§ 27-81. Policy.

(a)

The unified government board of commissioners finds and declares that the present and future economic and general welfare of the people of the city and of the public generally are founded on the contributions of the past. Many of these contributions are manifested in districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects that reflect the richness and diversity of the city's history by their design, association and integrity. The history so reflected includes the emigrant Indian tribes, the struggle against slavery, the railroads and the opening of the West, the Kansas Fever Exodus of 1879—1880, the development of major industries and the arrival of European immigrants, and all those factors attendant on the growth and development of a midwestern urban area.

(b)

The unified government board of commissioners further finds that many historic properties have been lost through demolition and destructive rehabilitation, notwithstanding the feasibility of preserving and continuing the use of such properties and without adequate consideration of the irreplaceable loss to the people of the city of the historic, cultural and architectural values represented by such sites, buildings, structures and objects. In addition, distinct areas and districts may be similarly uprooted or may have their distinctiveness destroyed, although the preservation thereof may be both feasible and desirable. It is the sense of the unified government board of commissioners that the economic and general welfare of the city cannot be maintained or enhanced by disregarding the historic, cultural and architectural heritage of the city and by countenancing the destruction of such assets.

(Code 1964, § 2-26(1)(A); Code 1988, § 27-77; Ord. No. 49004, § 2, 9-1-1970; Ord. No. 63524, § 1, 11-12-1981; Ord. No. 64598, § 1, 2-2-1984)