April 8, 2008, Introduced by Reps. Bauer, Leland, Vagnozzi, Robert Jones, Tobocman, Bieda, Cushingberry and Sak and referred to the Committee on New Economy and Quality of Life.
A bill to amend 1970 PA 169, entitled
"Local historic districts act,"
by amending section 3 (MCL 399.203), as amended by 2001 PA 67.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 3. (1) A local unit may, by ordinance, establish 1 or
more historic districts. The historic districts shall be
administered by a commission established pursuant to section 4.
Before establishing a historic district, the legislative body of
the local unit shall appoint a historic district study committee.
The committee shall contain a majority of persons who have a
clearly demonstrated interest in or knowledge of historic
preservation, and shall contain representation from 1 or more duly
organized local historic preservation organizations. The committee
shall do all of the following:
(a) Conduct a photographic inventory of resources within each
proposed historic district following procedures established or
approved by the department.
(b) Conduct basic research of each proposed historic district
and the historic resources located within that district.
(c) Determine the total number of historic and nonhistoric
resources within a proposed historic district and the percentage of
historic resources of that total. In evaluating the significance of
historic resources, the committee shall be guided by the selection
criteria for evaluation issued by the United States secretary of
the interior for inclusion of resources in the national register of
historic
places, as set forth in 36 C.F.R. CFR part 60, and
criteria established or approved by the department, if any.
(d) Prepare a preliminary historic district study committee
report that addresses at a minimum all of the following:
(i) The charge of the committee.
(ii) The composition of the committee membership.
(iii) The historic district or districts studied.
(iv) The boundaries for each proposed historic district in
writing and on maps.
(v) The history of each proposed historic district.
(vi) The significance of each district as a whole, as well as a
sufficient number of its individual resources to fully represent
the variety of resources found within the district, relative to the
evaluation criteria.
(e)
Transmit Within 1 year
after appointment of the committee
or of referral of a proposed historic district to a standing
committee, transmit copies of the preliminary report for review and
recommendations to the local planning body, to the department, to
the Michigan historical commission, and to the state historic
preservation review board.
(f) Make copies of the preliminary report available to the
public
pursuant to subsection (4) (6).
(2) Not less than 60 calendar days after the transmittal of
the preliminary report, the committee shall hold a public hearing
in compliance with the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261
to 15.275. Public notice of the time, date, and place of the
hearing shall be given in the manner required by the open meetings
act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275. Written notice shall be
mailed by first-class mail not less than 14 calendar days before
the hearing to the owners of properties within the proposed
historic district, as listed on the tax rolls of the local unit.
(3)
After Within 90 days after
the date of the public hearing,
the
committee and the legislative body of the local unit shall have
not
more than 1 year, unless otherwise authorized by the
legislative
body of the local unit, to take the following actions:
(a)
The committee shall prepare and
submit a final report
addressing the issues in subsection (1)(d) with its recommendations
and the recommendations, if any, of the local planning body to the
legislative body of the local unit. If the recommendation is to
establish a historic district or districts, the final report shall
include a draft of a proposed ordinance or ordinances and a list of
the historic and nonhistoric resources identified by street number
and address.
(4) (b)
After receiving a final report that
recommends the
establishment of a historic district or districts, the legislative
body of the local unit, at its discretion, may introduce and pass
or reject an ordinance or ordinances. The local unit of government
shall not adopt an ordinance establishing 1 or more historic
districts later than 1 year after receipt of the final report
following the public hearing on the proposed district or districts.
Before the expiration of the period for considering the ordinance,
the local unit of government may adopt a resolution extending the
time limit for considering the adoption of the ordinance for not
more than 1 year. The local unit shall not adopt more than 1
resolution extending the time for consideration of any proposed
historic district or districts.
(5) If the local unit passes an ordinance or ordinances
establishing 1 or more historic districts, the local unit shall
file
do both of the following:
(a) File a copy of that ordinance or those ordinances,
including a legal description of the property or properties located
within the historic district or districts, with the register of
deeds.
A local unit shall not pass an ordinance establishing a
contiguous
historic district less than 60 days after a majority of
the
property owners within the proposed historic district, as
listed
on the tax rolls of the local unit, have approved the
establishment
of the historic district pursuant to a written
petition.
(b) Within 10 days after adopting the ordinance, provide the
state historic preservation office of the Michigan historical
center of the department or its successor agency with a copy of the
final report of the historic district study committee and the
ordinance establishing the historic district.
(6) (4)
A writing prepared, owned, used, in
the possession of,
or retained by a committee in the performance of an official
function shall be made available to the public in compliance with
the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.