The city council expressly finds and determines that this comprehensive zoning ordinance is adopted and enacted for the purpose of promoting the health, safety, morals, convenience, order, prosperity and general welfare of Chesnee, South Carolina, its citizens, inhabitants, and occupants, and is adopted and enacted in accordance with a comprehensive land use plan. It is the intent, purpose and design of the city council by the adoption hereof to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, and other dangers; to promote health and the general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population and to make provision for water, sewage, schools, parks, and other public requirements. This ordinance and its provisions are adopted after careful and reasonable consideration of the character of each district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, and with a view to promoting desirable living conditions and the sustained stability of neighborhoods, protection of property against blight and depreciation, securing economy in governmental expenditures, conserving the value of buildings and encouraging the most appropriate use of land and other buildings and structures throughout Chesnee, South Carolina.

This appendix is adopted pursuant to the authority granted by the Code of Laws of South Carolina, Section 6-7-10 et seq., as amended.

This appendix shall be known and cited as "The Zoning Ordinance of Chesnee, South Carolina."

No building or structure, or part thereof, shall hereafter be constructed, reconstructed, or altered and no new use or change shall be made of any building, structure or land, or part thereof, except in conformity with the provisions of this ordinance. Every building hereafter erected or structurally altered to provide dwelling units shall be located on a lot as herein defined, and in no case shall there be more than one such building on one lot unless such buildings are provided for multifamily purposes.

Nothing in this appendix shall be deemed to require any change in the plans, construction or use of any building for which actual construction was lawfully begun prior to the adoption of this appendix, and has been diligently carried on, provided such building is completed within one year from the effective date of this appendix.

The provisions of this appendix shall not be construed as to interfere with the temporary use of any property as a voting place in connection with a municipal or other public election.

Cross reference— Elections, Ch. 6.