After a surprise addition to a City Council agenda earlier this month, city officials say a proposed Local Preservation Ordinance needs more discussion.

City Planning Commission members discussed the ordinance during a meeting this week. Ellen Shadle, city principal planner, presented the plan to commission members. beginning by discussing the three historical districts and seven historical landmarks that already exist in the city designated on a national level. Those listings make the landmarks and places in the historic district eligible for historic tax credits when a property owner is conducting repairs, restoration or improvement to the structure, Shadle said. Property owners are not required to use the tax credits but can serve as incentives for the property owner to make improvements, and the state Historic Preservation Office will then let the property owners know what requirements there are on the property to be able to make those improvements.

“So what we’ve been looking at particularly with the local preservation ordinance is distinction on the national level, in terms of providing protection,” Shadle said. “One of the biggest things that a local preservation ordinance, or LPO, is about is the protection of places and areas that are deemed historically significant.”

With protection, Shadle said it is not a far jump to be talking about regulations or restrictions as well, but that boundary between protections and restrictions is something Shadle added needs to be teased out by the city in terms of prioritization in the content of the LPO.

Restrictions in a draft ordinance in January included in the City Council agenda include restrictions heightened maintenance requirements on buildings that fall under the preservation ordinance, giving an as-yet uncreated Jamestown Preservation Board the ability to find that a landmark or structure is undergoing what the ordinance terms demolition by neglect and then giving the city’s code enforcement officer and building inspector the option of repairing the landmark or structure and then billing the property owner. The ordinance allows the city to acquire the property by starting condemnation, 19A/B or other court proceedings. The ordinance also places a much longer delay on a proposed demolition of a derelict historic structure, like the Arcade Building. A single objection can delay the process at least 120 days, during which time the applicant has to come up with a “viable” alternative to demolition.

As a part of the Planning Commission’s work session, the group began discussing what the local preservation ordinance should protect, looking first at residential structures. Prioritizing older buildings such as those over 100 years old was discussed, but the significance for the community was also discussed, with some members saying significance is more important than age. Specific criteria other than age, such as uniqueness, economic value or viability also came up for residential structures.

The age and criteria for faith-based and institutional and commercial structures, including properties owned by non-profits were then discussed, and the commission agreed that it was easiest across the board to focus on structures over 100 years old that meet specific, so far undetermined, criteria to be considered for historical status.

City Council President Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2, was in attendance at the meeting, and said beyond the age of a building the ordinance should be restrictive in regards to what it includes, adding that his house and many others in the city are 100 years old, and that is more of a normal thing for the city than in other places.

“I think the big picture should be historic structures should be something that is not just old but has some significance to the community, some history to the community, some attachment to the community and has some not only past value but future value,” Dolce said.

While his and the other old houses in his neighborhood are nice, Dolce said those to be designated as a historic structure should be special, giving examples of the houses that Robert H Jackson or Lucille Ball lived in, and should fit other criteria or distinctions. He said he would be more interested in the uniqueness of the structure, rather than just the age.

“My point is, with the criteria, we want to be careful so that we make it so it’s not everybody, anybody,” Dolce said. “A hundred years old can be anything.”

Shadle said the criteria of what would make a structure in the city eligible would be the first thing to finalized for the local preservation ordinance because there is then a nomination process and what is included in maintaining those homes. Other items discussed were property owner consent for a nomination, a property owner selling the house, and what the LPO should not protect.

“The age of the building is just the point of entry,” Shadle said. “So everything that follows the age, and we can make the point of entry a different criteria. Typically and historically, the age of a structure has been the point of entry for considering its eligibility as a historic or significant structure.”

The commission asked about variants to that, and Shadle said they need to decide what they want that point of entry for consideration to be. Additionally, she said age is typically what is used because it is quantifiable and anything that is qualitative in nature is harder to use to assess a building.

Shadle said it can take up to 10 years to see any difference made in the community once a local preservation ordinance is established, and the planner said it will also depend on how the community responds to it. Establishment is mostly what is needed for the city to be able to do anything else in regards to historic preservation, and then other steps would follow, including the creation of a preservation board.

The commission then discussed the potential for what might happen if a property owner wanted to demolish a building, and whether or not the LPO would include a prohibition of demolition. Shadle said everything talked about right now is just to get the commission thinking about what may or may not be included if an LPO were to be approved.