A Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) entails the review of alterations, new construction, and rehabilitation of locally designated historic resources to ensure that changes to these designated historic buildings or neighborhoods do not adversely affect the historic character, setting, feeling, craftsmanship, design, and overall integrity of the landmark or district.
A Certificate of Appropriateness is not required for ordinary maintenance and repair, in-kind replacement of materials, or painting historic materials, which are currently painted. Please contact staff for clarification.
The main steps in the process are:
1
Meet with Staff
Optional; meet with staff to discuss project details to ensure that it will meet approval criteria.
2
Application Submittal
Prepare and submit all necessary documents for formal submittal online.
3
Staff Review
Receive review comments and revise and resubmit documents online.
4
Clearance
Receive approval or denial of the application.
An optional, but potentially important step, is for the applicant should meet with staff to review the proposed project and address any concerns that may conflict with the review criteria.
This step is optional and not required, however, forgoing of this step may lead to delays if proposed project actions are complicated or will significantly impact materials or design of the existing historic structure, especially as seen from the right-of-way.
Please contact the Historic Preservation Office at 480-644-4726 or HistoricPreservation@mesaaz.gov to request a meeting.
Certificate of Appropriateness applications must be submitted electronically via the DIMES portal.
Complete applications and fees are due each Monday by the end of the business day. The applicant is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all information submitted. Incomplete applications will NOT be accepted.
Required Documents:
- Application - submitted through the DIMES portal
- Property Owner Authorization(PDF, 162KB)
- Project Narrative - describing the proposed modifications
- Photographs of the existing property
- Site Plan - fully dimensioned site plan showing all existing structures on the lot, such as the house, accessory buildings, pools and major landscaping features, such as walls, ponds or large trees which impact site planning
- Elevations - fully dimensioned elevations showing sufficient detail to convey the architectural content for all proposed building and structures including building height, pitch of roof, building materials and colors, and architectural elements
- Floor and Roof Plans (If Applicable) - fully dimensioned floor plans shown in the context of the site
- Sign Details (If Applicable) - drawings, to approximate scale, showing size and location of proposed signage, type of lettering to be used, and indication of color and type of illumination
- Any other information that the Historic Preservation Office may reasonably deem necessary to review the proposed work
Staff will review the Certificate of Appropriateness application for consistency with the Historic Preservation Ordinance, design guidelines, and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
Staff will provide the applicant written comments within 10 working days of the application acceptance. This comment letter will identify requirements that need to be resolved before the Certificate of Appropriateness application is considered for approval.
The applicant will revise pertinent documents or include additional documentation to address the review comments. and provide a written comment response letter stating how each review comment was addressed.
This process repeats until all requirements are met.
Once all review comments have been addressed and outstanding documentation provided, the Historic Preservation Officer will issue a letter of clearance to approve, approve with conditions, or deny the application.
If the Certificate of Appropriateness application is approved, the approval document, along with the final plans, will be uploaded to the case file within the DIMES system and the Certificate of Appropriateness will be issued.
Project actions that do not meet the review criteria, stated above, will be denied by the Historic Preservation Officer. Denied applications will not be granted a Certificate of Appropriateness. An appeal process is available for applicants who are aggrieved by the decision of the Historic Preservation Officer by filing a written notice of appeal. The appeal will be heard by the Historic Preservation Board. The decision of the Historic Preservation Board may subsequently be appealed to City Council.