Chapter 21.22
LANDMARKS PRESERVATION

Sections:

21.22.005    Purpose.

21.22.010    Property eligible for special tax valuation.

21.22.015    Authority of Pierce County landmarks commission.

21.22.020    Criteria for inclusion on Pierce County register of historic places.

21.22.025    Procedures.

21.22.030    Intergovernmental agreement.

21.22.035    Demolition or alteration of historic structures.

21.22.040    Removal of landmark designation.

21.22.005 Purpose.

The purpose of this chapter is to establish procedures by which property owners of qualifying property may petition to be placed on the Pierce County register of historic places. Designation on the register allows those owners who have substantially rehabilitated the property according to state standards to apply for a special tax valuation through the Pierce County assessor’s office. This chapter establishes a process whereby the Pierce County landmarks commission (“landmarks commission”) has authority to determine if buildings, structures or places are eligible for placement on the register, in accord with that commission’s procedures. It also establishes the landmarks commission as the “local review board” for purposes related to the special valuation for qualifying historic properties within the city limits and establishes procedures for that process. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.010 Property eligible for special tax valuation.

The class of historic property which shall be eligible for special valuation in accordance with the Chapter 84.26 RCW (“State Act”) shall be property which is a historic property meeting the criteria or requirement as set forth and defined in the State Act, and which is listed in the National or State Register of Historic Places or placed on the Pierce County register of historic places and which has undergone qualifying rehabilitation work within state standards. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.015 Authority of Pierce County landmarks commission.

Owners of buildings, structures or places located within the city of Puyallup who desire for said property to be formally placed on the Pierce County register of historic places shall petition the landmarks commission, via the city community development department, in accord with the procedures established in this chapter. Such requests shall follow applicable county procedures, with landmark commission decisions being transmitted to the county council for final ordinance action. The landmarks commission shall also act as the “local review board,” per Chapter 84.26 RCW, for the special valuation of historic properties within the city limits. Landmarks commission decisions on special valuation requests shall be transmitted to the Puyallup city council prior to being forwarded to the county assessor for final action. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.020 Criteria for inclusion on Pierce County register of historic places.

The criteria used to evaluate historic properties for possible inclusion in the Pierce County register are based on criteria used for the National Register. These criteria are designed to serve as guidelines for all persons or organizations preparing a designation request to the landmarks commission.

(1) The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects of state and local importance that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and:

(a) That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or

(b) That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or

(c) That embody the distinctive characteristics or a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

(d) That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in pre-history or history.

(2) Cemeteries, birthplaces, or graves of historical figures, properties owned by religious institutions or used for religious purposes, structures that have been moved from their original location, reconstructed historic buildings, properties primarily commemorative in nature and properties that have achieved significance within the past 50 years can also be considered eligible for the Pierce County register. However, greater priority will be given to those which fall within the following categories:

(a) A religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance.

(b) A building or structure removed from its original location but which is significant primarily for architectural value, or which is the surviving structure most importantly associated with a historic person or event.

(c) A birthplace or grave of a historical figure of outstanding importance if there is not appropriate site or building directly associated with his or her productive life.

(d) A cemetery which derived its primary significance from graves or persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events.

(e) A reconstructed building when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same association has survived.

(f) A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own historical significance.

(g) A property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance.

(3) Below are categories of properties eligible for the Pierce County register.

(a) Historic structures or sites in which the cultural, political, economic, or social history of the nation, state, or local community is best exemplified and from which the visitor may understand the patterns of American and Pierce County heritage. Integrity is an essential basis for deserving recording.

(b) Sites and groupings representing historic community developments and patterns. (One room schools, county seats, crossroads, stores, agricultural settlements, seaports, railroad, and water transportation.)

(c) Early or abandoned transportation facilities. (Lighthouses, covered bridges, ships, ferries, railroad stations, milestones, trails.)

(d) Old commercial structures and sites. (Warehouses, brick factories of the 19th century, iron furnaces, shipyards, logging, and mining camps.)

