The purpose of this chapter is to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare by providing for the identification, protection, enhancement, perpetuation and use of improvements, buildings, structures, signs, objects, features, sites, places and areas within the County that reflect elements of its cultural, agricultural, social economic, political, aesthetic, military, maritime, engineering, archaeological, religious, ethnic, natural, architectural and other heritage for the following reasons:
(a) To safeguard the County’s heritage as embodied and reflected in such resources;
(b) To encourage public knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the County’s past;
(c) To promote their use for the education and welfare of other residents of the County;
(d) To strengthen the economy of the County by protecting and enhancing the County’s attraction to tourists, visitors and residents;
(e) To stabilize and improve property values in historic areas of structures and objects for the ultimate aesthetic and economic benefit of the County;
(f) To provide increased availability to building owners of construction code, financing aids and tax benefits permitted under State and Federal laws when buildings have been designated a historic landmark status or lie within a designated historic district; and
(g) To enhance the visual character of the County by encouraging new design and construction that complement the County’s historic buildings.
(Ord. 1445, eff. August 14, 2014)