The commission shall consist of seven (7) members, all of whom shall b residents and electors of the City of Hammond.  They shall be appointed by the mayor, subject to approval by a majority vote of the City Council.  All commission members shall have a demonstrated interest, competence, or knowledge in historic preservation.  At least one member shall be a qualified architect.  The City shall make a good faith effort to appoint professional members from the disciplines of architecture, history, architectural history, planning, archaeology, or other related fields, to the extent that such professionals are available in the City.  The City shall advertise any vacancy in the officially designated City newspaper and request nominations for appointment of members to the commission.

Each of the members of the commission shall be appointed as follows: Two (2) members shall be appointed for an initial term of two (2) years and five (5) members shall be appointed for an initial term of three (3) years. Thereafter, commission members shall serve a term of four (4) years. Whenever the term of a member of the commission expires, the mayor shall appoint his successor, subject to approval by the city council. The members may serve consecutive terms. The commission shall elect annually from its own number a chairman, vice chairman and any other officers it deems appropriate. All members shall serve without compensation.

The commission may select existing city employees, with the mayor's approval, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes for which it is created. The city attorney shall be ex-officio the attorney for the commission. The commission may designate and appoint, from among its members, various committees with such powers and duties as the commission may have and prescribe. Subject to appropriations by the city council, services of compensated clerical and technical assistance may be retained.

The commission shall make such rules and regulations as it may deem advisable and necessary for the conduct of its affairs not inconsistent with the laws of the city and state. The commission shall meet at least quarterly, but meetings may be held at any time by the commission on the written request of any of the seven (7) members oron call of the chairman of the commission or the mayor. The commission shall make quarterly reports to the mayor and council containing a statement of its activities. It shall make its recommendations for the future, but recommendations may be made by the council to the commission at any time. Rules of Operation for the Hammond Historic District Commission are located in Appendix D of this UDC.

The Hammond Historical District shall have for its purpose the promotion of the educational, cultural, economic,and general welfare of the public through the preservation and protection of all such buildings, sites, monuments, and structures of historic interest or importance through their protection, maintenance, and development as historic landmarks and their recognition as such in the history and traditions of the state and nation; to establishand improve property values, and to foster the economic development of the areas affected.

The following area of the City of Hammond is hereby designated as the "Hammond Historical District," to-wit: Beginning at the comer of West Morris and South Spruce Streets in the City of Hammond and thence running northerly along Spruce Street to its intersection with West Charles Street and thence easterly along West CharlesStreet to North Magnolia Street; thence northerly along North Magnolia Street to West Robert Street; thence. easterly along Robert Street to North Cypress Street; thence southerly along North Cypress to East Charles Street; thence easterly to North Cherry Street; thence southerly to East Morris Street, thence westerly along East MorrisStreet to South Magnolia Street; thence southerly along South Magnolia Street to West Hanson Street; thence westerly along West Hanson to South Spruce Street; thence northerly along Spruce Street to the .said point beginning at the comer of West Morris and South Spruce Streets. The historical district above designated shall include all building sites or lots and all structures, houses or other buildings facing any of the streets on the perimeter of the area.

A. The historic district commission shall have the power to institute suit in any court of competent jurisdiction to prevent any unlawful action in violation of the provisions of Chapter 16 of Title 25 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, as amended from time to time, or of any of the rules and regulations adopted by the commission in conformity with it.

B. Any owner, agent, lessee, or other person acting for or in conjunction with him, who shall violate the ordinance or law or rules, regulations, or decision of the historic district commission shall for each offense be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100.00), or suffer imprisonment for not more than thirty (30). days, or both fine and imprisonment. Any owner, agent, lessee, or other person acting for or in conjunction with him. Who shall demolish a structure or edifice without having been issued a certificate of appropriateness shall be fined a single fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1.000.00). (Appendix H)

C. For violations other than demolition without a certificate of appropriateness, each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.

Whenever any person has engaged in or is about to engage in any act or practice which constitutes or will constitute a violation of this chapter or of any of the rules and regulations of the commission, the commission may make application to the appropriate court for an order enjoining such act or practice, or requiring such person to refrain from such prospective violation or to remedy such violation by restoring the affected property to its previous condition. Upon a showing by the commission, the building inspector, or the city, that such person has engaged or is about to engage in such act or practice, a permanent or temporary injunction, temporary restraining order, or other appropriate action shall be granted without bond.

