Yonkers, NY Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Chapter 45, Article I of the City Code creates the Landmarks Preservation Board and requires a certificate of appropriateness before three kinds of work: any alteration or repair that materially changes the exterior appearance of a landmark or a building in a historic district, any new construction inside a historic district, and any demolition or removal of a landmark or a building in a historic district. Under Section 45-8B, the certificate is required in addition to, not instead of, a building permit; the Bureau of Housing and Buildings cannot issue that permit until the certificate is granted, though the Board only reviews exterior features unless the interior itself has been separately designated an interior landmark.

S. Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, or the application is automatically deemed approved under Section 45-8J. If a building permit is required for the work, the certificate fee is 10% of the building permit fee, payable to the Comptroller; if no building permit is needed, there is no fee. An approved certificate expires 12 months after issuance if work has not started, or if started work is abandoned for 12 months. An owner who cannot make the property economically viable under the Board's conditions may apply for economic-hardship relief under Section 45-10, which requires proof the property cannot earn a reasonable return, cannot be adapted to another profitable use, and that a good-faith effort to sell it for preservation has failed.