Delegated Conforming Work

Delegated Conforming Work is the subset of Conforming Work that an HPOZ Board has delegated to the Director of Planning for decision on staff review, rather than requiring Board review. Each district’s Preservation Plan publishes its own delegated list — the lists are not uniform across districts. The delegation is intended to encourage compliance and facilitate streamlined review of simple maintenance, repair, and restoration projects.

The delegation does not eliminate review; it shifts the decisional venue. Delegated projects still require submittal through the Department’s Online Application System and a determination of consistency with Preservation Plan Guidelines before work proceeds. The HPOZ Board receives notice of every Director-level decision on delegated work.

Common Delegated Conforming Work items drawn from district Preservation Plans include:

• Ordinary maintenance and repair, including in-kind replacement, with no change in existing design, materials, or exterior paint color.
• Exterior painting in new paint colors consistent with the Preservation Plan Guidelines, where the new paint is not applied to previously unpainted surfaces such as stone, masonry, or stained wood.
• Roof repairs, including re-roofing of flat roofs within parapets where coping is not affected, and in-kind replacement of asphalt shingles or clay tiles, provided no removal of fascia, eaves, brackets, or rafter tails.
• Removal of non-historic stucco, asbestos shingles, vinyl siding, or similar materials when underlying historic materials can be repaired or replaced in kind.
• Replacement of non-original windows with windows that match the originals, when examples of original windows still exist on the structure.
• Installation of screen doors or windows on street-visible facades that do not obscure the actual door or window.
• Additions of less than 250 square feet to Contributing buildings, where the addition does not break the side-planes or roofline, is contained completely within the rear yard, and is not visible from the street.
• Alterations to facade openings on portions of a structure not visible from the street.
• Installation or repair of solar collectors, skylights, antennas, satellite dishes, and broadband internet systems.
• Installation of new gutters and downspouts.
• Planting of new trees in the front yard.
• Removal or installation of awnings, shutters, and window boxes.
• Alterations to a Non-Contributing structure other than additions, new construction, relocation, or demolition.
• Additions to Non-Contributing structures that increase square footage by less than 30% of the existing permitted square footage, where the addition does not affect the front facade or break the side and top planes.

The Department of City Planning retains the authority to refer any delegated project to the HPOZ Board for recommendation when compliance with the design guidelines is unclear. The list is a guide, not a guarantee.

Source: Citywide HPOZ Ordinance (LAMC §12.20.3) and Division 13B.8 (Historic Preservation), Chapter 1A LAMC. Each district’s adopted Preservation Plan publishes its specific Delegated Conforming Work list, typically in the chapter on Exemptions and Delegations.