REHABILITATION STANDARDS FOR HISTORIC PROPERTIES
1. Policy: Site Relationship and Orientation
A building’s historic significance includes its orientation and physical relationship to the street, alley and other structures on the site and adjacent properties. Many buildings have non-conforming setbacks. In such cases, it may be necessary to reposition a structure and to raise it for a new foundation in order to preserve it. When doing so, care should be taken to preserve the historic relationship of the building to the site.
A. Preserve a historic structure in its original location on the site when feasible
1. This includes orientation, setbacks, building height and the relationship of the first floor to finish grade.
The historic relationships of a building to its site, the street and neighboring structures are important character-defining features that should be preserved
2. Changing the grade of the site adjacent to a building to permit development of a below-grade area is not appropriate if it would be visible from the street. It may be considered in rear yards of supporting structures.
3. Existing historic landscape features, such as fences, sidewalks and mature vegetation, should be preserved, and should be protected during construction.