Commission Considering Overhaul of City's Preservation Ordinance

The Office of Historic Resources and the Cultural Heritage Commission (CHC) are initiating a significant overhaul of the City of Los Angeles' historic preservation law, and we invite your comments in writing.

The staff of the Office of Historic Resources is proposing important amendments aimed at strengthening demolition review procedures, clarifying criteria for historic designation, and enhancing notification of private property owners.   The City of Los Angeles' Cultural Heritage Ordinance, originally approved by the City Council in 1962, created the procedures for the designation and protection of significant Los Angeles buildings and sites as Historic-Cultural Monuments.  While the Ordinance has undergone several minor, procedural modifications, it has never been comprehensively updated to give our City a state-of-the-art historic preservation program.   

OHR staff has conducted considerable research on other cities' ordinances and has utilized guidance publications from the State Office of Historic Preservation to propose ordinance language that reflects "best practices" nationally. 

The Cultural Heritage Commission held an initial public workshop on these ordinance amendments on February 7, 2008, and held two additional hearings on the proposed changes on March 20 and April 17.  The Commission will be conducting additional review and will be soliciting additional input from key stakeholders before forwarding its recommendations to the City Council. 

To review the text and a summary of the ordinance recommendations under review by the Commission, please click on the attachments below.