Charlotte County, FL Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Section 3-5-250 gives the board of county commissioners authority to 'designate and place on the local register any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure or object of historical, architectural or archaeological value in and related to the county,' and lets the county recommend or nominate the same resource for the Florida Master Site File or the National Register of Historic Places. A Florida Master Site File form is completed for every Local Register listing to keep a consistent county-wide database, per the same section.

The five-member Historic Preservation Board, created by section 3-5-248 and appointed by the board of county commissioners, does the groundwork: under section 3-5-249 it identifies structures and sites worth designating, recommends them for protection or purchase, and advises county staff on how development activity might affect a resource before it reaches the commissioners. Designation carries real teeth. Section 3-5-251 lets the board delay approval of a voluntary demolition application for up to thirty calendar days, extendable by the board of county commissioners, to look for alternatives to tearing a designated resource down; the owner can petition to shorten that delay only by showing the resource denies them all economically viable use of the property.

Owners who let a designated resource deteriorate can be summoned by the board under the 'demolition by neglect' provision in that same section, and code enforcement can be instituted if they refuse to act. 09(2) if the damage is irreparable. Appeals of a community development director's determination run to the board of county commissioners under section 3-5-253.