Introduction

Purpose of the Design Standards

In 1980, the residents of Lincoln made it known that preserving the history and character of the built environment was a priority. The resulting ordinance and regulations directed the Historic Preservation Commission to designate sites and districts that represent that valued history along with design guidelines to ensure the defining architectural and site features were preserved for future generations. This document is a new approach to design guidelines in Lincoln, combining 114 separate sets of design guidelines into one illustrated and easy to navigate document for owners, design professionals, contractors, neighborhoods, and the Lincoln Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) to use. As such, these standards supersede all previous historic preservation design guidelines documents. The standards will help with future decision-making and promote stewardship of our architectural and cultural resources.

Goals of the Standards:

• To maintain Lincoln’s significant landmark sites and districts which represent our collective history.
• To retain neighborhood character and support quality maintenance of historic buildings for another 100 years.
• To assist property owners and their design professionals in understanding how to maintain historic structures for generations to come.
• To create a clear and easy to understand design review process for both applicants and Historic Preservation Commissioners.

Guiding Documents

These design standards will assist the Historic Preservation Commission in carrying out the goals and policies of several city documents including the Comprehensive Plan, Zoning Code, Climate Action Plan, and Affordable Housing Coordinated Action Plan.

Comprehensive Plan

Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan, PlanForward 2050, is based on fifteen goals which are organized into nine elements with 80 policies. Historic Preservation is touched on in three goals, mainly goal 12: History and Culture and carried out specifically in Policy 37: Historic Preservation.

• Goal 12: History and Culture states “Lincoln and Lancaster County will celebrate the community’s history and diverse cultures and build upon the benefits they provide to civic health, economic vitality, and quality of life.”
• Goal 13: Community Appearance also recognizes that to achieve that goal “Preservation and re-use of historic structures, including both designated landmarks and non-designated buildings” is necessary.
• Goal 1: Safe, Affordable, and Accessible Housing recognizes that maintaining existing housing, often referred to as naturally occurring affordable housing, is an important part of reaching this goal. Many of the local landmark districts are populated with modest homes that, when maintained under the design guidelines will last another 100 years.

Policy 37: Historic Preservation

“The community's distinctive character and desirable quality of life should be supported by exercising stewardship of historic resources throughout the County.”

When successful, urban design and historic preservation make a community more enjoyable for residents, more attractive to visitors, and more competitive in drawing new businesses and retaining existing ones. Stewardship of historic buildings and districts is key to this success and the historic preservation design standards support this effort. One action step in PlanForward is to “monitor and improve local programs and regulations, especially working to balance conflicting regulations that may offer alternatives to achieve life-safety goals while protecting threatened historic resources.” With 114 separate sets of design guidelines, many as old as 40 years, conflicting regulations have arisen. This updated, consolidated document will improve the local preservation program and ensure continued preservation of our historic resources.

Lincoln Zoning Code

The Lincoln Zoning Code is made in accordance with the comprehensive plan and to promote health and the general welfare of the community. It governs land use, building form, location on a lot, and parking throughout the City. Many historic properties are considered non-conforming or non-standard and are allowed to continue in their current state, however, new uses must conform to allowed uses in the underlying zoning district along with parking regulations in residential districts. The Special Permit for Historic Preservation is a significant tool to assist with reusing and preserving historic properties by relaxing many of the requirements found in today’s zoning code.

Chapter 27.57 of the Municipal Code contains the Historic Preservation Ordinance, adopted in 1980 to:

• Designate, preserve, protect, enhance, and perpetuate those structures and districts which are elements of the city's historical, cultural, archaeological, or architectural heritage;
• To stabilize and improve property values in such districts;
• To foster civic pride in the beauty and accomplishments of the past;
• To protect and enhance the city's attractions to tourists and visitors and the support and stimulus to business and industry thereby provided;
• To strengthen the economy of the city;
• To promote the use of historic districts and landmarks for the education, pleasure, and welfare of the people of the city; and
• To promote and encourage continued private ownership and utilization of such buildings and other structures now so owned and used so that the objectives listed above can be attained while the owner can receive a reasonable economic return on the property.

