§ 30-1699. Procedures applicable to discovery of previously unidentified artifacts or sites during development.

When one or more previously unidentified artifacts or human skeletal or fossilized remains or non-human vertebrate fossils are found on a property during development or other site-disturbing activity, all development or disruptive activity directly over the potential find shall immediately cease. Before any further development or disruptive activity continues, the following procedure shall apply:

(1)

The area directly over the potential find shall be staked by the property owner or an agent of the property owner, the contractor or subcontractor, or other party discovering the potential find.

(2)

Within one working day of discovering the potential find, the department of planning and development services and, if applicable, the property owner shall be notified.

(3)

Within three working days of discovering the potential find, the director of planning and development services shall cause an inspection and evaluation of the site by a qualified archaeologist for the purpose of determining whether artifacts or human skeletal or fossilized remains or non-human vertebrate fossils are located on the site. If the qualified archaeologist determines that a significant archaeological resource is on-site or is likely to be on-site, then the director shall issue an order suspending construction or other disruptive activity in the defined potential archaeological site, based on the archaeologist's assessment. This order shall not have the effect of a stop work order and shall not stop construction or other disruptive activity not directly impacting the defined potential archaeological site.

(4)

The qualified archaeologist shall evaluate the significance of the archaeological find, and shall send a written archaeological evaluation report to the property owner and to the director of planning and development services postmarked within seven working days from issuance of the suspension order.

(5)

In the archaeological evaluation report, the qualified archaeologist shall require that an application for a certificate to dig be prepared if the archaeologist determines that the site contains artifacts of significant archaeological value. If the qualified archaeologist determines that there is no reasonable possibility that artifacts of significant archaeological value are contained on the site, then the archaeologist shall make such a finding in the report and the department shall immediately lift the suspension order.

(6)

In order to encourage individuals to bring potential artifacts to the village's attention, private citizens engaged in disruptive activity which does not require a development order, who discover a potential artifact, fossil or remains, may request a waiver of application fees and shall not be subject to the timeframes required in this section.

(7)

If human skeletal remains are found, then F.S. § 872.05 controls.

(8)

If required, an application for a certificate to dig shall be submitted prior to an application for a development order. The application shall be on a form prescribed by the director of planning and development services. Only one certificate shall be required per property, unless additional resources are found during site development. The application shall include a report prepared by a qualified archaeologist which shall contain, at a minimum, a documented search of the Florida Master Site Files, a brief history of the area, an archaeological survey and field inspection performed in a professionally acceptable manner, an assessment of the archaeological significance of the site, and a proposed plan for management. All reports shall include the preparation of a Florida Master Site File form, which shall be forwarded by the department of planning and development services to the division of historical resources of the Florida Department of State.

(9)

Within three working days of receiving an application for a certificate to dig, the department of planning and development services shall make a determination whether the application is complete. If the application is determined to be incomplete, then the department shall request additional information by certified mail. When the application is complete, the department shall forward it to the HPC, which shall hold a hearing within 30 days of receipt of the application from the department. The department shall prepare its report on the application and provide a copy to the applicant at least ten working days prior to the hearing. Evaluation of the application by the department, HPC and the village council shall be guided by the requirements of this section, the recommendations included in the archaeologist's report, and the recommendation of the archaeologist who prepared the archaeological evaluation report.

(10)

The HPC shall respond to the application in one of the following ways:

a.

If the property is determined to have no significant archaeological value, the HPC shall issue the certificate to dig and lift the construction suspension order, if applicable, and development may proceed.

b.

If the property is determined to have significant archaeological value, the HPC shall recommend to the village council the certificate to dig with conditions that it deems necessary to protect or permit the excavation of any part of the site found to be of significance, including conditions regarding site design. In order to protect these resources, the HPC may recommend to the village council that the applicant to do one or more of the following:

1.

Preserve the archaeological site within open space of the development;

2.

Redesign the development to accommodate preservation of all or a portion of the site containing the significant archaeological resources; or

3.

The property owner may voluntarily fund or seek funding for the excavation of the resource, if agreed to by the department.

c.

The village council shall consider the recommendation of the HPC at the next regularly scheduled public hearing by the time the public notice requirements can be satisfied, or as such time as is mutually agreed upon between the applicant and the director of planning and development services. Notice of the public hearing shall be given to the property owner(s) by certified mail and to other interested parties by an advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation at least ten days prior to the hearing. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the village council shall, by written resolution grant, deny, or grant with conditions, the certificate to dig. The resolution shall contain an explanation of the basis for the village council's decision. Upon the filing of the resolution with the village clerk, the clerk shall send a certified copy of the resolution by registered mail to the applicant.

d.

If the HPC finds that it is impossible to adequately preserve the significant archaeological resources using the standards and procedures in subsection (10)(b) of this section, and the proposed development plan will adversely affect the resources, the HPC may recommend to the village council to delay issuance of the certificate to dig for up to eight weeks after the submittal of a completed application to it, so that either:

1.

Appropriate archaeological excavation may be conducted to properly extract and interpret the significant archaeological resources found on the site;

2.

The village may approach any recognized historic preservation agency to seek alternate solutions; or

3.

A buyer may be found to purchase the site for either site preservation or to allow detailed excavation, analysis and interpretation of the site.

(Ord. No. 02-14, § 1(7.6.9), 2-7-2002; Ord. No. 07-21, § 1, 7-26-2007)