Designation Process for Historic Districts.
San Antonio Unified Development Code § 35-605
in effectSec. 35-605. - Designation Process for Historic Districts.
(a) Authority. The city council may designate by zoning ordinance certain areas in the City of San Antonio as historic districts. Such districts shall bear the word "historic" (H) in their zoning designation. The procedure for designation shall be subject to notice as prescribed in article IV of this chapter for a zoning amendment and shall conform to the federal and state constitution.
(b) Initiation. Any person owning property within the proposed area, the historic preservation officer, the historic and design review commission, the zoning commission or the city council may initiate a historic district designation by filing an application with the historic preservation officer. Requests for designation by a person owning property within the proposed area shall be made on a form obtained from the city historic preservation officer through the office of historic preservation. Required application materials are listed in section 35-B129 of this chapter. Completed applications shall be returned to the office of historic preservation for review and processing as applicable. Properly submitted applications shall remain valid for one (1) year from the date it is deemed complete and thereafter shall be expired.
(c) Completeness Review. See section 35-402 of this chapter. For purposes of this section and subsection 35-402(c), the historic preservation officer is the administrative official with original jurisdiction to review applications and submitted written support for completeness.
(d) Review Process.
1. Informational Meeting and Notice. Proposed historic districts shall be evaluated for eligibility under the Designation Criteria for Historic Districts and Landmarks outlined in 35-607. Provided that the historic preservation officer agrees that the proposed area indicated in the application is appropriate for designation, the office of historic preservation staff shall hold at least one (1) public meeting to provide information to property owners in the proposed designation area regarding the application and historic designation process. Prior to the required informational meeting, the historic preservation officer shall send notice by mail of the receipt of an application for a proposed designation to the owner or owners of property within the proposed historic boundary as well as stating the purpose, date, time and place of the meeting. This notice shall be in addition to notice given prior to a public hearing as set forth under the city's zoning code. The historic preservation officer shall also send notice of the informational meeting to any registered neighborhood associations located within the proposed district boundary.
2. Public Participation.
A. Following an informational meeting and notice of the receipt of an application for a proposed designation, the historic preservation officer shall provide a mailed ballot to the owner or owners of property within the proposed historic boundary. Property ownership shall be verified utilizing the last certified tax rolls of the appropriate county tax assessor collector for the proposed area. For purposes of calculating the support of fifty-one (51) percent of the property owners, each property as listed on the tax rolls shall be counted individually, regardless of whether an individual or group owns multiple properties within the proposed area. Properties owned by governmental entities shall not be counted in the fifty-one (51) percent support requirement, although their written preference may be submitted to any board, commission or to city council for their consideration. Additionally, for properties owned by more than one (1) party, only one (1) property owner need submit written support in order for the historic preservation officer to count the property in the calculation.
B. At any point in the process, owners may submit with the application a written description and photographs or other visual material of any buildings or structures that they would like for the historic preservation officer to consider as non-contributing to the historic district. Such submission shall be treated in accordance with section 35-619.
C. When the historic preservation officer has received verifiable written support from the owners of at least fifty-one (51) percent of the properties within the proposed historic district boundary, the historic preservation officer shall forward the application to the historic and design review commission for a public hearing and recommendation. The historic preservation officer shall not accept written support for an expired application, however, previous support that is verifiable may be resubmitted to support a new application.
D. If a property within the proposed district boundaries is owned by an organization that is a religious organization under Section 11.20, Tax Code, the property may be included only if the organization consents to inclusion of the property within the proposed district designation.
3. Interim Controls. Once an application for historic district designation is forwarded for public hearing, the provisions of this division shall apply to all properties within the proposed boundaries in accordance with section 35-606(e).
4. Public Hearing Schedule. Property owners within the proposed boundaries included in the application for historic district designation shall be notified in accordance with section 35-403 of this chapter. Consideration of the item by relevant boards and commissions shall be scheduled for the next available public hearing which meets all legal notice and quorum requirements. The historic and design review commission shall make its recommendation for either approval or denial within thirty (30) days from the date of submittal of the designation request by the historic preservation officer. Upon recommendation of the historic and design review commission, the proposed historic district designation shall be submitted to the zoning commission with the historic and design review commission recommendation.
(e) Decision. The zoning commission and the city council shall process the application as prescribed in section 35-421 of this chapter and this section. The zoning commission shall schedule a hearing on the historic and design review commission's recommendation to be held within forty-five (45) days of receipt of the historic and design review commission's recommendation and shall forward its recommendation for either approval or denial to the city council. The city council shall schedule a hearing to be held within forty-five (45) days of its receipt of the zoning commission's recommendation. The city council shall review and shall approve or deny the proposed historic district. Upon passage of any ordinance designating an area as historic, or removing the designation of historic, the city clerk shall send notice of the fact by mail to the owner or owners of affected property.
(f) Recordation. Upon designation of a historic district, the city council shall cause this designation to be recorded in the official public records of real property of Bexar County, the tax records of the City of San Antonio and the Bexar Appraisal District, and City records including the City of San Antonio's official zoning maps.
(g) Design Guidelines. The city council may, from time to time, designate specific guidelines for particular historic districts. The designation shall include the formal name of the district, a legal description of the boundaries of the district, and a cross-reference to the design guidelines.
(Ord. No. 98697 § 1, 4, 6 and 7; Ord. No. 2007-04-12-0409, §§ 1, 2, 4-12-07) (Ord. No. 2009-01-15-0001, § 2, 1-15-09) (Ord. No. 2010-06-24-0616, § 2, 6-24-10) (Ord. No. 2010-11-18-0985, § 2, 11-18-10) (Ord. No. 2011-03-31-0240, § 2, 3-31-11) (Ord. No. 2012-12-06-0932, § 1, 12-6-12)(Ord. No. 2015-10-29-0922, § 2, 10-29-15)(Ord. No. 2015-12-17-1077, § 2, 12-17-15; Ord. No. 2022-11-03-0831, § 2, 11-3-22, eff. 1-1-23)
Source: City of San Antonio, City Code, City Charter and Unified Development Code (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/tx/san_antonio/codes/unified_development_code?nodeId=ARTVIHIPRURDE_DIV2HIPR_S35-605DEPRHIDIFetched: 10/27/2026