Orange holds study session on a comprehensive historic preservation ordinance

City staff and consultants told a joint Planning Commission and Design Review Committee meeting on March 16 that the City of Orange will pursue a comprehensive historic preservation ordinance to consolidate existing rules, clarify designation criteria and strengthen protections for cultural resources.

Anna, the assistant community development director, said the ordinance effort aims to expand content in the Orange Municipal Code to better "manage and protect cultural resources in the community" and to create a clearer nexus with the California Environmental Quality Act. The current code provisions are spread across Chapter 17.17 and a set of district‑specific design standards, she said, and the goal is a single, user‑friendly program.

Debbie Howell Bridal, a principal associate with Chattel Architecture and the project manager for the effort, told commissioners the ordinance would provide a local register and tailored criteria for landmarks and districts, a tiered review system to streamline project review, provisions for tribal cultural and archaeological resources, and explicit links to CEQA. "Old Towne Orange is the largest historic district on the National Register in California," she said, arguing the city has a strong preservation foundation on which to build.

The consultants listed eleven core ordinance components they expect to include: a purpose statement and enabling authority, establishment of a historic preservation commission, criteria and procedures for designation and review, a streamlined system for project reviews, economic hardship exemptions, appeals and enforcement procedures, emergency exemptions (for example, after earthquakes), and clear definitions to make the ordinance legally defensible.

Robert Chaddell, the Chattel principal who also addressed the meeting, emphasized the role of incentives such as the Mills Act historic property contract program to encourage voluntary designation and fund rehabilitation. "If a property owner already has to come in for project review, you might as well have the Mills Act," he said, noting the program's potential property‑tax benefits.

Consultants said outreach is under way: Chattel and City staff met with the Old Towne Preservation Association and the Orange Legacy Alliance in February; a community workshop is scheduled for March 25 at the Orange Public Library; and administrative drafts are planned for internal review from May through July, with a final administrative draft expected by July before formal hearings.

No ordinance provisions were proposed at the study session — the meeting was framed as information‑gathering — and consultants asked the public to bring questions to the March 25 workshop. The City will post the recorded meeting and presentation materials online, staff said.