Flagstaff, AZ Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

The Flagstaff Register of Historic Properties is created and named under City Code § 1-21-001-0001, and any building or district already on the National Register of Historic Places or the State of Arizona Register of Historic Places is automatically added to the local register once the property owner concurs, per § 1-21-001-0002. For everything else, § 1-21-001-0003 sets the eligibility bar at buildings, sites or districts at least fifty years old with significant historical or architectural value to the City; properties younger than fifty years can still qualify with strong justification of special significance.

Anyone, not just the owner, may file a nomination under § 1-21-001-0004 on a City-supplied form that must include a current photograph, the property name and location, the owner's name and address, a physical description, a statement of significance, and any additional documentation the Flagstaff Historic Sites Commission asks for. If someone other than the owner files the nomination, § 1-21-001-0005 requires written notice to the owner, and the property cannot be placed on the register until the owner responds in writing that they want it there; silence for sixty days counts as a withdrawn nomination.

Historic districts follow a heavier process under §§ 1-21-001-0007 and 1-21-001-0008: at least fifty percent of the properties in a proposed district must be judged to contribute to its historic character using Secretary of the Interior standards, every owner in the proposed district gets written notice, and if fifty-one percent of owners file a written protest within twenty-one days the district nomination is automatically withdrawn. The Historic Sites Commission reviews every complete nomination through a three-member subcommittee that reports back at the next regular meeting, and a simple majority vote of members present decides whether to recommend acceptance to the City Council; a rejected application cannot be resubmitted for twelve months, and a withdrawn property cannot be renominated for six months. An owner may pull a property off the register at any time by written notice to the Planning and Development Section under § 1-21-001-0006.