Section 10. Definitions

Part I. Definitions; Applicability

"Building" means a structure created to shelter any form of human activity, such as a house, barn, church, hotel, or similar structure. "Building" may also refer to a historically related complex such as a courthouse and jail or a house and barn.

"Chief elected local official" means the mayor of the city or town or the chairman of the board of supervisors of the county in which the property is located.

"Department" means the Department of Historic Resources.

"Determination of eligibility" means a decision by the Department of the Interior that a district, site, building, structure, or object meets the National Register criteria for evaluation although the property is not formally listed on the National Register.

"Director" means the Director of the Department of Historic Resources. The Director of the Department is the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for Virginia.

"District" means a geographically definable area possessing a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development. A district may also comprise individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history. A district includes local tax parcels that have separate owners. For purposes of this chapter, a historic district does not mean a locally established historic zoning district pursuant to § 15.1-503.2 of the Code of Virginia.

"Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places" or "keeper" means the individual who has been delegated the authority by the National Park Service to list properties and determine their eligibility for the National Register.

"National Register of Historic Places" or "National Register" means the list established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 for the purpose of identifying properties of value for their significance in history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture.

"National Historic Landmark" is a resource designated by the Secretary of the Interior as having national significance.

"Nominate" means to propose that a district, site, building, structure, or object be listed in or determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places by preparing and submitting to the keeper a nomination form, with accompanying maps and photographs which adequately document the property and are technically and professionally correct and sufficient. The nomination form shall be the National Register nomination form prescribed by the keeper.

"Object" means a material thing of functional, aesthetic, cultural, historical, or scientific value that may be, by nature or design, movable yet related to a specific setting or environment. Examples of objects include boats, monuments, and fixed pieces of sculpture.

"Owner" or "owners" means those individuals, partnerships, corporations, or public agencies holding fee simple title to property. "Owner" or "owners" does not include individuals, partnerships, corporations, or public agencies holding easements or less than fee interests (including leaseholds) of any nature.

"Site" means the location of a significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure, whether standing, ruined, or vanished, where the location itself maintains historical or archeological value regardless of the value of any existing structure.

"State Review Board" means that body, appointed by the State Historic Preservation Officer pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act (P.L. 89-665), as amended, whose members represent the professional fields of American history, architectural history, historic architecture, prehistoric and historic archaeology, and other professional disciplines, and may include citizen members. The State Review Board reviews and approves National Register nominations concerning whether or not they meet the criteria for evaluation prior to their submittal to the National Park Service.

"Structure" means a man-made work composed of interdependent and interrelated parts in a definite pattern of organization. In addition to buildings, structures include bridges, dams, canals, docks, walls, and other engineering works.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR392-01-02 § 1.1, eff. February 9, 1994.

Statutory Authority

§ 10.1-2202 of the Code of Virginia.