Work on a historic property or zone: the ICP recommendation

The Program protects Puerto Rico’s built historic heritage, which includes every building of heritage and cultural value designated by the Planning Board on the Institute’s recommendation, those listed in the US Department of the Interior’s National Register of Historic Places, those on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and Eligible properties, public and private, certified by the Institute. Its legal basis is Ley Núm. 89 of 21 June 1955, the Institute’s Organic Act, whose Section 4 imposes the duty to conserve, restore and study movable and immovable property of historic value and to advise the Planning Board. Ley Núm. 119 of 26 September 2005 authorized it to impose fines for violating or failing to comply with the regulations it administers. And La Fortaleza and the Old San Juan Historic District are part of UNESCO’s world heritage.

This is where many people discover they are inside it. The Institute issues recommendations on properties officially designated and included in the Planning Board’s Register of Historic Sites and Zones, in the National Register of Historic Places, those classified as CRH, SH or R-ZH surrounding recreation plazas, those of architectural value, and Eligible ones under the criteria of the Joint Regulation, Volume XI, Chapter 51. Statewide there are over 8,175 identified historic-value structures; some 255 are in the Planning Board’s Register and some 335 in the National Register, plus the 12 designated historic zones. To those are added the recreation plazas of all 78 municipalities and the properties in their perimeter blocks, as well as buildings zoned “P” or Public built before 1960, whether or not in historic zones: former school buildings, city halls, former courthouses, former police stations, former fire stations, cemeteries, hospitals and jails. The application is made by the owners or an authorized professional.

• That the application be made by the owner or an authorized professional.Verified against the official source
• Submitting the PPHE Service Request Form, which the Institute publishes together with the invoice and evidence of payment.Verified against the official source
• For the Compliance Certification for tax exemption purposes: that the application be duly sworn before a notary, as the Department of Treasury requires under Ley 187-2015.Verified against the official source

• The Service Request Form for the Built Historic Heritage Program, which the ICP publishes on its page as “Solicitud de SERVICIOS-FACTURA-EVIDENCIA DE PAGO”.

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   Step 1: Find out whether your property is inside

   Do not assume it is not. Beyond the 12 designated historic zones and the properties on the state and national registers, it takes in the recreation plazas of all 78 municipalities and the properties in the perimeter blocks around those plazas, and buildings zoned “P” or Public built before 1960, whether or not in a historic zone. The Institute itself issues Historic Value Certifications precisely to confirm whether a property is within the limits of a historic zone or has been designated a Historic Site, and what its historic value is. Any person or entity can request one.

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   Step 2: Check whether what you plan is on the list

   The Institute issues recommendations for: partial demolition; total demolition; new construction, restoration, remodelling and major or substantial intervention; construction of temporary structures, infrastructure, planting or fences; minor intervention; intervention in public spaces — infrastructure, signage, furniture, fountains, sculptures, pruning, removing or planting trees; intervention in recreation plazas; use of 1,999 square feet or less; use of 2,000 square feet or more; installing permanent or temporary signs or advertisements; installing awnings or curtains; name change on a tax exemption certification; applying exterior paint; major cleaning; relocating structures; subdividing or grouping lots; mobile business; and alcoholic beverage sales. If your job is painting the façade, yes, it is on the list.

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   Step 3: Three things that are simply not permitted

   The Institute says it without qualification. Large billboards and pylons are not permitted in historic sites or zones. Murals are not permitted in historic sites and zones. And in the San Juan Historic Zone, alcoholic beverage sales cannot be the sole or principal activity of new businesses; any such recommendation is additionally subject to the location requirements of Subtitle E, Chapter 5, of the Internal Revenue Code, especially sections 5050.10 to 5050.12.

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   Step 4: Submit the service request

   The ICP publishes a PPHE Service Request form that comes combined with the invoice and evidence of payment, which tells you the procedure has a cost even though the page publishes no amount. The application is made by the owner or an authorized professional. If your case goes through OGPe, the Institute acts there as a Recommending Agency since Ley 161-2009; if it goes through an autonomous municipality, the recommendation is issued to that municipality too. Some items — signage, awnings and major cleaning — are filed through OGPe when combined with a Use Permit.

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   Step 5: If you restored: the tax exemption

   Ley Núm. 7 of 4 March 1955, the Historic Sites and Zones Tax Incentives Act, allows owners of properties in historic zones and sites who have restored, rehabilitated or conserved them wholly or partly to obtain certifications for tax exemption benefits. Ley 187-2015 added a requirement worth handling before you leave the house: the Department of Treasury asks that every Compliance Certification request be duly sworn before a notary. And in the Municipality of San Juan, the Historic Value Certification is issued to reduce the amount payable in construction excise taxes, but in those cases its issuance requires the Institute’s favourable recommendation or endorsement prior to the works.

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   Step 6: Ask for advice before buying or before breaking ground

   Among the functions the Program publishes is advising and guiding on best intervention practices anyone interested in acquiring, or already owning, a property within a historic zone or site or an eligible property. It also issues Advisory opinions: when asked to evaluate a property’s potential for restoration, conservation or rehabilitation, it responds setting out the parameters under which works would be carried out, according to the property’s style, its condition, the materials and construction methods used and the historic and proposed uses. Asking first costs nothing; finding out afterwards is expensive.

Built Historic Heritage Program of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture. Director: Arq. Héctor Balvanera Alfaro. Phone (787) 724-0700, extension 1300. Email hbalvanera@icp.pr.gov. Hours Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Institute’s mailing address: Apartado 9024184, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902-4184. The ICP also publishes a map of Puerto Rico with the conservation staff assigned by municipality, and a Citizen’s Guide to the conservation of Built Historic Heritage.

• Believing “historic zone” means only Old San Juan.
• Painting the façade without a recommendation: applying exterior paint is on the list.
• Putting up a sign, an awning or a curtain without going through the Institute.
• Pruning or planting a tree in a public space of a historic zone without a recommendation.
• Painting a mural in a historic zone, where they are not permitted.
• Installing a billboard or pylon in a historic site or zone, where they are not permitted.
• Bringing the Compliance Certification request without swearing it before a notary.
• Doing the work first and asking afterwards for the Historic Value Certification for the San Juan excise discount: the prior favourable recommendation is needed.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP)

  ICP

  www.icp.pr.gov