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

Sec. 25-97 sits in article V, division 1, general provisions, and applies 'notwithstanding any other provision of this ordinance,' overriding the district-by-district use tables that would otherwise govern the property. The council can only act by resolution, after due notice and a public hearing, and only on two combined findings: that a normally permitted use in that zoning district is not economically or practically feasible, or would not serve historical preservation, and that the proposed alternate use will tend to promote maintenance or restoration of the landmark's unique historical or architectural qualities.

Subsection (b) defines a qualifying landmark narrowly: a structure, premises, or site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Historic American Buildings Survey, the Statewide Plan of Historic Preservation prepared by the Alabama Historical Commission, or the Alabama Register of Historic Landmarks. A property that isn't on one of those four registers doesn't qualify for the Sec. 25-97 exception, even if it is old or locally notable. The mechanism works alongside, not instead of, the city's separate historic district and certificate-of-appropriateness process in chapter 20 of the Code, and alongside the nonconforming-structure provisions elsewhere in article VIII, which let a nonconforming historical or architectural landmark be restored without losing its nonconforming status, unlike ordinary nonconforming structures that lose that status once destroyed past fifty percent of assessed value.