By Justin Leitgeb

Recently a Village resident on NextDoor asked about siding for an historic house in the Village. Since joining the Planning Board, I have had a few discussions with residents about improving historic buildings in the Village, and how to find information on regulations and processes. I hope that this post will help some Villagers in their projects. Please feel free to contact me if you have suggestions to improve this page.

Where do I find information on regulations in Pittsford Village that pertain to improving our historic home?

Contacting Village Hall is always a good place to start. They will be able to give you definitive answer on permits required and places to look for information.

If you are willing to do some digging, local laws are intended to be able to be understood by all residents, and Pittsford Village’s Code is no exception. Our code is available on eCode - Google for “Pittsford Village eCode” (without the quotes) and it will be at the top of the results list, or use this direct link.

Exterior projects on your house may require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Board. The Historic Preservation Code was recently updated and is not yet fully searchable in eCode (the Village “batches” the updates to eCode to save costs). I think that the idea is to incorporate this chapter into the rest of eCode when the rest of our Zoning Code is updated later in the Fall. In the meantime you can find the Historic Preservation Code on the “New Laws section of our eCode”.

Are there other materials about standards and guidelines in addition to our Code?

Yes. For projects on historic houses the document on Village Design Standards is very helpful. These standards are considered by the Historic Preservation Board (recently re-named from the Architectural Preservation Review Board - APRB) when evaluating an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness.

If maintenance is not an option, must I replace with the same materials that were used originally?

Not necessarily. See §211-6 (B) (2) (h), which says,

Exterior architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced whenever possible. In the event that replacement of such exterior architectural feature is necessary, the new material shall match the material being replaced in kind including composition, design, texture and other visual qualities.

Historic Preservation doesn’t always mean being at odds with technical innovation. See, for example the recent HPB approval of solar panels on a Village home. The HPB has also allowed modern “wood-like” materials instead of wood in some cases.

It sounds like Andrea is pretty well set with her project, but just in case anyone else is following along and considering improvements:

I agree with Jeff that you should not just go ahead and re-side your house without consulting at Village Hall and obtaining necessary permits. Replacing like-with-like is also often a good way to go. The recently-adopted code that pertains to historic preservation, which is not yet fully searchable on eCode is here: https://ecode360.com/PI1146/laws/LF1097095.pdf. It says, “Exterior architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced whenever possible. In the event that replacement of such exterior architectural feature is necessary, the new material shall match the material being replaced in kind including composition, design, texture and other visual qualities.”

In some cases, replacing original materials with modern look-alikes has been granted a Certificate of Appropriateness, e.g., wood replacement in some cases with approved wood-like materials. This topic is often discussed by members of the Historic Preservation Board (HPB). Note that the Historic Preservation code also allows for exceptions in the case of demonstrated hardship. There is flexibility built into the system so that it can function to enhance property values without being overly burdensome in individual cases. That being said, there are always improvements that can be made (many of which are being undertaken right now).

If you’ve hung around for this entire thread, you may want to consider submitting an application to serve on the HPB or Planning Board as positions become available. Resumes are accepted at Village Hall. Both boards are full of wonderful volunteer Village residents - if you like discussing topics such as historically-appropriate building materials and site plans, I’m sure that you would find serving on one of these boards a fulfilling experience. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them, or you can always come to one of our meetings as listed on the official calendar: https://www.villageofpittsford.com/calendar.

Thanks for kicking this off with your question, Andrea!