. A(part), 1999)

• A. Tax Preference. The historic preservation (HP) combining district, when used in conjunction with Section 50280 et. seq of the California Government Code and Section 439.1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, is designed to preserve significant historic and cultural resources or sites by providing the availability of tax incentives to those landowners in the community who voluntarily agree to preserve such resources on their property by entering into a contract with the county.

• B. Building Code Exemptions. The owners of historic structures, which have obtained the status of "registered cultural site," may no longer need to conform to the Uniform Building Code (UBC) but may opt instead to meet the requirements of the State Historic Building Code (HBC) in order to maintain the historic character of the structure.

• (Ord. 796 Att. A(part), 1999)