Heritage

Cultural Heritage Element
Heritage, the cultural heritage element of the Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan, calls on the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to work cooperatively to discover, interpret, protect, and celebrate the county’s historic and cultural resources, because they play a key role in defining the county’s unique community character and sense of place. 

The plan focuses not only on the tangible aspects of the county’s heritage, such as historic buildings, communities, and landscapes, but also on its intangible resources; its cultural traditions. In part, this element was adopted to meet the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) requirement that all comprehensive plans (municipal, multimunicipal, or county) include a plan for the protection of historic resources.
 
Goals
The plan has six goals:
  • Identify, conserve, and preserve the county’s heritage resources as a basis for retaining and enhancing strong community character and sense of place
  • Integrate the conservation and preservation of heritage resources in the economic development and revitalization of the county's towns, villages, and rural working landscapes
  • Ensure that new development respects and complements the patterns, character, and scale of the county’s traditional communities and rural landscapes
  • Promote strong leadership, collaboration, awareness, and responsibility in the conservation of the county’s heritage resources among the public, private, and non-profit sectors
  • Celebrate and promote the county's heritage resources
  • Ensure that adequate financial resources and incentives are available to implement the county’s heritage preservation goals
Documents