Title
Approval of Historic Preservation Plan (PreserveHistoricPHX 2025) - Citywide
Description
This report requests the Transportation, Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee recommend City Council approval of the City's historic preservation plan update, PreserveHistoricPHX 2025.
Report
Summary
The City of Phoenix adopted its first comprehensive historic preservation plan, PreserveHistoricPHX, in 2015. PreserveHistoricPHX 2025, a plan update, provides the opportunity to celebrate the achievements made after the original plan adoption, identify challenges, and assess new opportunities to further historic preservation in Phoenix. PreserveHistoricPHX 2025 is intended as a more specific plan to augment PlanPHX 2025 and to protect and promote the historic and archaeological resources of Phoenix.
The plan update initiative began when the City hired a consultant to conduct stakeholder meetings to identify challenges and create a series of recommendations to advance historic preservation in Phoenix based on practices occurring across the country. The City began a public engagement effort based on the findings of this study with a series of public meetings and a publicly posted survey from the fall of 2023 through the summer of 2024. The City Archaeology Office also provided recommendations to the historic preservation office because the protection of archaeological resources is a key component of historic preservation, as reflected in the City's Historic Preservation Ordinance (Chapter 8 of the Zoning Ordinance).
These engagement efforts revealed that the original five goals of the 2015 plan continue to have relevance:
1. Protect Archaeological Resources
2. Protect Historic Resources
3. Explore Preservation Incentives
4. Develop Community Awareness
5. Promote Partnerships
PreserveHistoricPHX 2025 outlines new possible policies, actions, and tools that can be used to achieve these goals over the next decade (Attachment A).
Concurrence/Previous Action
Staff recommended approval of the PreserveHistoricPHX 2025 plan (Attachment B).
VPC Action: 14 Village Planning Committees (VPCs) considered the request. Two VPCs recommended approval per the staff recommendation and twelve recommended approval per the staff recommendation, with direction, as reflected in Attachment C.
HPC Action: The Historic Preservation Commission considered the request on July 14, 2025 and recommended approval per the staff recommendation by a vote of 8-0.
PC Action: In response to recommendations from the VPCs and HPC, staff developed the Addendum A Staff Report (Attachment D). Modifications to the draft plan included additional information regarding the benefits of historic preservation, a revised acknowledgements page, information pertaining to the possible impact of A.R.S. § 9-462.13 (Middle Housing Law) to historic districts, and new tools such as the creation of enhanced design guidelines. The Planning Commission considered the request on September 4, 2025 and recommended approval per the Addendum A Staff Report, by a vote of 6-0 as reflected in Attachment E.
Location
Citywide
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Alan Stephenson and the Planning and Development Department.