Navigating Your Renovation in a Historic District
Our goal for this blog post is to help guide frantic property owners on the ins-and-outs of the HDLC permitting process. We have completed several projects that are in both partial and full control districts, and each time the process has been a little different. On top of that, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed things how things worked as well. We’ll try to keep this post as short and sweet as possible - though there’s a lot of information to process.
We’ve included links to various sources that can help property owners understand what they can expect in the months leading up to approval from our perspective. We will also touch on our projects that required Certificates of Appropriateness from the HDLC for reference.
Example Project: Partial Control Camelback
Camp Street Camelback, Uptown District: We removed the farthest back historic room for the conversion. This did not trigger any commission approvals, as in a partial control district we stayed well below the roof and wall removal thresholds, and did not touch the front facade.
Resources
Preservation Resource Center - Navigating HDLC: We are going to hit some points that the PRC did not hit in their presentation. Just so there is not overlapping information. You can click the here to see that presentation.
Identifying New Orleans Architectural Styles: If you don’t know the style of your property, refer to this page.
Example Project: Partial Control Attic Build-Out
Black Pearl Creole, Carrollton District: This structural renovation did trigger the roof demolition rule, as the owner wanted to remove the historic roof and replace with a new roof with dormers. Because the new roof pitch did not match the existing roof pitch, this is not seen as a “replacement-in-kind”, therefore must be reviewed by the Commission at a council hearing. It was approved.
Getting Started
Let’s assume you are aware of your property’s status in a historic district. Your first question may be “what can I do?” or “what can I NOT do?” these are always our first question from clients. Most experienced NOLA-based architects will be able to answer these basic and broad questions regarding your renovation or addition. The answers and approval timeline looks different depending on your district. You can refer to this page for information pertaining to which district types you are in: full or partial control.
Do your renovation plans trigger a review by the board? If you answer is yes to ANY of the questions below, you will need to get approval by the HDLC board at a commission hearing.
Partial Control District Triggers:
The structural removal, obscuration, or increase in height of any exterior wall altering more than 50% of the total exterior structure, or the restructuring of more than 50% of the structure’s exterior wall area
The removal, alteration, or obscuration of more than 50% of the existing roof structure measured in plan view
The removal, alteration, or obscuration of more than 25% of the historic materials, as determined by HDLC staff, on the primary façade; or
The raising of an existing building to create habitable space that complies with the ceiling height requirements set forth in Sec. 26-196.
Full Control District Oversight:
Building Rating: The PRC touches on this in their presentation, but basically you need to know whether your property is an S or C or N property: Significant, Contributing or Non-contributing property.
Guidelines for New Construction, Additions and Demolitions.
Levels of Review: If you plan to deviate from any of the guidelines above you will need to get approval from HDLC. The Staff level person or the ARC (Architectural Review Committee) will review this prior to the HDLC hearing and make a recommendation to the HDLC whether to approve or deny the appeal.
Obscuration means concealing, hiding, encapsulating, or covering a building’s exterior walls, existing roof structure, or historic materials on primary facade in whole or in a significant part with new or replaced elements.
Example Project: Partial Control Addition
Austerlitz Addition, Uptown District: Here we did propose to alter the front façade, but not enough to trigger any commission reviews. This project was approved at the STAFF level.
Application Process
Once you have a general idea of your project goals, you can work with an architect or a design professional to illustrate the changes that will be proposed in the application process.
Depending on how much work you are doing to the property, you will need to submit an application for permit which comes in the form of various degrees of work from non-structural renovation to structural renovation to new construction. Every application is reviewed by City of New Orleans planners. The application can be filled out online by accessing this portal, creating a user name and password and clicking on the corresponding link under the “PERMIT - BUILDING” section on the left hand side of the webpage. We typically do this portion of work for our clients.
Your address will be one of the items required in the application and that will determine which staff person at the HDLC will review the application for compliance. If you are in a partial control district and you do not trigger any of the demolition rules, the staff person will clear the application and pass it onto the zoning and planning departments. If you are in the full control district, you might be required to meet with the ARC (architectural review committee). From there, they will either approved your design or defer the proposed design to the HDLC with a recommendation.
You will be required to provide at minimum a plan and elevation with building heights and dimensions. You may also be required to provide renderings. Renderings provide a perspective of the property and will illustrate what elements will be seen from the street view.
Deadlines for ARC submissions are generally due 3 weeks prior to the actual meeting, same for HDLC. So give yourself enough time to complete your presentation. A list of the meetings can be found here.
Example Project: Full Control Renovation
Chippewa Renovation, Irish Channel District: This change was reviewed by the ARC in a hearing because we proposed modifications that altered the existing historic exterior in a FULL control district. The porch addition was approved but the dormers were not. Some minor exterior details were worked out at STAFF level during the construction process.
Council Meetings
Council meetings are now held virtually, whereas before the pandemic, they were held in City Hall chambers. Each project is assigned a slot on the agenda. An HDLC staff person will introduce the project to the council, and you are allowed to make a statement about your project and then a determination was given. Right now, you must make your statement online (to be read out loud) at the meeting, instead of speaking in person - and you are asked to remain muted unless your project is being presented. Honestly, I don’t hate this new virtual process. Instead of travelling to City Hall and sitting in the chambers quietly until our project was presented, we now can sign on mid-meeting in the comfort of our office or home.
Still Have Questions
If you still have questions and are feeling lost in this process, it may be wise to reach out to an architect or a design professional, or just contact one of the staff people at the HDLC office. I hope we provided enough examples of work that might help you gauge the complexity of the application process. As always, reach out if you want to learn more and how we might be abke to help!