Getting a property declared historic: the fifty years and the emergency designation

It is Chapter 10.1 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, the first in the historic resources conservation volume. It establishes who may nominate a historic site or zone, what eligibility criteria apply, what documents and photographs must be delivered to the Planning Board and to the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, how the Advisory Committee on Historic Sites and Zones evaluates, when a public hearing is needed, how designation is made by resolution, how the Register of Historic Sites and Zones is kept, how historic monuments and National Register properties are included, how a resource that ceased to meet the criteria is excluded, how they are identified on qualification maps, and what the Special Planning Norms are. The ICP endorsement a permit needs inside an already designated zone comes from Act 374-1949 and is covered by our guide on permits in historic zones.

Places, buildings, structures and objects — or a group of properties as a historic zone — of more than fifty years having significance for the country’s history, architecture, art, archaeology, engineering or culture and contributing to explaining its foundations may be recommended for nomination as a historic site. In singular cases where the property has exceptional value, the more-than-fifty-years condition is not excluding. The recommendation is justified on the nine criteria the chapter lists, from association with events that contributed significantly to the general patterns of our history to a building accurately reconstructed as part of a master restoration plan. For archaeological resources the threshold differs: an archaeological resource is something one hundred years old or more holding archaeological interest.

• A nomination application signed by the owner, titleholder or authorised representative certifying they are the principal proponent; and if filed by a person or entity other than the owner, certified evidence of having notified the owner of the intention to file.Verified against the official source
• Carrying out a study of the property or of the area to be nominated and showing evidence that the eligibility criteria are met.Verified against the official source
• Delivering one colour original and one disc with digital copies in PDF to the Planning Board, and one printed colour copy and one disc to the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, with evidence of that delivery.Verified against the official source
• For a historic zone: certifying and evidencing having notified the intention to file to the zone’s citizens, by a press announcement or direct communication to the property owners, with the notice including a delimitation of the area and an explanation of the zone’s purpose.Verified against the official source
• Holding a public hearing before any Board determination on designating a historic zone; only in nominations of meritorious historic sites may the Board exempt the public hearing process.Verified against the official source
• For the emergency designation: accompanying all documentation that may justify the action sought and evidence of having notified the ICP; at minimum an explanatory memorial justifying the action and photographs evidencing it are suggested.Verified against the official source
• For exclusion from the Register: showing the resource ceased to meet the eligibility criteria that gave rise to its nomination and inclusion, with all documentation justifying the action and evidence of having notified the ICP.Verified against the official source

• For a historic site: the property’s historic and current name, physical address, current owner’s name, historic and current use, area in square metres or cuerdas, location in Lambert coordinates, cadastre number, historic account, description of the architecture, statement of significance, description of its relation to the surroundings and statement of significance for the community.
• Reference documents: a United States Geological Survey topographic map at 1:20,000 showing the location, a cadastre map at 1:1000, a qualification map at 1:2,000 where available, and floor schemes at 1:200 or 1:500 as applicable.
• Black and white or colour photos, clear and descriptive, preferably 8 x 10 inches or no smaller than 3½ x 5 inches: two to five photographs of exteriors and interiors, in JPEG at six megapixels minimum or eight preferred for the digital copies, identified on the back in graphite pencil with the name, address, photographer, date, the point from which it was taken and the negative’s location, plus three photos of the surroundings showing the current condition.
• For a historic zone: historic and current name, municipality, barrio and sector, description of the delimitation, area, delimitation in Lambert coordinates, cadastre map numbers, a historic essay, a description of the architecture and urban fabric, and a discussion of the eligibility criteria for selecting the area and for not including the surrounding area.
• For the zone, additionally: a USGS map at 1:20,000, a base lot map of the zone including the surrounding area at 1:2,000 — the surrounding area shown shall not be smaller than the area nominated and shall have a similar linear distance in every direction — a cadastre map at 1:10,000, and individual record cards for both eligible and non-eligible properties within the area.
• Where they have been prepared: the particular historic zone’s Special Planning Norms and the delimitation map identifying the eligible properties and the proposed new planning districts.

1. 1

   Step 1: Who may ask and what qualifies

   The Planning Board may consider, on its own initiative or at the request of any person, agency or entity, the nomination of a historic site or zone. Places, buildings, structures and objects — or a group of properties as a historic zone — of more than fifty years having significance for the country’s history, architecture, art, archaeology, engineering or culture and contributing to explaining its foundations may be recommended for nomination as a historic site. And there is a door for the exceptional: in singular cases where the property has exceptional value, the more-than-fifty-years condition is not excluding. The criteria justifying the recommendation number nine, and include association with events or with significant persons of our past; representing the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or construction method, or a master’s work, or an urban space of special relevance, beauty or significance; the potential to reveal important information about prehistory or history; religious properties whose principal importance derives from architectural, artistic or historic merits; a building removed from its original site whose importance is architectural; the place or tomb of a historic figure of exceptional importance; a cemetery; and a reconstructed building, where the reconstruction was carried out accurately, in an appropriate setting and as part of a master restoration plan.