Before the commencement of any work in the erection of any new building or in the alteration or addition to, or painting or repainting or demolishing of any existing building, any portion of which is to front on any public street or alley in the Hammond Historical District application by the owner for a permit therefore shall be made to the commission, accompanied by the full plans and specifications thereof so far as they relate to the proposed appearance, color, texture or materials, and architectural design of the exterior, including the front, sides, rear and roof of such building, alteration, addition and any outbuilding, party wall, courtyard, fence or other dependency thereof. Proposed Improvements shall be in accordance with the Design Guideline for the Hammond HistoricDistrict located in Appendix E of the UDC.

A. Applications for certificates of appropriateness shall be considered' at a public hearing of the commission. Notice of the time and place of said hearing shall be given by publication in the form of a legal advertisement appearing in the official journal of the governmental unit or in a newspaper having general circulation in the area served by the governmental unit, provided it has one at least seven (7) days before such hearing, and by the posting of such notice on or near the main entrance of any hall or room where the commission usually meets.

B. Within not more than forty-five (45) days after the filing of an application, the commission shall pass upon it and shall give written notice of its decision to the applicant setting forth the reason therefore. Evidence of approval shall be by certificate of appropriateness issued by the commission, and whatever its decision, notice in writing shall be given to the applicant. The commission shall keep a record of all applications for certificates of appropriateness and of all its proceedings.

C. No building permit shall be authorized by the governing body which affects a site or structure in the historic preservation district without a certificate of appropriateness except as otherwise permitted by the governing authority.

D. The commission shall have the right to make such recommendations for changes and modifications as it may deem to be necessary in order to enable the applicant to meet with its requirements.

A. Any person or persons aggrieved by any decision, act, or proceeding of this commission shall have a right to apply in writing to the governing body of the governmental unit for reversal or modification thereof. The chief executive official, or presiding officer of the governing body, shall have the authority to stay all further action until the governing body may affirm a decision of the commission by majority vote of all its members at any regular or special meeting of said governing body. Any such appeal shall be taken within ten (10) days from the date of decision and the governing body may consider said appeal at its next general or special meeting, but in any event, not more than forty-five (45) days thereafter. The governing body shall have the right to reverse, change, or modify any decision of the commission only by a majority vote of all its members.

B. Any person or persons aggrieved by any decision of the governing body affecting said historic preservation district shall have the right to file a civil suit within thirty (30) days from date of decision in a court of competent jurisdiction under the usual rules of procedure governing same, with the right to stay orders and injunctive relief provided the situation warrants it.

The public sidewalks, places and alleys, exteriors, roofs, outer walls and fences of buildings and other constructions and signs visible from any Public Street, place or position in the Hammond Historical District shall not be illuminated by privately-controlled floodlights or other illumination except by express approval of the historic district commission. Compliance shall be effective within six (6) months after enactment of this chapter.

New or additional balconies may be erected if:

(a) they are at least nine (9) feet above the level of the sidewalk; and
(b) conform to the distinctive architecture of the Hammond Historical District. The permits for all such new construction or any renovation shall be subject to the requirements of this chapter.

There shall be no restrictions against the removal of sheds. These must be removed or repaired when in dangerous condition. But any changes may be made only after first securing a written order or permit required by this chapter and may be executed only in accordance therewith.

The building inspector shall promptly stop any work attempted to be done without or contrary to a permit issued under this chapter and shall promptly prosecute any person responsible for such a violation of this chapter or engaged in violation. Any officer or authorized agent of the historic district commission shall exercise concurrent or independent powers with the building inspector in prosecuting violations of this chapter and stopping work attempted to be done without or contrary to the permits required by this chapter.

The provisions of this chapter shall govern and take precedence over any other provisions of any ordinances orcodes of the City of Hammond.

A. Definitions. The following terms, as used in this section, are hereby defined as follows:

(1) Sign shall include any symbol, device, image, poster, flag, banner, billboard, design or directional sign used for advertising purposes, whether painted upon, attached to, erected on, or otherwise maintained on any premises, containing any words, letters or parts of letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, trade names or trademarks by which anything is made known, such as are used to designate an individual, a firm, an association, a corporation, a profession, a business or a commodity or product, which is visible from any public street and is used to attract attention.

