The nineteen ICP recommendations and certifications, and the thirty days it has to issue them

It is Rule 10.2.11 of Chapter 10.2 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, titled Conservation of Immovable Patrimony. This guide covers the parts this site does not already publish: which properties the rule reaches, the provision on which regulation prevails, the two lists of recommendations and certifications, the ICP’s thirty-day term, the documents common to every application, the additional documents by type of recommendation, and the property inspection by the ICP Official. The rule’s purpose and its evaluation criteria largely repeat what is already in the guide on permits in historic sites and zones — Rules 10.2.1 to 10.2.3 — and in the guide on how a historic site or zone is designated, written from Chapter 10.1; so we do not repeat them here and link to both.

The rule reaches buildings registered in the National Register of Historic Places of the US Department of the Interior; buildings, places and historic zones included in the Planning Board’s Registry of Historic Sites and Zones; those declared historic by the Legislative Assembly; those declared of historic value by the ICP’s Board of Directors; the plazas de recreo and the buildings on the surrounding blocks of the centros fundacionales; properties zoned SH or with any classification related to buildings of historic or architectural value; the Properties of Historic or Architectural Value meeting the evaluation criteria; and the historic properties or ones with high archaeological potential certified by the ICP inside a Plan de Área or a Plan de Rehabilitación. It applies to every natural or juridical person, public or private, and to every public transaction or improvement by any official or body of the Government or of any municipality on any property of historic or architectural value.

• Applying for and obtaining the corresponding recommendation before the final authorisation of any project on a property of architectural, historic or archaeological patrimonial value.Verified against the official source
• That the Authorised Professional require a Recommendation for every permiso único to be granted on structures officially designated and included in the Planning Board’s Registry of Historic Sites and Zones.Verified against the official source
• That permits and final determinations related to a construction permit for demolition, remodelling or construction carry the ICP’s recommendation.Verified against the official source
• Submitting the common documents for the project to be understood as filed: without them the evaluation does not start.Verified against the official source
• If there is more than one owner: that the delegated representative coordinate with all the others so they are present or adequately represented, so that the ICP Official can inspect the property in its entirety on the agreed date and time.Verified against the official source

• Common to every application: the Historic Value Certificate.
• Explanatory Memorial, which must include the property’s historic data.
• Photographs of the plot and of the structures or remnants of structures existing on the property and in the immediate context.
• The property’s deeds and the owner’s authorisation letter.
• The project’s situation plan and a survey plan in the State Plane Coordinate System in DXF format, duly geo-referenced.
• For demolition, in addition: the Construction Permit Application, the Phase IA or the property’s historic documentation as applicable, the complete set of construction plans, the technical specifications and the cost estimate.
• For use, in addition: a schematic plan with the space’s distribution and dimensions, marking the entrances from the pavement with the street’s or public space’s name.
• The Tax Exemption Benefit Certificate; a letter from the Junta de Condóminos or delegated representative if the property is under the Horizontal Property regime or belongs to more than one owner; and the list of all the owners with their addresses and telephone numbers.

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   Step 1: Which properties it reaches

   The section regulates the use, development and intervention in buildings registered in the National Register of Historic Places of the US Department of the Interior; buildings, places and historic zones included in the Planning Board’s Registry of Historic Sites and Zones; buildings, places and zones declared historic by the Legislative Assembly; buildings and places declared of historic value by the ICP’s Board of Directors or determined to be historic; the plazas de recreo and the buildings on the surrounding blocks located in the municipalities’ centros fundacionales; properties zoned SH or with any classification related to buildings of historic or architectural value; the Properties of Historic or Architectural Value meeting the regulation’s evaluation criteria; and the historic properties or ones with high archaeological potential certified by the ICP inside a Plan de Área adopted under a Territorial Ordination Plan or within the limits of a Rehabilitation Plan.

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   Step 2: Also urban-centre rehabilitation projects

   The rule adds a broad case worth knowing if you work in town revitalisation: Projects for the Rehabilitation of Urban Centres, meaning any project or works aimed at repopulating, renovating or revitalising urban centres through housing, commerce, professional offices, industry, pavement tree planting, plazas, parking, communal areas, parks, recreational spaces and structures, repair and construction of structures, development of vacant or under-used plots and the necessary infrastructure, where it impacts the municipalities’ centros fundacionales or the historic or high-archaeological-potential properties certified by the ICP. And it applies to every public transaction or improvement by any official or body of the Government of Puerto Rico and of any municipality on any property of historic or architectural value.

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   Step 3: The six recommendations for permits

   These recommendations for permits must be applied for and issued before the final authorisation of any project on any property of architectural, historic or archaeological patrimonial value: Demolition Recommendation, Construction Recommendation, Use Recommendation, Major Cleaning Recommendation, Debris Removal Recommendation and Earth Movement Recommendation. Moreover, the Authorised Professional requires a Recommendation for every permiso único to be granted on structures officially designated and included in the Planning Board’s Registry of Historic Sites and Zones. And permits and final determinations related to a construction permit for demolition, remodelling or construction require the ICP’s recommendation.

