How to Submit a Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval Application

If your building is a designated City of Seattle landmark or located in a historic district, changes to the building or its use may require a Historical Preservation Certificate of Approval before work can begin. See the Department of Neighborhood’s Frequently Asked Questions to determine if a Certificate is required for your project.

Submitting Your Application

Log on to the Seattle Services Portal.
Click Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval under Create New.
Select the button next to Historical Preservation Certificate of Approval and click Continue Application.

Step 1: Property

The first step of the application is entering the property address for your project. The system validates addresses to ensure they are valid and within city limits.

At any point in completing the application, you can click Save and Resume Later. Applications in progress (sometimes called temporary records) are saved for 90 days after the last modified date.

Complete the address fields and click Continue Application or enter a partial address and use the Search button to find the address. Select the button next to the address and click Select.

Step 2: Contacts

The CofA application requires an applicant and owner.

To use the contact associated with your account, click Select from Account. Your contact information is automatically added.

To create a new contact, click Add New, complete the fields, and click Continue.

If the contact information you enter matches a contact that is already in the system, that contact is displayed.
To use an existing contact, click Look Up and complete the fields, then click Look Up again.
When search results appear, select the button next to the contact you want to use and click Continue.

When you have selected both contacts, click Continue Application.

Step 3: Application Details

The next step asks for details about your project.

Building/Property Name: The name of the building or landmark.
Detailed Description: A description of the work or change of use proposed.
Work Location: The specific location in the building or on the property where the work will take place, such as suite number and floors included.
Application Type: Certificate of Approval, Early Guidance, or Preliminary Certificate of Approval.
Type of Project: Use, Design, or Design/Use.
Landmark District or Type: Name of district, or individual landmark.
Whether project includes demolition of structure or object.
Whether proposal includes replacement, removal, or demolition of existing features.

If the answer to either of these is Yes, you must provide a description of the Statement of Reason for demolition and a description of the replacement.

Whether SEPA applies.
Related permit numbers.
Value of the portion of the project that requires a CofA and whether any portion is publicly funded.

If International Special Review District, Pike Place Market Historical District, or Pioneer Square Landmark District is selected as the Landmark District and the Application Type is Use, the following fields are also required:

New business
Change of use for existing business
Expansion of use
Temporary use
Change of ownership for existing business
Change of location
Increase business area (square footage)
Increase/decrease commercial area/areas not open to the public (Pike Place Market only)
Current use/vacancy information
Description of Proposed Use (Pike Place Market only)
Type of Proposed Ownership (Sole Proprietor, LLC, Corporation, or Other; Pike Place Market only)

For the Pike Place Market Historical District, you must also specify Existing Building Owners, Proposed Business Owners, and Proposed Business Hours.

To add an entry to one of these tables, click Add A Row.
Complete all required fields and click Submit.

Step 4: Documents

The final step in the application process is uploading required documents. The documents required depend on the details of your project; the system will provide a complete list.

Application Type	Project Details	Document Type
Early Guidance	All	Statement of Owner Consent Briefing Packet
Preliminary Design Certificate of Approval	All	Statement of Owner Consent Plan Set Photographs of Features To Be Altered
Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval	Design or Design/Use	Statement of Owner Consent Plan Set Photographs of Features To Be Altered Proposed Color Samples
Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval	Use	Statement of Owner Consent Plan Set
Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval	Demolition of Structure or Object	Statement of Owner Consent Plan Set Photographs of Features To Be Altered Proposed Color Samples
Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval	Replacement, Removal, or Demolition of Existing Features	Statement of Owner Consent Plan Set Photographs of Features To Be Altered Proposed Color Samples Survey of Existing Conditions
Historic Preservation Certificate of Approval	Use, Pike Place Market Historical District, Type of Proposed Ownership Is Not Sole Proprietor	Statement of Owner Consent Plan Set Corporation Ownership Documents

To upload documents:

Click Select under Attachment.
Click Select again.
Select the file from your computer or a network drive and click Open.
When the upload shows 100%, click Done.
Select the document type and click Save. Repeat to upload additional documents.