Appendix 1373. Definitions.

Application of Definitions: Unless the provision or context otherwise requires, the definitions of words and terms as follows shall govern the construction of this Chapter.

"Board" or "Cultural Heritage Board"—The Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board established by this Ordinance.

"Certificate of Appropriateness"—Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board or staff issued authorizations which indicate that the proposed subdivision, rezoning, maintenance, acquisition, stabilization, preservation, reconstruction, protection, alteration, restoration, rehabilitation, addition, change of use, demolition, relocation, change, remodeling or other project affecting a potential or designated Cultural Heritage Site will not adversely affect its cultural heritage values; or unduly compromise the eligibility of a potential site to become a designated one.

"Cultural Heritage"—Pertaining to the sum total of traditions, body of knowledge, etc., inherited as possessions, characteristics, or conditions expressing a traditional way of life subject to gradual, but continuous modifications by succeeding generations.

"Cultural Heritage Site"—An improvement, natural feature, site or district that has completed the legally required procedures stipulated in this Ordinance to have it designated by the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board or the Ventura County Board of Supervisors as a District, Landmark, Site of Merit or Point of Interest.

"District"—An area possessing a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development. Historic districts are defined by precise geographic boundaries. Therefore, those with unusual boundaries require a description of what lies immediately adjacent in order to define the edge of the district and to explain the exclusion of adjoining areas.

"Historic Fabric"—(1) With regard to an historic building, "historic fabric" means the particular materials, ornamentation, and architectural features which are consistent with the historic character of the building. (2) With regard to an historic district, "historic fabric" means all sites, buildings, structures, features, objects, landscaping, street elements, and related design components of the district which are consistent with the historic character of the district. (3) With regard to an archaeological district, "historic fabric" means sites, standing structures or buildings, historic landscape (land disturbance such as grading or construction), features (remnants of walls), and objects (artifacts) which are consistent with the historic character of the district.

"Landmark"—An improvement, natural feature or site of historical, architectural, community or aesthetic merit which meets the criteria specified in this Ordinance and has been so designated by the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board or the Ventura County Board of Supervisors according to the provisions of this Ordinance.

"Owner"—Those individuals, partnerships, corporations, or public agencies holding fee simple title to a resource. The term does not include individuals, partnerships, corporations or public agencies holding easements or less than fee simple interests, including leaseholds.

"Point of Interest"—The location of, or site of, a former improvement or natural feature or of an event possessing historical or cultural characteristics which satisfy the provisions of this Ordinance.

"Potential Cultural Heritage Site"—An improvement, natural feature or site of historical, architectural, community or aesthetic merit which may meet the criteria specified in this Ordinance and has not yet been officially designated by the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board or the Ventura County Board of Supervisors as a District, Landmark, Site of Merit or Point of Interest.

"Preservation" (treatment)—The act or process of applying measures to sustain the existing form, integrity, or historic fabric of an historical building or structure, or the form or vegetative cover of an historic site. It may include stabilization work, as well as ongoing maintenance of the historic fabric.

"Protection" (treatment)—The act or process of applying measures to affect the physical condition of an historical resource by guarding it from deterioration, loss, or attack by natural causes, or to cover or shield it from threat of danger or harm. In the case of buildings or structures, these measures are usually temporary; however, with regard to archaeological resources, protective measures may be temporary or permanent.

"Reconstruction" (treatment)—The act or process of reproducing through construction the exact form and detail of a vanished building, structure, or object, or any part thereof, as it appeared at a specified period of time.

"Rehabilitation" (treatment)—The act or process of returning a property to a state of utility through repair or alteration which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions or features of the property which are significant to its historical, architectural and cultural values.

"Restoration" (treatment)—The act or process of reproducing the exact form and detail of a vanished building, structure, or object, or a part thereof, as it appeared at a specific period of time.

"Secretary of the Interior's Standards"—The United States Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings, or the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings (1995), Weeks and Grimmer, or as most currently promulgated.

"Site"—Any parcel or portion of real property, or location of a significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure, whether standing, ruined, or vanished, where the location itself possesses historic, cultural, or archaeological value regardless of the value of any existing structure.

"Site of Merit"—Sites of historical, cultural, architectural or aesthetic merit which have not been officially otherwise designated and have been surveyed according to Federal standards as required by Ventura County's Certified Local Government agreement. Said sites shall also be listed in a County approved survey with a National Register status code of 5 or above and have been so designated by the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board or the Ventura County Board of Supervisors according to the provisions of this Ordinance.

"Stabilization" (treatment)—The act or process of applying measures designed to establish a weather resistant enclosure and the structural stability of an unsafe or deteriorated property, or one which has the potential to deteriorate or to become unsafe, while maintaining the essential form as it exists at present.

"State Historic Building Code"—The State Historical Building Code is contained in Part 8 of Title 24 (State Building Standards Code) and applies to all qualified historical structures, districts, and sites designated under federal, state, or local authority. It provides alternatives to the Uniform Building Code in cases consistent with building regulations for the rehabilitation, preservation, restoration or relocation of qualified historic structures designated as historic buildings.