HISTORIC LANDMARKS ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

Courthouse Clock Tower

Local history creates landmarks unique to every community.  Landmarks can include a wide variety of objects and sites:  the giant sequoias in front of the County courthouse; a downtown storefront; a homesteader’s barn; a family cemetery; a residential district; or a set of drive-in restaurant figurines.  Discovering, identifying, and preserving these landmarks celebrates the distinctive attributes that help define Hillsboro to its residents, neighbors, and visitors.

Get Involved:

The City of Hillsboro is currently seeking Hillsboro residents to fill 2 vacancies on the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee (HLAC).  This is an exciting volunteer opportunity to make a difference in your community.Application forms can be found at http://www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/CommitteesBoards/ or at the Planning Department office, on the 4^th floor at the Civic Center, 150 E. Main Street, or have one mailed to you by calling (503) 681-6436. The application deadline is November 15.

• Creation of HLAC
  
• Members
  
• Duties
• Meetings
• Cultural Resource Inventory
• Historic Properties Survey: Downtown Hillsboro
• Documenting Hillsboro History: Orenco
• Hillsboro Landmark Newsletters
• Contacts

Kimberli Fitzgerald and Debbie Raber,with the help of the Hillsboro Landmarks Advisory Committee, have selected vintage images of historic Hillsboro to create a new book in Arcadia’s Images of America series.  The author’s have donated their royalties back to the HLAC to help support preservation programs in Hillsboro. For information on how to purchase a copy, contact Debbie at (503) 681-6155.

Creation of the Hillsboro Landmarks Advisory Committee (HLAC):

Since 1985, Hillsboro has had a Cultural Resource Inventory.Sites on the Inventory are regulated under Section 132 of the Zoning Ordinance.

In 2000, Hillsboro’s Vision Task Force prepared an Action Plan with strategies and actions to implement the Hillsboro 2020 Vision Statement. The Vision Action Plan (VAP) was updated in 2005.  Both the 2000 and the 2005 VAPs included, within the Enhancing Neighborhoods and Districts focus area, Strategies which call for the protection and enhancement of landmarks.  Strategy 15, and its associated Actions, read as follows: 

15.Historical and Cultural Sites

Protect and enhance historical and cultural sites and other resources.

• Establish a Hillsboro Landmarks Commission.
• Create a volunteer membership Historical Society for Hillsboro. 
• Provide educational materials for property owners on protection of historic and cultural sites, including qualifications, resources, how to establish and other information; build connections with other regional and state historical societies.
• Identify Hillsboro’s historic sites and obtain grants for designation.
• Develop tax and other incentives to restore and update historic structures

In mid-2006, the City began the Landmarks Commission Project, which implemented Strategy 15.  After evaluating existing conditions and surveying cultural resource property owners and preservation advocates, City staff submitted two alternative concepts for a Landmarks Commission to the City Council.  The Council selected the alternative of an advisory committee, and the City proceeded with Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance amendments to authorize creation of this committee.  The amendments were approved in November 2007, and the Historic Landmarks Advisory Committee (HLAC) was created in February 2008. 

Members:

The seven members of the HLAC are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.  Each member has demonstrated a positive interest in historic preservation, and at least five members are required to be City residents.  Non-resident Committee members must reside within a five-mile radius of the City boundaries. 

Duties:

The HLAC has the following duties:

• Develop and implement an annual historic preservation work plan; 
  
• Pursue and administer CLG grants for the benefit of the City.
  
• Review and make recommendations to the Planning Commission on nominations of new properties to the CulturalResource Inventory; applications for exterior remodeling of existing resource structures, and applications to demolish or relocate existing resource structures.
  
• Conduct general public outreach and provide specific assistance to owners of historic properties.

Meetings

The HLAC meets as needed on the second Monday of each month, in the Civic Center at 150 East Main Street in downtown Hillsboro. 

• HLAC Meeting Agendas and Minutes

Cultural Resource Inventory

Cultural Resources Map(3mb pdf) or to access an interactive map of Hillsboro’s Cultural Resources inventory please click here: Google map.

Historic Properties Survey: Downtown Hillsboro

Winter 2012: Last year, the Planning Department retained a consulting firm to conduct a survey of historic resources in downtown Hillsboro, with the goal of identifying structures which might be good candidates for nomination to Hillsboro’s Cultural Resource Inventory (CRI) or for the National Register of Historic Places. The survey was funded in part by a grant from the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service Certified Local Government Program. The results of the survey are now being assessed, and city staff anticipate that in the coming year we will be contacting owners of eligible properties about the possibility of nomination to the CRI or the National Register.  Click here for more information.

Documenting Hillsboro History: Orenco

The City completed a survey of properties in the historic Orenco neighborhood in 2009. Click here for more information.

Hillsboro Landmark Newsletters

Newsletter of the Hillsboro Landmarks Advisory Committee

• Spring/Summer 2011
• Spring 2010
• Winter 2009-2010
• Spring 2009
• Winter 2008-2009
• Summer 2008

Contact Us:

For further information on HLAC activities or meetings, please contact: 

Deborah A. Raber, Project Manager
Phone: (503) 681-6155

Hillsboro Planning Department
FAX:(503) 681-6245

150 East Main Street, 4th Floor
Send an E-Mail.

Hillsboro, Oregon ;97123

Planning Department: (503) 681-6153

Additional information on historic preservation in Hillsboro: 

Local citizens organized the Hillsboro Historical Society (HHS), whose mission is to protect and preserve local cultural resources through education of historic property owners, appointed and elected officials, and the general public.  For further information on the Hillsboro Historical Society, visit http://www.hillsborohistorical.org/

If you have additional information regarding your historic resource you wish to share with us please email or call (503) 681-5203.