Norman, OK Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

NCC 36-535 creates the Historic District Ordinance as an overlay that can apply to property in any underlying zoning district, layering extra rules on top of whatever the base zoning already allows. The ordinance defines a landmark as an individual structure, building, site, or monument that contributes to the City's historical, architectural, or archaeological heritage, and defines a historic district as a geographic concentration of such sites, buildings, structures, or monuments, or a single one significant enough on its own. Once property sits inside a designated HD district, the owner is on the hook for two things: keeping every exterior portion of the structure, landmark, or monument in good repair, and getting a certificate of appropriateness (COA) from the Historic District Commission before doing any exterior erection, moving, demolition, removal, rehabilitation, reconstruction, restoration, or alteration.

Rear elevations get a lower bar than front-facing walls because they're classified as secondary elevations, giving owners more flexibility for additions or modern conveniences that don't face the street. Designation itself runs through the same rezoning-style process as any other zoning district change: either the Council or an individual property owner can propose a district, the nine-member Commission reviews it first, and the Planning Commission and Council each get a vote. Once a designation application or resolution is pending, no permit to alter, demolish, move, or relocate the resource can be approved until the process concludes, unless the Commission decides the work is essential to keep the resource from falling apart in the meantime.