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   Step 4: The nineteen the ICP issues

   The second list is the recommendations or certifications the ICP issues: Sign or Advertisement Installation Recommendation; Awning or Curtain Installation Recommendation; Major Cleaning Recommendation; Segregation or Grouping of Solares Recommendation; Intervention Recommendation; Structure Relocation Recommendation; Temporary Structure Construction and Use Recommendation; Infrastructure, Signals and Urban Furniture in Public Space Installation Recommendation; Exterior Paint Application; Fence Construction Recommendation; Alcoholic Beverage Sales Recommendation; Mobile Business Installation Recommendation; Historic Value Certificate; Tax Exemption Benefit Certificate; Review of Phase I Archaeological Studies; Review of Phase II Archaeological Studies; Review of Phase III Archaeological Studies; Review of Archaeological Monitoring Reports; and Recommendation on Conservation Plans.

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   Step 5: Two that surprise: alcohol sales and mobile business

   They are worth isolating because they are not works. The Alcoholic Beverage Sales Recommendation and the Mobile Business Installation Recommendation are expressly on the list of what the ICP issues. That is: if you are going to sell alcoholic beverages or set up a mobile business in a historic site or zone, in a centro fundacional or on a property of historic or architectural value, the process also passes through the Institute of Culture, not only through the permit or licence you already expected.

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   Step 6: Thirty days, and what happens if the ICP does not answer

   The ICP issues the corresponding recommendations within a term of thirty days from the date the recommendation request is notified, as established in Section 2.1.9.11 of the regulation. And the rule adds the express consequence: if it does not issue its recommendations within that term, it is understood that there are no recommendations and the corresponding process proceeds. That is: the ICP’s silence does not freeze the permit; the file carries on. That detail matters both to the person waiting on a permit and to the neighbour who was counting on the Institute’s evaluation.

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   Step 7: The documents without which it is not understood as filed

   The proponent submits these documents for the project to be understood as filed: the Historic Value Certificate; the Explanatory Memorial, which must include the property’s historic data; photographs of the plot and of the structures or remnants of structures existing on the property and in the immediate context; the property’s deeds; the owner’s authorisation letter; the project’s situation plan; and a survey plan in the State Plane Coordinate System in DXF format, duly geo-referenced. Note two details that get overlooked: the photographs include the immediate context, not only your property; and the survey plan must be in DXF format and geo-referenced, not a PDF.

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   Step 8: The extras, by what you are asking for

   Besides the common documents, others are needed depending on the case. For demolition: the Construction Permit Application, the Phase IA or the property’s historic documentation as applicable, the complete set of construction plans, the technical specifications and the cost estimate. For use: a schematic plan with the space’s distribution and dimensions, which must mark the entrances from the pavement with the street’s or public space’s name. To that are added the Tax Exemption Benefit Certificate; the letter from the Junta de Condóminos or delegated representative where the property is under the Horizontal Property regime or belongs to more than one owner; and the list of all the owners with their addresses and telephone numbers.

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   Step 9: The inspection: all the owners present

   The rule closes with the property’s inspection and evaluation by the ICP, and with a concrete obligation for properties with several owners: where there is more than one owner, the delegated representative must coordinate with all the other owners so that they are present or adequately represented, so that the ICP Official can inspect the property in its entirety on the agreed date and time. In a building under the horizontal property regime, that turns coordination among the condominium owners into a step of the process, not a detail.

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    Step 10: Which regulation governs when there are several

    The chapter’s provisions prevail over and are complemented by the provisions of any other regulation in force adopted by the Planning Board applicable to the specific zone where the property sits, so far as those are not incompatible with the matter this regulation specifically covers; and they are interpreted in the light of the chapter’s purposes and the public policies and land-use plans adopted by the Board. And where a property has been certified as of Historic or Architectural Value by the ICP, or designated a historic site or zone, and no Normas Especiales de Ordenamiento have been adopted for the area where it sits, the provisions are interpreted under this chapter.

The recommendations and certifications are issued by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, and are requested as part of the permit process before OGPe, the Authorised Professional or the Permit Office of an Autonomous Municipality with Hierarchies I to III. The regulation does not publish the ICP’s fees here: it sends them to Regulation No. 5976 of 1999, which we did not read, so we publish no figures.

• Filing without the common document package: without it the project is not understood as filed.
• Submitting the survey plan as a PDF instead of in geo-referenced DXF format in the State Plane Coordinate System.
• Sending photographs only of the property and not of the immediate context, which the regulation expressly requires.
• Omitting the Explanatory Memorial with the property’s historic data.
• Requesting a Demolition Recommendation without the Construction Permit Application, the complete plans, the technical specifications and the cost estimate.
• Requesting a Use Recommendation with a plan that does not mark the entrances from the pavement with the street’s name.
• Not including the Junta de Condóminos letter when the property is under the horizontal property regime.
• Coordinating the inspection without ensuring all owners are present or adequately represented.
• Not knowing that selling alcoholic beverages or setting up a mobile business on these properties also carries an ICP recommendation.
• Assuming the ICP’s silence freezes the permit: after the thirty days it is understood there are no recommendations and the process continues.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP)

  ICP

  docs.pr.gov

• Puerto Rican Institute of Culture

  icp

  www.icp.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov