After Historic Designation

If your property is on the Lacey Historic Register and you want to make changes to it, you have to go through a review process before the work is started. The Lacey Historical Commission reviews changes in use for the property or any work done on a property that requires a building permit. A permit is required for any project to construct, enlarge, repair, alter, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of any building within the City of Lacey.


Design Review Process

1

Notify City staff

Contact Erin Quinn Valcho, Museum Curator of your intent to do one of the following:

  • Change the use of the historic property
  • Alter the historic property
  • Demolish the historic property
2

Determine if you need a permit

A permit is required for any project to construct, enlarge, repair, alter, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of any building within the City of Lacey.

3

Complete the Design Review Form

Download the application for a Certificate of Appropriateness and complete it in consultation with the Museum Curator. The requirements for submission are in addition to any that are required for the City permitting process.

This is also a good time to decide if you plan to pursue tax benefits for your property once the project is complete.

4

Staff Review

Staff will review your submission, including attachments, to ensure it is complete. Staff will also determine if a site visit is required to complete the application process.

5

Historical Commission Review

Once the application and any necessary site visits are completed, the Historical Commission will review the application at their next regularly scheduled meeting. The criteria for design review are outlined in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.

It is highly recommended that the property owner as well as their contractor and architect attend the Historical Commission meeting to answer any questions that may arise.

6

Certificate of Appropriateness

The Historical Commission will do one of the following as a result of their design review:

  1. Issue a Certificate of Appropriateness, which means that the historical review of the permit process is approved.
  2. Issue a Certificate of Appropriateness with conditions, which means that if the property owner accepts the conditions, the historical review of the permit process is approved.
  3. Decline to issue a Certificate of Appropriateness, which means that modifications to the plan will have to be made before the historical review of the project will be approved.

 

7

Notification

Staff will notify the property owner and the Community & Economic Development staff of the Commission’s decision within 30 days of the receipt of the completed application (which includes site visits).

8

Property Owner Recourse

If the applicant disagrees with the result of the design review, the options for proceeding with the project are:

  1. Reapply with modified plans.
  2. Decide not to proceed with the project.
  3. Remove the property from Lacey’s Register of Historic Places.

Final decisions on the issuing of permits rest with the Community and Economic Development staff. Any project moving forward will still need a permit to be issued.

The Lacey Historical Commission also reviews removal of properties from the Historic Register using the same process as adding them to Register.