Marlborough Township
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXX
Historical Commission
§ 275-221 Composition and membership.
A.
The Marlborough Township Historical Commission ("the Historical Commission") shall be composed of seven members. It is recommended that the Historical Commission contain members with the following background or qualifications:
(1)
One registered architect;
(2)
One licensed real estate agent;
(3)
One member of the Marlborough Township Planning Commission;
(4)
One member of the Marlborough Township Board of Supervisors;
(5)
One attorney;
(6)
Two members shall be any person with demonstrated interest in architectural history, history, historic preservation, or community revitalization;
(7)
Additional alternate members may be allowed at the discretion of the Board of Supervisors.
B.
Members of the Historical Commission shall be appointed by the Marlborough Township Board of Supervisors. The terms of the initial members of the Historical Commission shall be staggered so that three members of the Historical Commission shall be replaced or reappointed in each of the next three years. The reappointed or replaced members shall then serve for a term of three years.
C.
Members of the Historical Commission shall select a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer from among its members. It shall be the President's responsibility to conduct meetings of the Historical Commission and to act as a liaison between the Code Enforcement Officer, Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors and the Historical Commission. The Vice President shall assist the President and assume the role of President when the President is absent. The Secretary shall have duties related to keeping records and handling correspondence. The Treasurer shall have duties related to the finances of the Historical Commission.
D.
A vacancy on the Historical Commission shall be filled by an appointment by the Board of Supervisors, preferably within 120 days from the date the vacancy is evident. Historical Commission members must attend all meetings. A member's seat shall be deemed vacant when the member is absent for four consecutive regular meetings, or when a member resigns in writing, in which case a new member may be appointed in his or her place.
E.
A quorum required to conduct business at Historical Commission meetings shall be a majority of the then-appointed members. Members shall not be compensated but may be reimbursed for expenses approved by the Board of Supervisors and directly related to the duties of the Historical Commission.
F.
Historical Commission members shall not nominate, vote on, or participate in any discussion concerning an historic resource that is owned by himself/herself or a family member.
§ 275-222 Duties.
A.
The Historical Commission shall hold meetings monthly, or as often as necessary.
B.
The Historical Commission shall be responsible for establishing procedures at meetings, keeping records, and establishing rules for nominating, electing, replacing and removing the President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
C.
The Historical Commission shall be responsible for evaluating, compiling, maintaining and publishing the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory (hereinafter referred to as "the Inventory"). The Historical Commission shall periodically review the historic resources on the Inventory and add or delete historic resources as needed, subject to Board of Supervisors approval of changes to the Historic Resources Inventory.
D.
The Historical Commission shall be responsible for reviewing projects in Marlborough Township that may have an impact on historic resources. The Historical Commission shall maintain communication with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the National Park Service to obtain lists of historic resources in the Township that are national historic landmarks, or listed or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and for advice on matters of historic preservation in Marlborough Township.
E.
The Historical Commission shall aid, assist, promote and perform the nomination of resources in Marlborough Township to the National Register of Historic Places.
F.
The Historical Commission shall have the general responsibility to promote historic preservation within Marlborough Township by performing any or all of the following:
(1)
Publishing printed material related to historic preservation;
(2)
Adding historic preservation and related material to the Township's website;
(3)
Holding events to promote and educate Township residents about historic preservation;
(4)
Educating historic resource owners about grants, tax incentives, and the benefits of protection provided by state and federal government historic preservation programs and laws;
(5)
Educating historic resource owners about the potential benefits of having a resource listed on Marlborough Township's Historic Resources Inventory, including honorary designation, improved development opportunities, and protection; and
(6)
Advising the Board of Supervisors concerning acquiring, restoring, preserving, reconstructing, or rehabilitating historic resources in Marlborough Township.
§ 275-223 Powers.
The Marlborough Township Historical Commission shall have an advisory role on issues related to the preservation, restoration, reconstruction, rehabilitation, change of use, demolition, or demolition by neglect of historic resources in Marlborough Township. In addition, all actions regarding the Marlborough Historic Resources Inventory taken by the Historical Commission shall be subject to the Board of Supervisors approval of changes to the Historic Resources Inventory.
