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LOS ANGELES CONSERVANCY Pre ser vatio n Report Card | 2008

A few cities have a “scorched-earth” provision in their ordinances. This
provision prohibits new construction on a site for a set period of time after
an illegal demolition has occurred.

The final aspect we reviewed when analyz-
ing cities with historic preservation ordi-
nances was the effectiveness of their
programs. We reviewed the number of des-
ignated local landmarks in each city and
how often designations were made, consid-
ering the relative size of the community. A
few cities have had landmark ordinances for
several years, but have yet to designate any
resources. Others have active programs
and a growing list of designated landmarks,
often fueled by the strong promotion of the
benefits of owning a historic property, such
as property tax relief under the Mills Act
(see page 8).

HISTORIC DISTRICT ORDINANCE

A city’s ability to designate historic districts is an important tool in pro-
tecting large numbers of historic resources and preserving historically
significant neighborhoods. In many cases, a city’s historic preservation or-
dinance includes language allowing for the designation of historic dis-
tricts. In other cases, a city establishes a separate ordinance for this
express purpose.

Top: Several Los Angeles County cities have Historic districts may be referred to by a variety of names, depending on
adopted ordinance language allowing for the desig-
nation of historic districts, which protect the historic the jurisdiction, including Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs),
character of a diverse range of historically signifi- conservation districts, and Historic District Overlay Zones.They are gen-
cant neighborhoods. Glendale designated its first erally defined as physically contiguous groups of structures, developed
historic district, Royal Boulevard, in 2008.
Photo courtesy of the City of Glendale Planning within a single period or in a similar style, that retain and continue to ex-
Department. press the design and patterns of the time in which they were developed.
Though historic districts are primarily contiguous, non-contiguous re-
Bottom: A housing tract in Mar Vista designed
by architect Gregory Ain is one of Los Angeles’ sources may also be eligible for designation as a thematic grouping.
twenty-four historic districts (known as Historic
Preservation Overlay Zones, or HPOZs), Each historic district has geographic boundaries. Within those bound-
and the city’s first postwar HPOZ.
Photo by Larry Underhill. aries, most of the structures must be considered “contributing,” meaning
that they are historically significant to the neighborhood and have main-
tained the integrity of their original design. A historic district will inevitably
include some percentage of “non-contributing” structures as well—those

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