(A) A community survives and improves by capitalizing on its assets and attributes. Community improvement is necessary and important. The public interest and well-being require that guidelines and controls are used not to inhibit or constrain improvement, but rather to shape and channel such activity to the benefit of the community.
(B) In a rapidly changing world, the stability of a small town can be used to its advantage. The city can meet the needs of the future and provide a basis for long-range planning by identifying, utilizing, and developing its current assets. Such planning draws from both the past and the present to illuminate the passageway to the future.
(C) A principal asset of the city is the duly recognized and registered historic district. The district represents a large portion of the city’s corporate limits. The major part of the business district is included in the historic district, tying it and various aspects of the residential portion of the district together as a homogeneous unit.
(D) The city has distinctive features in architecture, craftsmanship, landscape design and relevant social and economic history. This chapter provides a means for protecting, preserving and perpetuating these qualities and is designed to encourage property owners to view their property with the character of the community in mind. It encourages sensitive treatment of the historical qualities of the property by owners in their choices of materials and procedures and standards of workmanship. This chapter provides a framework, the effect of which shall be to capitalize on the major assets of the city, its people, sites and structures, and which will result in an enrichment of the quality of the community for business, commerce, residence, education and visiting.
(E) It is the purpose of this chapter to provide the procedures and guidelines for the preservation, enhancement and perpetuation of the historic district, the landmarks within and without the district and the overall character and quality which they give to the city, as separate entities and as an integral part of the community.
(1974 Code, § 2-8-1) (Ord. 9-85-04, passed 9-10-1985)