A.
Criteria for listing an historic resource to the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
(1)
An historic resource is a building, structure, object, site, or a contributing resource to an historic district that is historically significant to the nation, state, or to Marlborough Township. Historic resources may be significant for association with historically important events or people or significant for architecture or building technique.
(2)
An historic resource must be at least 100 years or older.
(3)
The historic resource must also have retained its historic architectural integrity. "Historic architectural integrity" is defined as the authenticity of an historic resource's historic identity evidenced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during the historic resource's historic period. The seven aspects of integrity are location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. Historic significance is also considered but not weighed as greatly as integrity. "Historic significance" is defined as a resource's association with events, trends or persons important in history or important for architecture, the architect, engineer or designer, building type or builder. Unless it retains historic architectural integrity, a resource generally cannot be listed on the National Register of Historic Places even if historically significant.
(4)
Class I, Class II, and Class III historic resources are further defined as follows:
(a)
Class I historic resource:
[1]
All buildings, sites, structures, objects and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
[2]
Contributing resources, i.e., buildings, sites, structures, and objects filed as such with the National Register of Historic Places.
[3]
Buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts which have received a determination of eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.
(b)
Class II historic resource: buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts not meeting National Register criteria but determined to be of high historical or architectural value to Marlborough Township and appropriately documented as such in the Inventory.
(c)
Class III historic resource: all other buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts listed in the Inventory not meeting the criteria for a Class I or Class II historic resource but still historically significant.
B.
Criteria considerations. The Marlborough Township Historical Commission may consider an historic resource for the Inventory that is less than 100 years old, provided that the historic resource is deemed to be highly significant by the Historical Commission.
C.
Contents. The Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory shall contain the following:
D.
The Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory shall be made available to the public for inspection at the Marlborough Township Building during regular business hours.
§ 275-224 Historical Commission adoption of historic resource inventory or survey.
A.
The Historical Commission may recommend adoption of an existing inventory or survey of historic resources conducted in Marlborough Township to serve as the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory. The adopted inventory or survey can include, but is not limited to, an inventory or survey of historic resources that currently exists or any historic resources inventory or survey that may be conducted in the Township in the future. The Historical Commission shall review the survey and inventory to determine if it contains accurate information and will meet the needs of the Historical Commission. The Historical Commission will then vote to either accept or reject the adopted inventory. If the adopted inventory is accepted, the Historical Commission shall determine which resources on the inventory or survey meet the criteria for listing an historic resource (§ 275-225) to the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
B.
The survey or inventory must also be examined by the Marlborough Township Historical Commission to determine if any resources on the inventory are Class I historic resources. Any historic resources on the adopted survey or inventory that are found to be Class I historic resources will be listed in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory as Class I historic resources.
C.
Of the remaining resources on the adopted inventory or survey that are not Class I historic resources, the Marlborough Township Historical Commission shall classify the resources to either Class II or Class III historic resources.
§ 275-225 Listing historic resources to the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
The following procedures shall be used to add resources to the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
A.
Class I historic resources. All historic resources in the Township that meet the definition of a Class I historic resource shall be listed in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory as Class I historic resources.
B.
Class II and Class III historic resources. Class II and Class III historic resources are listed on the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory by either of the following procedures:
(1)
Owner nomination of Class II or Class III historic resource.
(a)
Any resource owner in Marlborough Township who believes that his or her resource is an historic resource and wants his or her resource listed in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory as a Class II or Class III historic resource may submit in writing or appear at a meeting of the Historical Commission and provide the following:
(b)
The Historical Commission will review the material and vote within 60 days at a meeting to either accept or reject the historic resource based on the criteria for listing a resource (§ 275-225) in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
(c)
If the resource is accepted by the Historical Commission, it will be listed to the Marlborough Township Historic Inventory as a Class II or Class III historic resource, as determined by the Historical Commission.
(d)
If the resource is rejected by the Historical Commission, the resource owner shall be provided a written explanation for the rejection, which may include a request for additional information so that the Historical Commission can reevaluate the request for listing at a later date.
