Port St. Lucie, FL Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Adopted by Ordinance No. 31 lets the city designate areas, places, buildings, structures, and archaeological sites as significant historic or prehistoric resources. Sites reach that list one of three ways under subsection (D): listing on the Florida State Master Site File, identification through a city historic and prehistoric site survey, or nomination by a property owner, qualified professional, or developer. Subsection (E) borrows the National Register of Historic Places criteria for significance, covering sites tied to a significant historical event or person, buildings with distinctive architectural or craftsmanship value, archaeological sites likely to yield historical information, and properties already listed on the National Register or the Florida Master Site File.

Subsection (F) excludes cemeteries, birthplaces, religious properties, relocated structures, and anything less than 50 years old from ordinary designation, unless the property fits specific carve-outs such as a birthplace of an outstanding historical figure or a cemetery of transcendent importance. A qualified professional must complete a site assessment survey under subsections (G) and (H), including mapping, archival research, and a National Register eligibility analysis, filed with the Florida Master Site File. When a significant site sits on a development parcel, subsection (I) requires mitigation: either preservation through redesign, reorientation, or sensitive reuse of the project, or data recovery consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, Revised 1983.

The Site Plan Review Committee decides adequacy of the proposed mitigation, and subsection (K) lets an applicant appeal any significance or mitigation determination to the City Council.