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   Step 2: The hundred years of archaeological resources

   The threshold changes for archaeology. The chapter defines an archaeological resource as a site, structure, object or remains that may give information important to the scientific study of humanity’s prehistory, history and culture, and specifies: an archaeological resource is something one hundred years old or more holding archaeological interest. The list of what is included runs from structures on or below the surface — domestic, storage, cooking or ceremonial — artificial mounds, fortifications, canals, burial pits, tombs, ovens, hearths and middens, to artefacts concentrated or dispersed, tools, clothing, containers, decorations and weapons in ceramic, glass, bone, ivory, shell, metal, wood, leather, feathers, pigments and lithics; manufacturing residues; organic animal and vegetable refuse and coprolites; human remains; any symbolic or artistic work made on rock or stone; caves or rock areas that served as shelter; and all parts of a wreck, including cargo, weapons and other associated materials. Designated archaeological resources are protected under Act No. 10 of 1987 and Act No. 112 of 1988, and the two Councils attached to the ICP oversee compliance.

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   Step 3: What is delivered, and in what format

   The nomination is made by completing an application and delivering one colour original and one disc with digital copies of the required documents in PDF to the Planning Board, and one printed colour copy and one disc to the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. If the application is filed by a person or entity other than the owner, certified evidence of having notified the owner of the intention to file must be submitted. The application asks for the historic and current name, physical address, current owner’s name, historic and current use, area, location in Lambert coordinates, cadastre number, historic account, description of the architecture — including the condition of habitability or ruin, certified by the nominating entity without an expert study being required at this stage — statement of significance, relation to the surroundings and significance for the community. And the reference documents: a USGS topographic map at 1:20,000, a cadastre map at 1:1000, a qualification map at 1:2,000 where available and floor schemes at 1:200 or 1:500. The photos have requirements of their own: two to five, black and white or colour, preferably 8 x 10 inches or no smaller than 3½ x 5, on fibre or synthetic paper not resin-coated; digitally, JPEG at six megapixels minimum or eight preferred; identified on the back in graphite pencil with the name, address, photographer, date, a description of where it was taken from and the negative’s location; and three photos of the surroundings showing the current condition.

4. 4

   Step 4: Nominating a zone: telling the neighbours

   Nominating a zone starts with the notice. The application must certify and evidence having notified the intention to file to the zone’s citizens, by a press announcement or direct communication to the property owners, and the notice includes a delimitation of the area and an explanation of the zone’s purpose. Any group of properties meeting the criteria may be nominated, and here are two useful ideas: historic zones may take in areas and structures that have no significance as an independent unit but whose location beside eligible properties justifies regulating their possible transformation; and a discontinuous historic zone may be considered within an urban space or parcel for its integrity and significance, requiring delimitation of the space that gives the zone unity. The accompanying documents include a base lot map of the zone with the surrounding area at 1:2,000, where the surrounding area shown shall not be smaller than the area nominated and shall have a similar linear distance in every direction; and individual record cards for both eligible and non-eligible properties within the area.

5. 5

   Step 5: The effect almost nobody expects: permits stop

   This is the provision with the most immediate consequences. Once the application is filed, the Board notifies the Treasury Department, the Municipal Revenue Collection Centre, the municipality where it sits and OGPe’s corresponding central and regional offices. And then: OGPe or the hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality shall cease issuing new authorisations or construction permits for the property until the Board’s evaluation and designation decision process is complete. Cases submitted before the notification date continue to be evaluated, requiring the ICP’s recommendation in that process. Cases presented on or after that date are submitted at OGPe’s corresponding office before a committee made up of the Board and OGPe, which evaluates each case’s merits, requires the ICP’s recommendation and notifies the action to follow; and this applies to all land transactions alike, such as the sale, acquisition and transfer of municipal land to usufructuaries or de facto possessors.

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   Step 6: The emergency designation and its six months

   When there is haste, the chapter opens a short route. Where there is a danger that an eligible property may be demolished or negatively altered in the short term, an emergency designation application may be filed before a nomination is filed, with the Planning Board and the ICP, which evaluate its merits, and the Board issues the agreement reached by resolution. The application is accompanied by all documentation that may justify the action sought and by evidence of having notified the ICP; at minimum an explanatory memorial justifying the action and photographs evidencing it are suggested. If favourable, the agreement is valid for six months, extendable for just cause, and is notified to OGPe’s central and regional office, the ICP and the municipality. On expiry, the emergency designation lapses and the ordinary nomination procedure follows. Before expiry, the Board may evaluate whether to maintain the designation or archive it without prejudice, asking the proponent to file the nomination. And if needed, the Board may summon a public hearing for better criteria.

