Nicholasville, KY Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Section 2-624(a) lists what the Nicholasville Historic Preservation Commission does. Its second listed action is recommending to the city commission the designation of historic districts and individual landmarks and landmark sites. The city commission, not the preservation commission, makes the designation itself. Its fourth listed action is regulating alterations visible to the public that are proposed for designated property, and regulating demolitions, relocations and new construction involving designated property. Its seventh is educational programs, including the placing of historical markers.

Section 2-622 supplies the vocabulary. A landmark is a building, structure or site meeting one or more of the criteria in section 2-264(C). A landmark site is the land on which a landmark and related buildings and structures sit, plus the land that provides the grounds, premises or setting for the landmark. Demolition means any act that destroys in whole or in part a landmark, or a building or structure in a historic district or on a landmark site. The definitions send the reader to section 2-264 for the criteria, and that criteria text is not part of the sections quoted here.

Section 2-623 creates the commission with seven members appointed by the mayor and approved by the city commission. Terms run three years, vacancies are filled within 60 days, members serve without compensation, and no member votes on a matter affecting that member's own property, income or business interest. Section 2-624(e) requires at least four public meetings a year, a previously available agenda, compliance with KRS 61.805, and a simple majority of the membership for decisions involving historic buildings and areas.

Section 2-625 ties the program to the National Register of Historic Places. The city initiates local nominations and the mayor and the commission each submit a recommendation. Within 60 days the city informs the Kentucky Heritage Commission and the property owner of the two recommendations.