Palm Desert Municipal Code Ch. 29.20 Definitions

For the purposes of this title, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:

"Administrator"

means the cultural resources administrator who is the person selected by the Palm Desert city manager or his or her designee to administer cultural resources program, provide professional support to the committee, and manage the certificate of appropriateness processes.

"Alteration"

means any change or modification, through public or private action, to the character-defining or significant physical features of cultural resources affected by this title. In the case of cultural resources that are buildings or structures, "alteration" shall include changes to the exterior unless otherwise designated per the designating resolution or per the requirements of the Secretary of Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

"Archaeology"

means the study of humanity's past, primarily through the study of the material (physical) remains of past human activity.

"California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)"

means the statutory requirements contained in Division 13, commencing with Section 21000 of the California Public Resources Code and the state environmental guidelines adopted by the Secretary of Resources and incorporated into the California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15000 et seq.

"California Register of Historical Resources"

is a listing of archaeological and historic resources that meet the criteria for designation in the Register and have been so designated.

"Certificate of appropriateness"

means a certificate issued by the administrator approving plans, specifications, and/or statements of work, involving any proposed alteration, restoration, rehabilitation, construction, removal, demolition, or relocation, in whole or in part, of or to:

A.

Any cultural resource listed in the Register; or

B.

Demolition or relocation of any cultural resource that:

Is fifty years of age or older and not listed in the inventory, or

Is a visually prominent feature in the community, or

Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represents the work of a master, or that possesses high artistic values, or that represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction.

"Certified local government (CLG)"

means a local government certified under federal law by the California State Office of Historic Preservation for the purpose of more direct participation in federal and state historic preservation programs.

"Certified survey"

means a survey that the administrator or committee has reviewed and concurred with and has thereby certified. Resources with certified survey findings shall be included in the inventory. Certified surveys shall be submitted to the Eastern Information Center (EIC).

"Character defining features"

means the following natural or manmade elements of a cultural resource or historic district: design and general arrangement or components of an improvement(s), including but not limited to, site placement, height, scale, and setback; the kind, color, and texture of the building materials; street design, including street lights, parkway landscaping, and sidewalks; and the type and style of all windows, doors, lights, signs, and other fixtures appurtenant to such improvement(s).

"Committee"

means the historic preservation committee.

"Contributing cultural resource to a historic district"

means a building, site, structure, place, improvement, street, streetlight, curb, sidewalk, street tree, parkway landscaping, street furniture, sign, work of art, natural feature, significant tree, or object that dates to the period of significance, retains integrity, and adds to the historic architectural qualities, historic associations, or archaeological values for which the district is significant.

"Cultural resource"

means a building, site, structure, place, improvement, street, streetlight, curb, sidewalk, city-designated heritage tree, parkway landscaping, street furniture, sign, work of art, natural feature, or object, which may be of historic or archaeological significance.

"Design guidelines"

means the principles contained in a document approved by the administrator or committee, which illustrate appropriate and inappropriate methods of preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, alteration, and new construction.

"Designated cultural resource"

means any cultural resource that has been designated as a landmark or any collection of cultural resources that have been designated as a historic district pursuant to this Title or are listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources or is a California Historical Landmark, a California Point of Historical Interest, or a Riverside County Historical Landmark.

"Determined eligible"

means any cultural resource which, in the past five years, has been surveyed and recorded on the approved State Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) survey forms and has been determined eligible for designation at the local, regional, state, or federal level and certified as such by the administrator, committee, or the California State Historic Preservation Officer.

"Good repair"

means that level of maintenance and repair, which clearly furthers the continued availability of a cultural resource for lawful reasonable uses and prevents deterioration, dilapidation and decay of such resource.

"Historical Building Code"

means that certain building code contained in the California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 8, adopted as part of the California Building Code.

"Historic geographic district"

means any geographic area that possesses a concentration, linkage, or continuity of historic or cultural resources of which fifty percent or more of the total retain integrity and which have been designated as a historic district by the city council or is listed in a county, state or federal register.

"Historic thematic district"

means a group of cultural resources that are not geographically linked, but share a common association with a broad unifying theme, trend, or pattern or that share an architectural style or building type and have been designated as a historic district by the city council or is listed in a county, state, or federal register.

"Improvement"

means any building, structure, place, wall, fence, gate, landscaping, tree, work of art, or other object constituting a physical feature of real property or any part of such feature, which is not a natural feature.

"In kind"

means the replacement of deteriorated features with new features that match the material, composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities of the original feature.

"Integrity"

means the ability of a cultural resource to convey its significance. To retain integrity a cultural resource must retain most of the aspects that closely relate to the resource's significance, including location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association.

"Inventory"

means the Palm Desert Inventory, which is a list established and maintained by the city that includes all of the cultural resources in the city that have been surveyed, including resources that are listed in the Palm Desert Register, National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources or are California Historical Landmarks, California Points of Historical Interest, or Riverside County Historical Landmarks.

"Landmark"

means any cultural resource representative of the historical, archaeological, cultural, architectural, community, aesthetic or artistic heritage of the city that is designated pursuant to this title or is a designated National Historic Landmark, California Historical Landmark or Riverside County Historical Landmark.

"Moratorium"

means a suspension of an ongoing or planned development activity.

"National Register of Historic Places"

means the nation's official list of cultural resources that meet the criteria for designation in the National Register and have been so designated. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the United States Department of the Interior.

"Natural feature"

means any tree, plant life, habitat, geographical or geological site or feature.

"Noncontributing feature to a historic district"

means a feature, such as a building, structure, sign, site, tree, landscape, or other object that does not add to the historic architectural qualities, historic associations, or archaeological features for which a historic district is significant because the feature was not present during the district's period of historic significance or no longer possesses integrity.

"Object"

means any material thing of functional, aesthetic, cultural, symbolic, or scientific value.

"Period of significance"

means a chronological period of time that relates to the themes represented in the historic context.

"Preservation"

means the identification, study, protection, restoration, rehabilitation, and/or acquisition of cultural resources.

"Register"

means the Palm Desert Register, which is a list established and maintained by the city that includes all of the cultural resources in the city that have been registered eligible or designated as landmarks, designated as contributors or noncontributors to historic districts, or are registered in the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources or are California Historical Landmarks, California Points of Historical Interest, or Riverside County Historical Landmarks.

"Registered eligible cultural resource"

means a cultural resource that has been determined eligible for designation by a certified survey and for which the property owner has given written consent to be included in the Palm Desert Register.

"Substantial adverse change"

means any demolition, destruction, relocation, or alteration activities that would impair the significance of a cultural resource.

"Survey"

means a systematic and standardized process for identifying and gathering data on the community's cultural resources for the purpose of evaluating the resources per local, state, and/or federal criteria.

"The Secretary of Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties"

means the guidelines prepared by the National Park Service for preserving, rehabilitating, restoring, and reconstructing historic buildings and the standards for historic preservation projects prepared by the National Park Service with the most current guidelines for applying the standards.

(Ord. 1168, 2008)