9.36.120 Landmark designation procedure.

Landmarks shall be designated by the Landmarks Commission in accordance with the following procedure:

(a) Any person of the City may request the designation of an improvement as a Landmark by properly filing with the Director of Planning an application for such designation on a form furnished by the Planning Department. Additionally, the Commission may file an application for the designation of a Landmark on its own motion. Within thirty days of filing a landmark designation application, the property owner and tenants of the subject property shall be notified of the filing of such application.

(b) The Director of Planning shall conduct an evaluation of the proposed designation and shall make a recommendation to the Commission as to whether the application is appropriate for formal consideration. A hearing to determine whether the structure merits formal consideration shall be scheduled within sixty days of filing of an application. If the Commission determines that the application merits consideration, but only if it so determines, it shall schedule a public hearing within forty-five days of such determination. Any determination of the Commission to schedule or not to schedule a public hearing shall be in writing and shall be filed with the Director of Planning.

(c) Upon a determination by the Commission that the application merits formal consideration by the Commission and the scheduling of a public hearing thereto, any alteration, restoration, construction, removal, relocation or demolition, in whole or in part, of or to a proposed Landmark or Landmark Parcel is prohibited, and no permit issued by any City Department, board or commission, including, but not limited to, a conditional use permit, a tentative tract map or tentative parcel map permit, a development review permit, any Zoning Administrator permit, Architectural Review Board approval, certificate of appropriateness permit, rent control permit, or building permit, authorizing any such alteration, restoration, construction, removal, relocation or demolition shall be granted while a public hearing or any appeal related thereto is pending.

(d) Not more than twenty days and not less than ten days prior to the date scheduled for a public hearing, notice of the date, time, place and purpose thereof shall be given by at least one publication in a daily newspaper of general circulation, and shall be mailed to the applicant, owner of the improvement, and to all owners and residents of all real property within three hundred feet of the exterior boundaries of the lot or lots on which a proposed Landmark is situated, using for this purpose the names and addresses of such owners as are shown on the records of the City Clerk. The failure to send notice by mail to any such real property owner where the address of such owner is not a matter of public record shall not invalidate any proceedings in connection with the proposed designation. The Commission may also give such other notice as it may deem desirable and practicable.

(e) At the conclusion of a public hearing, or any continuation thereof, but in no case more than forty-five days from the date set for the initial public hearing, the Commission shall approve, in whole or in part, or disapprove the application for the designation of a Landmark, and define and describe an appropriate Landmark Parcel. If the Commission fails to take action on the application for the designation of a Landmark within the forty-five day time period, the application for such designation shall be deemed disapproved, and it shall be the duty of the Director of Planning to certify such disapproval.

(f) The decision of the Commission shall be in writing and shall state the findings of fact and reasons relied upon to reach the decision, and such decision shall be filed with the Director of Planning.

(g) The Commission shall have the power, after a public hearing, whether at the time it renders such decision to designate a Landmark or at any time thereafter, to specify the nature of any alteration, restoration, construction, removal, relocation or demolition of or to a Landmark or Landmark Parcel which may be performed without the prior issuance of a certificate of appropriateness pursuant to this Chapter. The Commission shall also have the power, after a public hearing, to amend, modify or rescind any specification made pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.

(h) Upon the rendering of such decision to designate a Landmark, the owner of the designated Landmark shall be given written notification of such designation by the Commission, using for this purpose the name and address of such owner as is shown in the records of the City Clerk.

(i) Subject to other provisions of this Section 9.36.120 and Section 9.36.180 of this Chapter, a decision of the Commission to designate a Landmark shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of the rendering of such decision by the Commission.

(j) The Commission shall have the power, after a public hearing, to amend, modify or rescind any decision to designate a Landmark or Landmark Parcel and to make any preliminary or supplemental designations, determinations or decisions, as additions thereto.

(k) The Commission shall determine the instances in which cases scheduled for public hearing may be continued or taken under advisement. In such instances, no new notice need be given of the further hearing date, provided such date is announced at the scheduled public hearing.

(l) Whenever. an application for the designation of a Landmark has been disapproved or deemed disapproved by the Commission, or by the City Council on appeal, no application which contains the same or substantially the same information as the one which has been disapproved shall be resubmitted to or reconsidered by the Commission or City Council within a period of five years from the effective date of the final action upon such prior application. However, if significant new information is available, the City Council, upon recommendation from the Landmarks Commission, may waive the time limit by resolution and permit a new application to be filed. In addition, an application of the owner of the subject improvement proposed for Landmark designation may be resubmitted or reconsidered notwithstanding said five year time period. (Prior code § 9608; added by Ord. No. 1028CCS, adopted 3/24/76; amended by Ord. No. 1083CCS, adopted 2/28/78; Ord. No. 1590CCS § 1, adopted 7/23/91)