City of CH seeks nominations for awards programs

The City of Cleveland Heights’ Community Improvement Awards Committee and the Cleveland Heights Landmark Commission are accepting nominations for their annual awards programs.

Residents may nominate a deserving homeowner for a Community Improvement Award or a Tender Loving Care Award. Residents who have worked hard to improve their property may nominate themselves. For a property to qualify, the improvements must be visible from a public right- of-way and must make the area more attractive. Residents may nominate a property for restoration, renovation, an addition, outdoor furniture or sitting areas, lighting, new construction, signage and painting or excellent maintenance.

Residents may also nominate a property for the annual Historic Preservation Awards. Properties that have undergone recent exterior and/or interior preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, adaptive use, landscape restoration or sympathetic additions may be eligible. The Landmark Commission will review the nominations and select final award recipients whose properties meet criteria created in the spirit of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, which are detailed on the nomination form.

For nomination forms, visit www.clevelandheights.com.

The forms should be completed and returned to the City of Cleveland Heights, 40 Severance Circle, by Aug. 1. The winners will be honored at the Community Improvement Awards Ceremony on Thursday, September 30.

For more information about the Community Improvement Awards, call the community relations department, 216-291-2323. For more information about the Historic Preservation Awards, call 216-291-4885.

Historic Preservation Award selection criteria:

Rehabilitation/Preservation:

– Only completed projects shall be considered.

– Historic character and features of the property shall be retained and preserved.

– Features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property shall be retained.

– Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved.

– Original materials shall be retained (example: slate roof repair/replacement, removal of artificial siding, repair/restoration of wood siding).

– Historic materials and features shall be repaired rather than replaced.

– When material is replaced, the new shall match the old in composition, design, color and texture.

– Landscape and site features original to the site shall be preserved.

Architecturally compatible new addition:

– New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property.

– The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.