RBC | A major topic to be discussed at the upcoming Preservation Workshop, along with preservation benefits and incentives, will be how the community can maximize the benefits of and its ability to foster historic preservation, namely by becoming a Certified Local Government.
Chief among the many benefits of CLG status is the ability to designate or “landmark” historic properties locally, a savings in both time and money. This would assist anyone wanting to designate a building, especially a dozen or so properties already qualified as probable landmarks that could not be included in the Meeker National Historic Register District because they did not touch the District’s boundaries. The second major benefit would accrue to Rio Blanco County: eligibility for grants available only to CLGs and which need not be focused on a structure. CLG grants might cover things such, for example, as developing an online self-directed driving tour of the Meeker Pageant sites or of the historic school houses.
Certified Local Government status is conferred by the state and federal governments on communities with a historic preservation board and a program that complies with federal historic preservations requirements, primarily accepting the conditions defining “historic,” (already in the resolution authorizing the current RBC Historic Preservation Board), conducting a survey of local “historic” properties (not required in the current resolution), and assuring historic property owners due process (largely missing from the current resolution).
A CLG community otherwise defines its own program. Of the 67 Colorado communities with CLG status, Meeker not yet among them, there are 67 different formation resolutions or ordinances. Some, such as Aspen, impose severe limitations on owners of designated properties. Others such as New Castle and Cortez impose very small or no limitations. Some CLGs encompass only a town, a city, or a county exclusive of towns or cities. Sparsely populated areas, like Otero County, may include participation by towns located within the county in a county-wide CLG for the sake of efficiency and economy.
RBC Historic Preservation Advisory Board has proposed a resolution that meets state and federal requirements for Rio Blanco County to obtain CLG status. The resolution includes the required provisions and fleshes out procedures for the designation and maintenance of designated structures (landmarks) that assure due process. The proposed resolution contemplates the participation of Meeker or Rangely, at their discretion.
The cry “CLG’s take away your property rights” is true in communities like Aspen, but not true of the proposed resolution for Rio Blanco County. At first glance, two provisions might be questioned. First, a property proposed for designation as a landmark cannot be altered while the landmark designation is under consideration. Since the owner of a property being considered for designation must either sign the application or sign a consent which forms part of the application, presumably the temporary inability to alter a structure is not problematic. Second, any application for a permit to alter or demolish a landmark is held in abeyance pending a prompt review by the Preservation Board who may make suggestions. However, a property owner should be aware of this brief “limitation” before applying for or consenting to designation in the first place and, of course, is free to comply or not comply with a suggestion.
The proposed resolution is on the RBC Historic Preservation Advisory Board Facebook page, and may be compared to the existing non-CLG resolution that is found on the Rio Blanco County site under Committees.
Find out about historic preservation’s benefits, available tax incentives and grants, what the proposed CLG does and how it works to your benefit and that of RBC residents. Experts from History Colorado will share information and answer your questions at the Preservation Workshop on July 25, 2023, from 10 a.m. until noon at the Heritage Center, 517 Park Ave.
Special to the Herald Times
