Colorado Springs considers local landmark designation process

Colorado Springs staff plan to meet Aug. 7 with the Historic Neighborhood Partnership about creating a citywide process to designate local landmarks, separate from the city’s existing historic-preservation overlay rezoning process.

The proposal remains in its early stages. Staff told the Historic Preservation Board on Aug. 3 that a separate process could make it easier to designate individual properties and help them pursue state and federal preservation incentives. Staff expect to bring the issue back to the board, but no draft ordinance, return date, public hearing or adoption deadline has been set.

Senior Planner Bill Gray said the current system allows local designation only through a historic-preservation overlay, which functions much like a rezoning. A new process could be placed in the city’s Uniform Development Code, where the preservation ordinance is located, but staff have not settled on code language or placement. Gray said local designation could bring changes or demolition proposals before the board. The record does not establish whether that review would be mandatory, what owner-consent rules would apply, how appeals would work or what properties would qualify.

The proposal gained urgency after advocates told the board that History Colorado denied a request to list Historic Mesa Road on the Colorado State Register and National Register. Board members said they want to pursue future local landmark designations for people, places and events connected to the road. The public record reviewed does not include the denial’s date, deciding body or reason, and no Mesa Road case file or written decision was found in History Colorado’s publicly accessible materials.

That gap matters because state and national listing generally do not by themselves prevent a private owner from altering or demolishing a property. Local designation can provide regulatory protection through a city ordinance and design-review process. Colorado Springs currently requires Historic Preservation Board review for modifications, new construction and demolitions within its historic-preservation overlay, the city’s review guidance says.

A local designation also could make some properties eligible for preservation incentives, depending on the ordinance and each property’s separate eligibility. History Colorado’s Certified Local Government handbook says locally designated landmarks can be eligible for Colorado’s historic-preservation income-tax credit and State Historical Fund grants. Federal rehabilitation tax credits are more limited and generally apply to qualifying income-producing historic properties and rehabilitation projects, the National Park Service says.

No proposal-specific public comment period has been announced. The Aug. 7 discussion was described as a staff meeting, not a board hearing. Residents will need to watch for a future board agenda or formal code proposal for a confirmed opportunity to comment.