Under this chapter, designation of landmarks includes “a guideline for preservation of the landmark or landmark district including particular restrictions as to construction, alteration, repair, or demolition of the landmark or property within the landmark district, and the legal description of the landmark or landmark district.”

SOI Standards for Rehabilitation

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation are a nationally recognized set of standards for the rehabilitation of historic properties. These standards are the guiding document in any state or historic tax credit project and are often used as the basis for local historic preservation ordinances. The Lincoln Historic Preservation Design Standards are based on the SOI Standards for rehabilitation as well as the SOI Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties listed below.

1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces and spatial relationships.
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive

    materials or alteration of features, spaces and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.

3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place and use. Changes

    that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or

    elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.

4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of

    craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved.

6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing

    features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.

7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must

    be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.

9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work

   will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.

10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.

Climate Action Plan

In 2021 the City of Lincoln adopted its first Climate Action Plan, committing to a goal of an eighty percent net reduction in Lincoln’s greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. While the plan addresses actions the City can take to lower emissions and meet this goal, any work that reduces emissions and contributes to energy efficiency is a net positive. It’s no secret that the greenest building is the one already built; therefore, the historic preservation design standards provide a path to preserving existing homes and businesses, lessening the negative carbon impacts of demolition and new construction.

Lincoln’s Affordable Housing Coordinated Action Plan

Naturally occurring affordable housing is an element of Lincoln’s Affordable Housing Coordinated Action Plan adopted in 2020. As the plan states “Lincoln's best source of affordable housing exists within units that have already been constructed.” Hundreds of homes comprise the local landmark districts creating an opportunity for preservation to contribute to Lincoln’s affordable housing goals.

Historic Significance

Period of Significance

The period of significance (POS) is a period of time determined for a landmark district at the time the designation is drafted and approved. The POS is determined based on several factors such as when most of the structures in the district were built, significant events that occurred during a specific time frame, or when activities were conducted by a significant person.

Contributing vs. Non-Contributing Structures

All buildings, sites, and objects in a local landmark district are classified as either contributing to the historic character of the district or they are non-contributing. An example is a local landmark district where most of the homes were built between 1900 and 1940 (also known as the period of significance), but a later home was added in 1960 before the district was designated. The 1960 home would be considered non-contributing while the homes built before 1940 would generally be considered contributing. If a home that was built within the period of significance (before 1940 in this scenario) has been altered too far that is no longer evident when it was built, then it can also be considered non-contributing. Its contributing status can be restored if the changes are reversed.

Changes to existing non-contributing buildings within districts will be reviewed for their broad effect on the streetscape to ensure the proposed changes contribute to the overall appearance and livability of the district.[SR1] [PDB2] 

Significant Features

Per Chapter 27.57 of the Municipal Code, each designation shall include a description of the particular features that should be preserved. To date, each set of design guidelines has been adopted with a list of the important features (exterior, interior, and landscape) as well as a documentation of the additions and modifications made to the structure. These have been combined into Appendix X for each individual and district landmark. Any listed significant features are of utmost importance to preserve when approaching a project.

Integrity

According to the National Park Service, integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance using seven aspects—location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. For a property to retain its historic integrity it will possess several, if not most of these aspects. To retain integrity, a property does not need to meet each aspect equally, as some districts or individual landmarks may derive more significance from one area as opposed to another. For example, just because a house was resided with vinyl does not mean it has lost integrity to the degree as to no longer contribute to a district. However, if a home in a district that derives its significance from its architecture and subsequently had its brackets removed, the porch was enclosed, the wood siding covered in vinyl, and all the windows were replaced would likely have lost too much integrity to be a contributing structure. To safeguard integrity, the HPC will use the design standards to retain and enhance the characteristics that give individual and district landmarks their sense of time and place.

Review Process

The standards are designed to provide clear guidance when making changes to the exterior of a designated local landmark or property within a local landmark district. Changes that were made prior to the adoption of these design standards that do not comply are considered grandfathered and may remain. However, if replacement or modifications are needed after the design standards adoption, the change should bring the property into compliance with these standards. Applicants should be aware that the HPC is unlikely to approve new applications that are not compliant with the standards.

