Standards and Guidelines 2023-0607

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City of South Bend and St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Guidelines 71 For More Information: About the Districts NRHP listing does open financial incentives for property owners as the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program or State Historic Renovation Grant program . Read more about those programs here . Local Designation Local historic district designation happens through the action of the South Bend City Council or St . Joseph County Council acting upon the advice of the Historic Preservation Commission working in partnership with residents . Many times, local districts mirror those listed on the National Register of Historic Places—but not always, nor is such a requirement . Once designated, projects within the district must secure a Certificate of Appropriateness through the Commission. Projects are reviewed based on these guidelines to help preserve the individual buildings architectural design and the district’s authentic look and feel . Districts include both individual buildings and multiple buildings forming a larger area . Review is only on the exterior of the building—nothing on the interior . The Commission and South Bend City Council or St . Joseph County Council acts to create these districts under the umbrella of the City of South Bend Zoning Ordinance Section 21-12.04 and St. Joseph County Zoning Ordinance Chapter 154 . Through that legislation The historic Preservation Commission is given the op-portunity to create local landmarks and districts . Read more about local historic districts here . You can look at the Common Council Ordinance that gives the Historic Preservation Commission its authority here . You can look at the City of South Bend Ordinance that approves an interlocal agreement between the City of South Bend and St . Joseph County, here . Historic District Context and Integrity A key tenant of historic district designation relates to the context of the building and neighborhood . The building setting—the area or environment in which a historic structure is found—coupled with the design of the individual buildings forms the basis for all review . The elements of setting, such as the relationship of buildings to one another, property setbacks, fence patterns, views, driveways, and walkways, together with street trees and other landscaping features create the specific character of the neighborhood. The guidelines aim to achieve the following goals: • Preserve key features that are important in defining the district’s traditional character of the setting . Those features include roads, and streets, furnishings, and fixtures, natural or topographic aspects, key views, and vistas . • Retain the historic relationship between buildings, streets, and landscape features . • Avoid the removal, relocation, or substantial alteration of any streetscape or landscape element that contributes to the traditional character of the setting . • Avoid changing the historic relationship of a building to its setting . • Removal and replacement of existing historic features with new materials, when it is economically feasible to save and repair originals, is inappropriate . Building Integrity and Ratings At the individual site level, the integrity of a building (how much or little a historic building has changed over time) is a primary consideration of the Commission when reviewing projects . This rating system is required by the enabling law guiding the Commission . The rating system involved evaluating each property within the district and classifying them into one of five classes based on the building’s integrity . Integrity is the word used to frame the discussion about proposed changes to a building . It is a term used in historic preservation to help owners, architects and Commission members get a sense of how much the building has changed over time . Buildings with a high level of historic integrity have retained a high amount of original materials and their original design . Those with a low level of integrity have many changes . And there are buildings along a spectrum in between . When reviewing proposed changes to buildings in the District, the rating system helps determine the latitude of proposed changes to the building . More latitude comes to buildings with more changes . Projects involving buildings with a high level of integrity tend to focus on preservation and less change . The ratings come out of a city-wide survey of all built structures. Generally, buildings 50 years old and older were evaluated . From that the City’s most im-portant historic areas were identified, and the local district created.