Certificate of Appropriateness Requirement

For work that requires a Certificate of Appropriateness, the South Pasadena Building Division cannot issue the related building permit until the Cultural Heritage Commission has approved the CoA. South Pasadena adopted the California Historical Building Code through SPMC 9.8.1, and the relevant Article VII provisions of that adoption, read together with SPMC 2.65(a), establish the gate: where a project’s scope of work is one that requires a Certificate, the building permit follows the Certificate. Where the gate applies, it is a code-level prohibition for the categories of work the ordinance identifies — not a customer-service policy or a workflow preference.

Two scope notes follow from that framing. First, the gate applies to the work that triggers CoA review under SPMC 2.65(c) — alteration, demolition, relocation, or new construction affecting a cultural resource, and any project referred to the Commission. It does not apply to the seven categories of work expressly exempt under SPMC 2.65(d) (see below), most notably the categorical ADU exemption at 2.65(d)(6). Second, where the gate does apply, the Building Division’s plan check examiners cannot route around it, and applicants cannot satisfy it by submitting plans through a different department or process. The Certificate has to be issued first, and the related building permit follows.

Per SPMC 2.65(c), a Certificate is required for two categories of action:

1. Alteration, demolition, relocation, or new construction affecting any property listed on the South Pasadena Register of Landmarks and Historic Districts, the South Pasadena Inventory of Cultural Resources, or any other cultural resource.
2. Any other project referred to the Commission by City Council, the Planning Commission, or city staff.

“Alteration” is defined at SPMC 2.59A as any construction or physical change to a cultural resource — exterior of a building, designated interior of a landmark property, or a historic district — that may have a significant adverse effect on character-defining features. The definition expressly includes new construction of additions and expressly excludes ordinary maintenance and repair.

Seven categories of work are exempt from the Certificate requirement entirely under SPMC 2.65(d):

1. Painting of any residential or commercial building.
2. Ordinary maintenance and repair that does not require a building permit.
3. Landscaping and sprinkler-system work that does not affect a character-defining feature.
4. Paving work that does not affect a character-defining feature.
5. Entirely interior alterations that do not affect the exterior — except for designated interiors of a landmark property (including character-defining interior features subsequently discovered and documented).
6. All alterations affecting an existing or proposed accessory dwelling unit. See the separate library entry on ADUs on Historic Properties for the zoning-code review track that runs parallel to this exemption.
7. Replacement of existing screens and awnings with the same or substantially consistent materials, form, and shape.

For work that does require a Certificate, SPMC 2.65(e) establishes two review tracks. Minor Project Review applies to a defined set of project types — non-character-defining feature changes, additions to non-contributing accessory structures, like-for-like replacements, additions of less than 500 square feet (or 25 percent of the existing structure) not visible from the public right-of-way, and similar projects. The Commission’s chair (or designee) can approve a Minor Project at the chair level, place it on the consent calendar, or refer it to the major track.

Major Project Review applies to everything else and requires a substantial application package: written narrative, landscaping plan, site plan, floor plans, exterior elevations, finishes specification with a two-point perspective rendering, window-and-door schedule, photographs of the site and surroundings for 300 feet from the principal frontage, and supporting documentation. Per SPMC 2.65(e)(6), the Commission has 60 days to grant or deny if the project is CEQA-exempt.

Source: South Pasadena Municipal Code Chapter 2, Article IVH (Cultural Heritage Ordinance, Ord. No. 2315 § 2, 2017, amended Ord. No. 2400, 2025), §§ 2.59A, 2.65(c), 2.65(d), 2.65(e). SPMC Chapter 9, § 9.8.1 (California Historical Building Code adoption). California Public Resources Code § 5020.1; CEQA Guidelines § 15064.5(a).