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What contributes to the designation of historic?
It's been over 15 years since Villa Monterey's HOAs and the City of Scottsdale came together to study our community and evaluate whether our neighborhoods warranted a "Historic Neighborhood" designation. Much work and study went into that decision. As you know, after all aspects were considered, the City enthusiastically created that designation, and the Villa Monterey Units I thru VII became part of that designation.
Architectural features such as our carports are considered a basic distinctive feature of our community. Likewise, façade embellishments such as our medallions, window treatments (both above and below windows), and ironwork give us a distinction. Even paint color is an historic item to be preserved.
Our part of the deal is to maintain our historic character by having an HOA review process to review and approve (or not) requested changes by homeowners. In VM III, our Home Modification Application and review by the Home Modification Committee are essential parts of our process.
The City’s part of the deal is to have the City Planning Department review our requested changes, if needed, and approve (or not) changes by homeowners.
The overall plan is for our HOA and City Planners to work hand-in-hand in preserving the historic nature of the VM III Community.
To that end, the City of Scottsdale created a set of guidelines that attempt to describe how to preserve the character-defining historic features of our unique communities. These are known as “INTERIM HISTORIC PRESERVATION GUIDELINES FOR VILLA MONTEREY UNITS 1-7, JULY 2011.”
These guidelines cover the seven distinct units of Villa Monterey, and have met with mixed success, because they are difficult to understand (completely textual, often legal and technical, have no visual depictions of features), and they apply to seven separate communities, each of which has its own separate HOA. Plus, the City has found that the seven distinct communities actually vary in the features that make them distinct and unique. So the guidelines are often not helpful in determining which features are to be preserved and which can be allowed to change.
So the City’s Historic Preservation Commission, and the City Planning Department, are attempting to identify unique features in each of the seven VM Units.
In the coming year, you will be hearing more about this, and eventually our VM III HOA and Homeowners will be talking face-to-face with city planners about what features we want to preserve, and what features we are willing to allow to be changed.
This conversation is just getting started, but the Board is already working with the City in this direction. When regular board meetings resume in the fall, we will begin conversations with the city. We are taking steps to document what we feel is distinct about VM III, and the HOA Board will be active in guiding the discussion with the city, to make sure all our values are recognized, and all our voices are heard.
So if you might see residents photographing architectural features around the neighborhood, they are probably part of this process of recording the architectural features that underpin our historic designation.
Feel free to contact myself or anyone on the Board if you have questions.
John Baughn
Chair, Home Modification Committee
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