In Key West, numerous buildings within the Historic District fall into two categories: Historic and Historically Contributing Structures.
Historic buildings are those aged 50 years or more. Historically Contributing Structures refer to buildings identified in a Historic Structure Survey maintained by the City's Historic Architectural Review Commission (HARC), authorized by the State of Florida's Division of Historic Resources.
Only those buildings listed as "historically contributing structures" meet Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA’s) standards for historic building exemptions. Certain exemptions are available for these contributing structures, when it comes to Substantial Improvement requirements.
These exemptions allow contributing structures to be Substantially Improved without requiring the building be elevated. However, any machinery (Air Conditioning units etc.) and utilities (power meters/boxes) are not exempted from the elevation requirement.
