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Steamboat Springs — The city of Steamboat Springs may end up taking a tiered approach to historic preservation under recommendations being considered by a citizens committee reviewing city policies.

In its second of two public hearings, the Historic Structure Policy Review Committee presented a draft ordinance Monday that included provisions for the designation of a "landmark" historic structure. Such structures are tentatively defined as "critical to the history of the city." The designation was in response to concerns raised at the committee's first public hearing that its owner-consent approach to preservation would offer no real protection for such structures.

Committee Chairman Jim Moylan said the landmark designation would be for structures that "if lost, it would be devastating to the entire community." The committee is estimating there might be 10 such structures in the city.

"I think we can say with confidence that to be called a Steamboat Springs landmark, you would have to meet some very, very strict criteria," Moylan said.

It was implied that the owners of such structures would be subject to more rigorous requirements under the ordinance, but the committee stopped short of going into specifics such as whether demolitions would be possible or whether there would be mandatory design guidelines for such structures.

"We're just not ready to unveil anything on that yet," Moylan said. "That's going to take more work."

The issue of historic preservation came to a head last year, when the Steamboat Springs City Council placed an emergency moratorium on demolitions and significant alterations to structures more than 50 years old.

To replace the city's existing policies, the committee plans to recommend that the city create its own historic register and pay for an inventory of all properties in the city, to determine which structures are eligible for listing. The committee estimates there may be 50 such structures, which would make the ordinance much more limited in scope than current policies that affect all structures 50 years and older.

"Not every structure in Steamboat that's 50 years or older has historic merit," Moylan said.

Actual listing on the local register would be subject to the owner's consent. With the possible exception of landmarks, only eligible properties that opt to be included on the register would be subject to mandatory design guidelines. The committee will strongly encourage City Council to adopt honorary and financial incentives for properties that meet the design guidelines.

Other recommendations include broadening the Historic Preservation Advisory Commission's role to include education and outreach. They would be given other responsibilities and powers, and the word "advisory" would be removed from their name.

Towny Anderson expressed concerns with an ordinance that allowed owners to determine whether their properties are historic. He compared historic structures to other community resources such as wetlands.

"A historic structure is a historic structure by its definition," Anderson said. "If a watershed required owner consent, how different would our world be?"

Some members of the public who favor the draft ordinance's provisions for owner consent expressed some concern that those provisions could be easily removed by a future Steamboat Springs City Council that may wish to make preservation mandatory.

"The document is totally easily amended," Beverly Glenn said. "That really scares me."

John Fielding suggested the committee consult the city's legal staff to see whether there is any possibility of making the ordinance amendable only by a heavy council majority.

The ordinance's discussion of "historic districts" also received some discussion. The districts are vaguely defined, but it is proposed that they would be created at the request of property owners rather than by the city.

"It would be driven from the bottom up," Moylan said. "We did not believe there was enough contiguous historic structures in Steamboat for us to discuss creating historic districts ourselves."

What percentage of owners in a neighborhood it would take to create a district was a source of debate. Glenn said she feared the provision could create neighborhood conflicts if the requirement was less than unanimous.

"I'm just playing this out in my head, and I see bloodshed," she said. "I think that's a small portion that could be a big problem."