City of napa

HISTORIC preservation ordinance update

M-Group prepared an update to Napa’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. The process consisted of review and assessment of the relevancy and efficacy of the existing ordinance and consideration of structural issues. In order to efficiently craft a more useable and effective document, M-Group’s preservation team focused on key issues, specifically content that weakened the preservation ordinance and made the preservation process unnecessarily cumbersome. Updates were adopted to improve usability and legibility of the regulatory requirements; refined and tailored definitions; reworked the designation criteria to reflect current preservation theory and included often overlooked resource types including those of the recent past, of vernacular origin, and minority resources.

M-Group further revised the designation and Certificate of Appropriateness criteria and associated review processes to be clear and easily understood by all interested parties and worked to remove overly elaborate explanations. During this process M-Group worked closely with City staff and duly acknowledged their concerns and were cognizant of sensitive political issues present within the City. M-Group also closely collaborated with Napa County Landmarks to help inform the ordinance update. The project involved community outreach, staff report preparation, and presentations to the Cultural Heritage Commission and City Council.

Through close coordination with the City and a targeted, tailored approach M-Group has been able to make the necessary changes to the document and expects to complete the update within the agreed upon budget and in the required time frame.

Back