(2) Display includes erect, paint, repaint, place, replace, hand, rehand, repair, maintain, paint directly upon a building or other structure, inlay, embed in, or otherwise exhibit in public view.

B. General prohibition of miscellaneous signs. The display of signs visible from the public streets, highways and alleys within the historical district of the city, except as otherwise provided for in this chapter and/or the rules and regulation of the commission is prohibited.

C. Signs must conform to character of section. In addition to the prohibitions contained in this section, approval of the display of a sign in the historical district of the city shall be granted by the commission only when such signs and the plans therefore, so far as they relate to the appearance, color, size, position, method of attachment, texture of materials and design, conform to the quaint and distinctive character of the historical district and do not injuriously affect it or impair the value of the community of those buildings having architectural or historical worth.

D. What signs may advertise. No sign of any character shall be displayed in the ·historical district unless such sign advertises a bona fide business conducted in or on the premises and, if it does do so, not exceeding fifty (50) percent of the area of such sign may be used to advertise products or commodities actually sold on the premises.

E. Signs no longer complying as advertisements to be taken down. Any sign displayed which no longer advertises a bona fide business conducted upon the premises shall, upon the notification by the historic district commission or its agent (who is hereby specifically authorized to so proceed) be taken down, removed or obliterated within five (5) days after such notification.

F. No sign shall be displayed from any building, balcony, gallery, canopy, shed, roof, door or, window, or placed in any manner whatsoever so as to disfigure or conceal any architectural feature or detail of any building.

G. Signs with interior illumination. No signs with interior illumination can be constructed or erected within the historical district without the express approval of the historic district commission.

H. Building code applicable to signs. All signs under this section shall be further governed by the existing regulations of the building code of the city which are not in conflict with this section.

I. Application for signs to be submitted to commission. All application for permits to display signs within the historical district of the city shall be submitted to the building inspector for approval before a permit therefore maybe issued.

J. Form of application to display signs; accompanying drawings. Application for a permit to display signs in the historical district of the city shall be made to the commission upon forms furnished by the commission. Such an application shall also be accompanied by sketches and drawings in triplicate showing details of construction and foundation when required by the Building Code of the City and shall delineate the size, shape, design, coloring, lighting, and position in relation to the building for or upon which it shall be displayed.

K. Violating signs, etc., to be removed. Any sign or exterior illumination of walls, exteriors, roofs, or appurtenances of buildings displayed after the effective date of this section and contrary to the provision of this section are prohibited.

Description text goes hereThe construction of aerials or antennas of any type within the historical district are prohibited without the express approval of the historic district commission.

A. In order to insure the protective maintenance of landmarks and/or resources within the Hammond Historical District, the exterior features of such properties shall be maintained to meet the requirements of the city's minimum housing code and the city's building code.

B. The use of boarded openings is prohibited within the Hammond Historical District. The use of boards for windows shall be permitted in cases of emergency for a period of time not to exceed fourteen (14) days consecutively.

C. All property owners with boarded windows at the time of adoption of this section shall be notified in writing that all such boards are to be removed within thirty (30) days of such notice. Said notice shall be given as follows:

(1) By certified mail, restricted delivery, mailed to the last known address of the record owner or owners as listed on the city and or parish tax rolls; or

( 2) If the above mailing procedure is not successful, notice shall be posted in a conspicuous, protected place on the resource.

No "grandfather clause" shall be applicable to this chapter.

A. All fines collected by the historic district commission and all other funds appropriated by the city council for the benefit of the Hammond Historic District shall be deposited into a dedicated fund for the purposes set forth herein (the "historic district fund").

B. The historic district fund shall be used only for the promotion of the educational, cultural, economic, and general welfare of the public through the preservation and protection of buildings, sites, monuments, and structures of historic interest or importance situated in the area designated as the Hammond Historic District through their protection, maintenance, and development as historic landmarks and their recognition as such in the history and traditions of the city, state, and nation; to establish and improve property values therein; and to foster the economic development of areas affected by the Hammond Historic District.

C. The commission shall have control over the historic district fund and all disbursements made from the historic district fund, however, the historic district fund shall be used exclusively for the purposes set forth above.