(2)
Historical Commission nomination of Class II or Class III historic resource.
(a)
Members of the Historical Commission may nominate resources that they believe to be historic resources to the Township Historical Resources Inventory by providing, at a regular meeting of the Historical Commission, the resource owner's name and address, the address or location of the historic resource, the approximate year built, recent photographs, a brief architectural description, a brief history of the resource and evidence of the owner's(s') knowledge of the nomination.
(b)
The Historical Commission shall review the material and vote within 60 days at a meeting to accept or reject the resource based on the criteria for listing a resource (§ 275-225) in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
(c)
If the resource is accepted by the Historical Commission, it will be listed to the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory as a Class II or Class III historic resource, as determined by the Historical Commission.
(d)
If the resource is rejected by the Historical Commission, the resource owner shall be provided a written explanation for the rejection, which may include a request for additional information so that the Historical Commission can reevaluate the request for listing at a later date.
§ 275-226 Deleting resources from the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
A.
Class I historic resources. Class I historic resources shall be deleted from the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory when they have been removed as a national historic landmark and/or deleted from the National Register by the National Park Service. The Historical Commission shall delete the resource from the Inventory within 90 days from the date of receipt of written confirmation of the removal noted in the preceding sentence. The Historical Commission shall consider whether such resources should be relisted as Class II or Class III resources and, if so, shall take appropriate steps to so list the resources in accordance with § 275-225.
B.
Class II historic resources. Class II historic resources shall be deleted from the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory when the Historical Commission has determined that the resource no longer meets the criteria for listing a resource (§ 275-225) in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory, except if the historic resource was removed because it was listed to the National Register of Historic Places or achieved national historic landmark status. The Historical Commission shall delete the resource from the Inventory within 150 days from the date of determination noted in the preceding sentence. The owner of the Class II historic resource will be notified by the Marlborough Township Historical Commission in writing, with the reasons for the removal of the resource from the Inventory. The Historical Commission shall consider whether such resource should be relisted as a Class III resource and, if so, shall take appropriate steps to so list the resource in accordance with § 275-225.
C.
Class III historic resources. Class III historic resources shall be deleted from the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory when the Historical Commission has determined that the resource no longer meets the criteria for listing a resource (§ 275-225) in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory. The Historical Commission shall delete the resource from the Inventory within 90 days from the date of determination noted in the preceding sentence. The owner of the Class III historic resource will be notified by the Marlborough Township Historical Commission in writing, with the reasons for the removal of the resource from the Inventory.
§ 275-227 Changing the status of an historic resource.
A.
Class II or Class III to Class I. If any historic resource with Class II or Class III status is subsequently listed to the National Register of Historic Places or designated a national historic landmark, its status will be changed in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory to Class I.
B.
Class III to Class II. If any Class III historic resource is determined to meet the criteria of a Class II historic resource, it shall be changed to Class II status in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory.
§ 275-228 Board of Supervisors approval of changes to the Historic Resources Inventory.
A.
Upon the approval, denial, determination, adoption, addition, deletion, or change of status regarding historical resources on the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory, the Historical Commission shall promptly provide a copy or record of the action to the Marlborough Township Board of Supervisors. This Historical Commission shall provide to the Board of Supervisors all pertinent information regarding the action and information concerning the historic resource, including but not limited to the historic significance of the resource, written decisions given to the owner, and evidence of the owner's consent, nonconsent, or objection to adding or deleting the historic resource.
B.
The Board of Supervisors shall, at a public meeting, vote to approve or not approve the changes or actions as recommended by the Historical Commission. The historic resource will be considered to be added to, deleted from, or changed in the Marlborough Township Historic Resources Inventory only upon the approval of the Board of Supervisors. The effective date of the approval, denial, determination, adoption, addition, deletion or change of status to the historic resource shall be the date on which the Board of Supervisors voted to approve or not approve the change.
C.
If the Board of Supervisors does not approve the change, the Board of Supervisors shall provide a written explanation for the disapproval to the Historical Commission and to the owner of the historic resource.