City of Vancouver staff brief Clark County Historic Preservation Commission on demolition rules for heritage overlay districts

City of Vancouver development review manager Jason Nordst told the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission on Jan. 8 that buildings in heritage overlay districts face two distinct demolition processes: an "unfit building" determination under the city building code and a demolition request reviewed under the heritage overlay rules.

The presentation explained that an unfit building determination follows Vancouver Municipal Code (VMC) 17.32 and is limited to life-safety conditions such as structural damage from fire, earthquake or flood. "If the building cannot be reasonably repaired, then the building official may order its demolition," Nordst said. Demolition requests for buildings that are not deemed unfit follow VMC 25.10050 and require an applicant to show that preservation is not feasible because of economic hardship.

Why it matters: the two tracks have different reviewers, different evidentiary burdens and different appeal routes. Registered buildings on the historic register are reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC); buildings…