Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 9, September 2003

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Seattle landmarks process outlined at workshop

By JAMES BUSH

What makes a landmark?

The city's approximately 240 designated historic landmarks include structures as ornate as the North End's Carnegie libraries and as utilitarian as the Aurora Bridge. Since the approval of the 1974 landmarks law, historic status has been granted to structures ranging from street clocks to the Space Needle, plus a few applicants that can't even be called structures (Gas Works Park and even the Montlake Cut).

How landmarks make the grade in Seattle and how residents can negotiate the city's landmarks process was the topic of a June workshop sponsored by the Historic Seattle preservation and development authority.

In order to qualify for landmark consideration, a building must be at least 25 years old and reasonably intact, explains Lorne McConachie, chairman of Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board. In addition, the building must meet at least one of six criteria for significance. It must be associated with the following: 1. a significant event; 2. a significant historical figure; 3. a significant aspect of cultural, political or economic heritage; 4. an architectural style or period; 5. a major designer or builder; or 6. be an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood or the city as a whole.

Has any one building ever met all six criteria? Yes, says McConachie, the Space Needle. But, proponents of lesser buildings should take heart: a landmark is only required to meet one of the six criteria.

While the city's standard landmark application form has just four pages (basic information, a photograph, an architectural description, and a statement as to which of the six criteria the applicant thinks the building meets and why), many applicants submit encyclopedic nominations prepared by history consultants.

The nominations is twice screened by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board. Comprised of persons with a mix of relevant experience (such as architects, structural engineers, landscape architects, historians, and real estate people), the board first screens the nomination at a public meeting, at which it may approve all or part of the nomination. Within 60 days, a second public meeting is held, during which the board votes on landmark designation. To gain designation, a nominated structure must receive the support of a majority of board members.

The challenge to the nominator is to make a convincing argument to the board. Elizabeth Chave, Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board coordinator, cautions against getting bogged down in minutia. "It's fine if (the argument) is long in the written form," she says. "But you want the board to listen to you."

Read the landmarks criteria carefully and argue to them, advises McConachie. "You've got to give us the argument," he says. "Give [the board] the reason to say yes."

The next step is the negotiating of controls and incentives. Controls are the designation of protected parts of the structure (to modify any protected portion of a landmark building, the owner must return to the board to obtain a Certificate of Approval for the work). Incentives include eligibility for a Washington state special tax valuation program, which significantly lowers the taxable value of historic structures when the owner does a major renovation of the building. The controls and incentives agreement is then approved by City Council ordinance.

Once the board approves the landmark designation, the building is a designated Seattle landmark. There is no appeal process, although the city Hearing Examiner may get involved to referee disputes during the controls and incentives negotiations.

If the board votes to reject a nomination at either stage in the process, there is a five-year period during which the structure cannot be renominated.

McConachie notes that the landmark process takes all factors into account, so a nominated building need not be an architectural marvel. He cites the Belltown Cottages, three cannery workers shacks that were designated as city landmarks. He cites seeing an old photo of the waterfront, with Indian canoes in the foreground and the workers shacks in the background. "Just to think about the changes that have taken place since that canoe shot is powerful," he says.

Ballard's Golden Gardens bathhouse is another example of a designated landmark that represents vernacular, rather than high architecture. Architectural merit wasn't the deciding factor in that designation, he says. "To me, it was people from the neighborhood saying 'this is our center'."