Comment by BeetleB

> It's like saying it's my property I can do what I want, yet there exists designated historic homes or neighborhoods that are deemed to have cultural value where modifications do in fact need to be approved.

Yes, and when you buy them with that designation, you know what you're getting into. The problem occurs when you already own it, and some group is trying to get it labeled as historic, which will add to your burden and limit what you can do with it.

When I was in a small town, this was actually weaponized. A hotel owner was trying to get another hotel categorized as "historic" and had rallied a lot of people behind his cause. He had a case - the hotel did have some claim to being the "first" in some category or other. But really, he was doing it because it was a competitor. The "historic" hotel owner had to spend a lot of money to fight the cause, because being labeled historic would prevent him from performing various upgrades, making the hotel less attractive to customers (he was already not getting many customers).