Huntsville, AL Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

The city council found in Sec. 10-61 that more than 60 percent of property owners inside the district petitioned in writing for its creation, and in Sec. 10-62 formally designated "The Huntsville Historic Preservation District" on findings that it holds historic significance for its architecture, persons and events and that preserving it serves the general welfare and the local economy. Sec. 10-63 then splits the district into the Twickenham, Old Town, Alabama A&M University and Five Points subdistricts and sets the operative rule: no building or structure may be erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, restored or renovated anywhere inside the district lines without a certificate of appropriateness (COA) from the Historic Preservation Commission, granted under the commission's own procedures and rules.

Sec. 10-63 spells out each subdistrict's boundary by metes and bounds, running to hundreds of feet along named streets, alleys and platted lots, so the exact reach of the COA requirement depends on which side of a described line a property sits on. The commission itself is established by Sec. 2-1541 and seated under Sec. 2-1542 with nine members: one council member, the manager of planning, the manager of inspection, and six mayoral appointees serving staggered then six-year terms, at least three of whom must own and reside in a home inside a historic district.

Sec. 2-1543 gives the commission all duties and powers delegated to such commissions under Code of Ala. 1975 §§ 11-68-4 through 11-68-12 and 1971 Ala. Acts No. 1307, but bars the commission from acting on any property without prior notice to the owner and from requiring an owner to open the property for public tours.