City preservation staff told the Syracuse Landmarks Preservation Board on Oct. 30 that a text amendment introduced at Common Council would let owners of protected properties petition the Common Council for an exemption from the Certificate of Appropriateness process under Article 6 of the zoning ordinance.

Kate Owater, preservation staff, said the proposed language would allow the Common Council to grant exemptions and would not bind councilors to preservation standards or guidelines as written in the introduced text. The staff briefing said that if the council enacted the amendment as introduced, it could remove the board's regulatory function under the preservation ordinance and "most likely lead to our decertification as a Certified Local Government," jeopardizing the longstanding relationship with the State Historic Preservation Office.

Owater told members the amendment was referred to zoning and that a review by the Planning Commission is required. She said the procedural clock starts when an application is deemed complete and that the Planning Commission has up to 60 days to respond with a recommendation after that point.

Board members said the proposal was unexpected and raised concerns about process, timing and the loss of technical review. Several members said the change would make preservation decisions political rather than technical and questioned whether councilors had preservation training. The transcript records no vote by the Landmarks Preservation Board on a formal stance at this meeting; staff said there will be opportunities for public comment and staff input during the referral and Planning Commission review.

The introduced measure, as described to the board, would alter the zoning ordinance's existing appeal path: currently, a property owner who believes a Landmarks Preservation Board decision was in error may appeal to the Planning Commission. The amendment would instead provide a route for owners to seek a council exemption that, according to the introduced language described by staff, would not be constrained by preservation guidelines.

Next steps described in the hearing transcript: the legislation is referred to zoning and the Planning Commission; staff will provide comments as part of the 60-day review; the board and the public will have opportunities to submit input during the planning process.