In certain cases (see Section 17 Interior Standards from Original Designations) there are interior spaces within landmark buildings identified for specific treatment. These standards are intended to provide a path towards no review or administrative review, reserving unique projects that do not meet the standards for a public hearing at the Historic Preservation Commission. It is recommended to reach out to the Planning Department to confirm whether the project meets a category designated below for No Review. All other projects should submit an application for Administrative or HPC Review to the Planning Department.

Once the project has been determined to require administrative or HPC review, the first step is to contact staff to discuss the proposed project and provide the necessary information. Next, fill out an application and provide supporting documentation. Providing a complete application with detailed information is important to ensure a streamlined review process. Either an administrative certificate will be issued, or the application will be scheduled for the next available HPC meeting. The applicant and/or their representative then attends the meeting to provide any necessary background information and to answer questions. Upon approval, the project can then move forward with the appropriate permits as necessary. The chart below highlights the approval process.

Flexibility

The following criteria for leniency in the standards are based on an individual analysis of each landmark property. While these sections offer guidance on approving deviations, they are not a black and white approach to approving alternative designs or materials. The standards are meant to be context sensitive and applied on a case-by-case basis to allow flexibility based on each unique site. The HPC will consider each in their review of applications not meeting the design standards. A strict interpretation of these standards may be waived by the Preservation Commission if the applicant develops a design solution which meets the spirit and intent of the Historic Preservation Ordinance. 

Facades not Visible

It is reasonable to expect that historic structures will change to accommodate owners adapting to modern living and new uses. The best place for these types of changes is on rear facades or facades not visible from the street or public view. Additions or major alterations that do not impact architectural details are more acceptable. The following are criteria that will be used to judge exterior changes on less visible portions of a structure:

1. Impacts to important architectural features
2. The changes to the overall form and mass
3. Visibility from the public view
4. The type of significance of the structure

Proof of Financial Hardship

While replacement of materials in-kind is the preferred option, historic materials are not always cost effective and can lead to buildings sitting unprotected and open to more damage. It is not reasonable to require a replacement product that is greater than half the value of the home, unless the replacement is the lowest possible cost for a competent and durable installation. Long term maintenance should also be considered as the upfront costs of original materials may be greater, but the life cycle is longer than a substitute material making it financially a better option for the life of the building.

Designation Criteria

Local landmarks and local landmark districts are adopted under three possible criteria—association with events, person, or persons who have made significant contributions; representation of a distinctive architectural style or innovation; and representation of archaeological value. Changes to the materials on a historic building that is designated under its association with a particular historic event will have more leniency than one that is designated under architecture. For example, the integrity of a landmark home designated for its Queen Anne style would be greatly impacted if it was covered in vinyl siding since the clapboard material is a significant aspect of the home’s style. However, a building designated based on the social history that took place there would have less of an integrity impact if the original material were altered.

Demolition Review

Demolition review criteria is included in Chapter 27.57 of the Municipal Code. Generally, demolition should be a last resort and used only in extreme situations where the building poses a threat to public safety and demolition is the only alternative. Demolition by neglect (letting a building intentionally deteriorate) is prohibited and will be weighed heavily when reviewing demolition requests.

In the Mount Emerald District, buildings, or significant portions of buildings, excepting intrusive additions or structures, in a district or individual landmark shall not be demolished. However, where a building poses a threat to the public safety, and demolition is the only alternative, documentation by way of photographs, measured drawings, or other descriptive methods should be made of both the exterior and interior of the building.

The Royer-Williams and Ryons-Alexander Landmarks shall not be demolished nor removed in part or in whole.

Violations

Any person conducting work requiring a Certificate, who has not obtained a Certificate, and any person conducting work contrary to an issued certificate, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not to exceed $100.00.  Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a distinct offense and shall be punishable as such.

Disclaimer: The design standards include many photographs and diagrams to illustrate acceptable or unacceptable approaches. The illustrations are provided as examples and are not intended to indicate the only options. If there appears to be a conflict between the text of the design standards and a related illustration, the text shall prevail.