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   Step 7: The Advisory Committee and the public hearing

   The Advisory Committee on Historic Sites and Zones is designated by the Board’s President with the ICP Executive Director’s advice. It has not fewer than five nor more than seven members: two are architects with conservation experience, one an archaeologist and one a historian, and the rest citizens knowledgeable about immovable heritage and its conservation; a representative of the ICP and one of the State Historic Preservation Office also serve as technical advisers, with voice but no vote. Members are designated for two years, except the initial designation, which is for two and three years splitting them roughly in half. The Committee is convened as soon as the Board certifies a nomination as filed, to issue its recommendation once the ICP’s is received, and quorum is half plus one. Then: once the ICP’s recommendation is received, a public hearing is required before any Board determination on designating a historic zone; only in nominations of meritorious historic sites may the Board exempt the public hearing process. Notice goes to all owners of properties within the perimeter to be designated a zone and to the owners of properties abutting a property to be designated historic, and public notice is given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation not less than fifteen days ahead.

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   Step 8: Designation, the Register and who is told

   For a site, once the ICP’s recommendation is received the designation recommendation goes to the Board, which evaluates the whole record and determines by Resolution whether to designate; where there is a public interest, the Board may take the recommendation to a public hearing to discuss the property’s merits. For a zone, the Board determines by Resolution after the public hearing. The Board notifies the designation resolution to the ICP, the municipality and OGPe’s central and regional offices, plus the Treasury Department, the CRIM, the DDEC and the Housing Department, the entities in charge of granting the benefits in Act 60-2019, the Incentives Code. The original of every file is archived in a Register of Historic Sites and Zones at the Board, which keeps an official list updated every time a designation is made, available to agencies and the public; a copy goes to the municipality and another to the ICP, and copies of the nomination and the resolution are available on the Board’s portal for download. Also included in the Register are properties declared historic monuments by the Legislative Assembly and those declared by the ICP under its Organic Act, and those on the National Register of Historic Places with the owner’s application or authorisation and with the ICP’s recommendation.

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   Step 9: Leaving the Register, and the Special Norms

   The Board may consider, on its own initiative or at any person’s, agency’s or entity’s request, excluding a historic resource when it ceases to meet the eligibility criteria that gave rise to its nomination and inclusion in the Register. The application is accompanied by all documentation justifying the action and by evidence of having notified the ICP — an explanatory memorial and photographs are suggested — it is referred to the Advisory Committee, and once the ICP’s recommendation is received the Board determines by Resolution; if needed it may summon a public hearing. Finally, beyond designation, the Board evaluates the Special Planning Norms for particular sites or zones, once submitted by the municipality, the ICP or the entity concerned and after the ICP’s recommendation. Those norms include special provisions and planning maps, complement and particularise the regulation’s general provisions, and cover special architectural, typological or urban-layout characteristics, use parameters, building parameters, uses and constructions by exception and particular specialities. And a hierarchy rule worth remembering: where provisions specify or contradict what the general rules state, those in the Special Planning Norms apply. Amendments take effect fifteen days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation. And on judicial review: the Board’s actions, decisions or resolutions in exercising its quasi-legislative functions are final, provided that where the Board fails to meet the statutory requirements for adoption and promulgation, recourse may be had to the Court of Appeals to challenge the procedure within thirty calendar days of publication.

The nomination application is filed with the Planning Board, with evidence of having delivered a copy to the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, which receives its own printed and digital set. The Board certifies it has the required documents and refers the application to the Advisory Committee on Historic Sites and Zones. The emergency designation is filed with the Board and the ICP. Designation and exclusion are decided by Board Resolution. OGPe and the hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality are the ones that cease issuing new authorisations or construction permits while the process is pending, and the ones that with the Board make up the committee evaluating cases presented on or after the notification date. Review of the procedure, where the Board fails to meet the statutory adoption and promulgation requirements, goes to the Court of Appeals within thirty calendar days of publication.

• Going for the ordinary nomination when demolition is imminent, instead of requesting the emergency designation.
• Filing without knowing that construction permits for the property stop while the Board decides.
• Nominating without certified evidence of having notified the owner where the proponent is not the owner.
• Ruling out a property for not reaching fifty years, forgetting the exceptional-value exception.
• Applying the fifty years to an archaeological resource, whose threshold is one hundred years or more.
• Delivering to the Board and forgetting the copy and disc for the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.
• In a zone nomination, drawing a surrounding area smaller than the area being nominated.
• Counting on avoiding the public hearing in a zone: it may be exempted only for meritorious historic sites.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Junta de Planificación de Puerto Rico (JP)

  Junta de Planificación

  docs.pr.gov

• Planning Board

  jp

  jp.pr.gov

• Institute of Puerto Rican Culture

  icp

  www.icp.pr.gov