§ 38-144. Establishment of countywide historic preservation program components.

The board of county commissioners hereby establishes the components of the countywide historic preservation program as follows:

(1)

Survey and identification.

a.

The county shall establish and maintain a county register of historic resources (hereinafter "historic register") (defined to include significant historic buildings, structures and objects, historic districts and archaeological sites) within the county and its municipalities.

b.

The historic register will be updated on a regular basis, readily available to the public through the county's website and shall be organized to allow for research on the major features of the site, such as building type, year built, style, location/jurisdiction, architect/builder and applicable county criteria. The criteria for listing historic resources on the historic register shall be consistent with the standards established by the National Park Service for the National Register of Historic Places and with the criteria described on Exhibit A attached to Ordinance No. 08-11. The eight local criteria that reflect the themes of development and history in Pinellas County include: Coastal living, tourism, agriculture, transportation, wars, Florida boom, community life, and pre-history/archaeology.

(2)

Preservation programs. The county shall develop and promote preservation regulations and programs that support the historic preservation policies of this article.

Programs that will be pursued include the identification of a model historic preservation plan element, model preservation protection ordinance, model design guidelines as well as outstanding examples of preservation documents and programs from other governments or preservation sources. This information will be readily available to the public through the county's website and in publication form.

(3)

Educational outreach. The county shall provide educational programs and technical assistance to municipalities, owners of historic property, architects and contractors, preservation commission and historic society members, developers, historic preservation professionals and other citizens interested in historic preservation.

The educational programs may include but are not limited to a "how- to tool box" for preservation advocates describing preservation methods, workshops and conferences, technical assistance, preservation website, publications and presentations.

(4)

Financial incentives. The county shall research, develop and promote financial and tax incentives at all levels of government that will encourage historic preservation.

In addition to promoting and adopting the existing historic preservation incentives such as the local ad valorem tax incentive and the federal income tax credit, other financial and tax incentives for adoption by local governments and the State of Florida shall be pursued. The program shall also develop and promote creative local incentives and emergency funding for threatened historic/archaeological sites.

(5)

The county shall demonstrate leadership through protecting and preserving the historic resources owned or leased by the county.

(6)

The county shall integrate the historic preservation public policy of this article and all historic resources into its planning processes, including the comprehensive plan and all of its elements, neighborhood/sector plans and any other applicable plans that govern the future development in the county. The county shall evaluate the development of criteria for the review of land use plan amendments, rezoning applications and site plan applications in relation to their impact on historic resources.

(7)

Within one year after adoption of this article, the county shall evaluate its comprehensive plan, land development regulations, policies and procedures to determine their level of consistency with the historic preservation public policy as adopted in this article. As soon as is practicable after the evaluation is complete, the county shall amend its comprehensive plan, land development regulations, policies and procedures to include goals, objectives, regulations, policies and procedures that implement this historic preservation public policy.

The board finds that a historic preservation protection ordinance is a critical component in the implementation of this historic preservation policy and directs the county staff to develop such an ordinance. The board further recognizes that there are varying levels of significance among the historic resources on the historic register; therefore, the revised comprehensive plan and land development regulations will reflect varying levels of protection for historic resources based on the differing levels of significance.

After adoption of this article and while the review of the county's comprehensive plan and ordinances are underway, the county will consider development of a process to identify threatened historic resources and a method to place a hold on irreparable harm to the historic resource while alternatives to demolition are explored.

(8)

The board of county commissioners directs the county staff to also conduct an evaluation of the countywide plan and rules and any other applicable planning documents to determine their level of consistency with the historic preservation public policy as adopted in this article. The board directs that this evaluation be conducted within one year after adoption of this article. As soon as is practicable after the evaluation is complete, the county staff, in cooperation with the Pinellas Planning Council, shall propose amendments to the countywide plan and rules that implement this historic preservation public policy.

(9)

The protection of historic resources of countywide, state or national significance is declared to be in the county's public interest. Therefore, within one year of adoption of this article, the county shall research and evaluate the development of an ordinance to restrict the demolition of historic resources that have countywide, state and/or national significance. This provision would focus on resources that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places or potentially eligible for listing as determined by the state historic preservation officer.

(10)

The county shall authorize the staff and financial resources required to implement and administer the historic preservation public policy of this article.

(Ord. No. 08-11, § 4, 2-19-08)