14.01.010 Findings and purpose.
A. Findings.
1. The city of San Luis Obispo has a distinctive physical character and rich history that are reflected in its many cultural resources, such as historic structures and sites. These irreplaceable resources are important to the community’s economic vitality, quality of life, and sense of place, and need protection from deterioration, damage, and inappropriate alteration or demolition.
2. The city of San Luis Obispo has been fortunate to have owners who care about the history of their community and have undertaken the costly and time-consuming task of restoring, maintaining and enhancing their historic homes and commercial buildings. Their efforts have enhanced the distinctive character and sense of place of the community.
3. The California Environmental Quality Act requires special treatment of historic resources and the establishment of clear local guidance for the identification and preservation of such resources lends clarity and certainty to the review of development applications involving historic resources. See Section 3.1.4 of the Historic Preservation Program Guidelines.
B. Purpose. The broad purpose of this chapter is to promote the public health, safety and welfare through the identification, protection, enhancement and preservation of those properties, structures, sites, artifacts and other cultural resources that represent distinctive elements of San Luis Obispo’s cultural, educational, social, economic, political and architectural history. Specifically, this chapter sets forth regulations and procedures to:
1. Identify, protect, preserve, and promote the continuing use and upkeep of San Luis Obispo’s historic structures, sites and districts.
2. Foster the retention and restoration of historic buildings and other cultural resources that promote tourism, economic vitality, sense of place, and diversity.
3. Encourage private stewardship of historic buildings and other cultural resources through incentives where possible.
4. Implement the historic preservation goals and policies of the conservation and open space element of the general plan.
5. Promote the conservation of valuable material and embodied energy in historic structures through their continued use, restoration and repair, and on-going maintenance of historic resources.
6. Promote the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the city’s distinctive character, cultural resources, and history.
7. Establish the procedures and significance criteria to be applied when evaluating development project effects on historic resources.
8. Fulfill the city’s responsibilities as a certified local government under state and federal regulations and for federal Section 106 reviews.
9. Establish the policy of the city to pursue all reasonable alternatives to achieve compliance with this chapter for the protection of historic resources prior to initiating penalty proceedings as set forth in Section 14.01.140. (Ord. 1557 § 3 (part), 2010)