In the Historic Preservation Element, the City of Jacksonville committed to adoption of a preservation ordinance. In the fall of 1990, the City enacted the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Ordinance (#90-706-486).
The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Ordinance gives the city the authority to regulate physical changes to individual landmarks and to buildings and sites within historic districts. The authority of the city is derived from the traditional power and responsibility of government to restrict individual conduct or use of property and to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. This power and responsibility are essentially left to local governments and can play a significant role in protecting or preserving historic resources. The 1980 amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 encouraged local governments to strengthen municipal legislation for the designation and protection of historic properties. Through its home-rule law, the State of Florida permits local government to exercise the powers of self-government, subject to the constitution and general laws of the state. In the exercise of government to protect historic resources, the authority is generally employed in the enactment and implementation of a historic preservation ordinance.
Local preservation ordinances are the most effective method of regulating changes to historic resources. Careful steps must be taken to ensure that the ordinance is uniformly and objectively applied and that appropriate procedures of designation and certification are followed. It is also incumbent upon the City and the preservation organizations within Jacksonville to inform the public about the ultimate purpose and value of the historic preservation ordinance. It is not an arbitrary and capricious exercise of municipal authority, but a necessary action to preserve the community's cultural, archaeological, and architectural heritage and thus maintain economic and social values.
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THE JACKSONVILLE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Ordinance establishes a new seven-member Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission is appointed by the Mayor of the City of Jacksonville and is provided administrative support by the City Planning Department.
The ordinance defines two significant responsibilities for the Commission: first, to recommend landmark sites and historic districts for designation by the City Council; and, second, to review permitted activities affecting those designated properties.
After receiving a recommendation from the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission, the City Council designates landmark sites and historic districts. In the consideration of historic districts, all property owners located within the boundaries of the proposed district will have an opportunity to vote on designation after public notification and hearings. If a majority of property owners voting reject the proposed designation, the Commission cannot recommend the designation of the historic district to the City Council. However, the City Council can still designate the district by a two-thirds vote. For historic districts presently listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Avondale, Riverside, and Springfield), City Council designation without a Commission recommendation requires only a majority vote.
The second primary duty of the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission is to review development activities affecting designated landmarks and districts. The commission approves or denies applications for alteration, construction, demolition and relocation of individual landmarks or buildings in historic districts except for non-contributing buildings which can be demolished without a Certificate of Appropriateness. The commission uses design guidelines when reviewing such activities to insure that the historic character of the landmark or district is preserved during the course of the development activity. It issues a Certificate of Appropriateness, which is a final binding review of the proposed activity. A Certificate of Appropriateness is required to obtain a building permit.
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NATIONAL AND LOCAL HISTORIC DISTRICTS
There are two types of historic districts: national and local. A National Register Historic District is one that is selected under federal criteria and recognized under federal law. Listing of a national district is essentially honorary and does not imply federal control or protection over listed properties, unless federal funds or activities are directed toward them. The National Register Program is administered in Florida by the Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State, and is coordinated nationally by the United States Department of Interior.
The City of Jacksonville has three National Register Districts--Avondale, listed in 1989; Riverside, listed in 1985; and Springfield, listed in 1987. In addition to the limited protection from federal activities, "contributing" buildings within the National Register districts may qualify for rehabilitation tax credits, if they are income producing. The credits are explained in the appendix to this manual.
County and city governments create local historic districts through an ordinance. The Jacksonville Historic Preservation Ordinance establishes the authority and procedures for the City Council to designate local historic districts and landmark sites. Each local historic district and landmark site is established by ordinance after property owner notification and a public hearing. The landmarks and the boundaries of historic districts will be designated on the official Zoning Atlas maintained by the City's Building and Zoning Inspection Division. The Atlas will then be used to flag those permitted activities requiring review from the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. The boundaries of a local historic district may or may not coincide with a district listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
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DESIGN GUIDELINES
Design guidelines are standards that help property owners, architectural review boards, and municipal authorities ensure that physical changes respect the character of historic landmarks and districts. The authority which promulgates guidelines and regulates construction activities under them is known variously as a historic district review board or commission or architectural or design review board. In Jacksonville this authority is designated under city ordinance as the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission.
When a historic district is being considered for designation, the City Ordinance requires the Commission develop a set of design guidelines based upon the United States Secretary of Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. The Commission uses the design guidelines to review all exterior changes requiring a building permit that affect the appearance and integrity of a designated building. Routine maintenance of a building does not require review. Activities subject to review are demolition, relocation, alterations and new construction. If the permitted change is consistent with the design guidelines, the applicant will receive a Certificate of Appropriateness and may proceed with the permitting process.
Some alterations may receive immediate approval from the Planning Department without a public hearing before the Commission. A Certificate of Appropriateness will not be required for any interior alterations. Exterior construction, reconstruction, restoration, remodeling or demolition not visible from a public right-of-way may receive immediate staff approval. An applicant can appeal any decision of the Commission, using the undue economic hardship clause in the ordinance or for other reasons.
The guidelines formulated in the following chapters provide a basis for evaluating the historical and architectural correctness of proposed physical changes within the Springfield Historic District. They are intended to be practical and cost effective. They have been formulated through public input by meeting with residents of the districts, community leaders, the staff of the City Planning Department, and the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. The input was obtained primarily through participatory design workshops in each of the three National Register district neighborhoods.
The workshops were the most important phase of formulating the guidelines. The intent of the workshops was to offer property owners and residents of the neighborhood a voice in the formulation of the guidelines and make them feel a part of the process.
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THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR'S STANDARDS FOR REHABILITATION
The Secretary of the Interior has adopted a set of standards for rehabilitation of historic structures under federal programs, including the tax incentive program for rehabilitation. Property owners should consider the following areas when formulating plans for rehabilitation. Those who are contemplating the rehabilitation of a historic structure under the federal tax incentive program should consult the State Historic Preservation Office for more details concerning eligibility and federal tax credits for rehabilitation. The following standards are general principles that the Department of the Interior recommends for consideration in the planning stage of rehabilitation.
1. A property shall be used for its historic purpose or be placed in a new use that requires minimal change to the defining characteristics of the building and its site and environment
2. The historic character of a property shall be retained and preserved. The removal of historic materials or alteration of features and spaces that characterize a property shall be avoided.
3. Each property shall be recognized as a physical record of its time, place and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or architectural elements from other buildings, shall not be undertaken.
4. Most properties change over time; those changes that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive features, finishes and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a historic property shall be preserved.
6. Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture and other visual qualities and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features shall be substantiated by documentary, physical or pictorial evidence.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, such as sandblasting, that cause damage to historic materials shall not be used. The surface cleaning of structures, if appropriate, shall be undertaken using the gentlest means possible.
8. Significant archaeological resources affected by a project shall be protected and preserved. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures shall be undertaken.
9. New additions, exterior alterations or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the massing, size, scale and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken in such a manner that if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.
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