Kenosha County, WI Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

County Code § 12.37.020 creates the Ho Historical Overlay District to protect improvements the County Board finds have special historical, cultural or architectural value. The district applies only in the unincorporated towns that have adopted county zoning; the City of Kenosha, the City of Lake Geneva and the county's villages zone themselves and are not covered by this chapter. An Advisory Historical Preservation Commission of seven members, one registered architect, one historian, one licensed real estate broker, one County Board Supervisor and three citizen members, appointed by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Board, recommends which sites become a 'landmark' or 'historic area.' Designation requires a public hearing with ten days' notice to owners within 500 feet, a Class 1 published notice, and referral to the Town Board, County Park Commission and Department of Planning and Development, followed by County Board action rezoning the property to the district.

Once designated, no owner may reconstruct, alter the exterior of, or add an improvement to a landmark or a structure in a historic area, and a township Building Inspector cannot issue a permit, unless the Historical Preservation Commission first grants a Certificate of Appropriateness, a decision the Commission must make within thirty days of the application. Demolition permits are barred without the Commission's written approval; the Commission can withhold that approval for up to ten months while it works with the owner to save the property, extendable two more months if funding to preserve it is still pending. Owners who cannot sell a designated landmark despite good-faith efforts may petition for recision after a six-month joint search for a buyer.