(e) Structures related to the civic life of a community. (Town hall, jail, bank, tavern.)

(f) Buildings of great architects or master builders and important works of minor ones. Noteworthy examples of various architectural styles, periods, or methods of construction. Architectural curiosities or very rare survivors of its style or period.

(g) Homes of notable persons during their active years, or associated with important events in national, state, or local history.

(h) Structures or sites of pre-historic or historic archaeological significance.

(4) Archaeological properties do not have to be large, impressive, or rich in artifacts or categories of date to qualify for the Pierce County register. They do not have to be suitable for public interpretation. Any archaeological resource is potentially eligible if it can be legitimately argued that it is associated with a cultural pattern, process, or activity important to the history or pre-history of its locality, the United States or humanity as a whole.

(5) Some properties that have little significance as individual entities may be eligible as segments or archaeological districts. In some cases, an archaeological property or district may also qualify because of an association with a particular event or person, or on the basis of its intrinsic historicity or utility as an interpretive location. Properties that have lost their integrity by being completely excavated or otherwise totally disturbed do not normally qualify, unless they are of particularly noteworthy historical significance for the data they have yielded. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.025 Procedures.

Owners of buildings, structures or places located within the city of Puyallup shall follow these procedures in applying for inclusion on the Pierce County register of historic places and/or designation to receive special valuation as a qualifying historic property which has undergone substantial rehabilitation in accord with state standards:

(1) Nomination to Registration of Historic Places.

(a) Application shall be filed with the city of Puyallup community development. A fee and any necessary accompanying information shall be submitted concurrently.

(b) Community development staff shall review the request given the criteria specified in PMC 21.22.020. Following this review, the application shall be transmitted to the landmarks commission for that body’s review. A city staff preliminary analysis shall accompany this transmittal.

(c) The transmittal to the landmarks commission shall be processed in accord with standard county procedures as specified in Pierce County Code Chapter 2.88. This includes final enacting of the landmarks commission decision by the county council.

(2) Special Valuation Taxation Requests.

(a) Application shall be initially filed with the county assessor’s office in accord with procedures established by that office.

(b) The assessor’s office shall transmit said applications to the landmarks commission, to be processed in accord with standard county procedures. The landmarks commission, who shall function as the local review board for said requests, may combine meetings regarding landmark designation and special tax valuation for a single site or property.

(c) Landmarks commission decision on special valuation taxation requests shall be transmitted to the Puyallup city council for action. Upon city council approval, city staff shall execute and record covenant agreements with the owners establishing the status. Subsequently, the case shall be transmitted back to the assessor’s office for final processing, in accord with procedures of that office. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.030 Intergovernmental agreement.

The city of Puyallup shall enter into an intergovernmental agreement with Pierce County establishing specific procedures by which applications from the city of Puyallup will be processed by Pierce County. This agreement will include, but not be limited to, provisions regarding fees and administrative responsibilities. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.035 Demolition or alteration of historic structures.

No permit shall be issued by the building division of the city community development department for the demolition or alteration of part or all of any building, structure, place, or district which has been formally designated on the county register of historic places prior to its referral to the landmarks commission. The community development director or his/her designee shall have the authority to waive this referral requirement for minor alterations which do not materially affect any qualities of the property which led to its placement on the register. For those permits which are referred, the landmarks commission shall have 60 days to review and/or recommend modifications to the permit proposal. The purpose of such review will be to determine whether the changes set forth in the proposal permit application are compatible with the reasons for including the structure, building, or place on the register. If at the end of 60 days the landmarks commission has not approved or agreed upon modification of the proposal with the owner, the permit shall be issued if it complies with all other applicable laws and regulations. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).

21.22.040 Removal of landmark designation.

In the event that a designated property is no longer deemed appropriate as a historic landmark, the designation may be removed by the same procedures as provided in establishing the designation. (Ord. 2489 § 1, 1996).