May 9, 2024
Over the past year, the nation's historic preservation agency has come out with new policies that modernize and add flexibility to historic preservation, allowing planners and others to achieve preservation goals while also addressing other critical issues. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) issued four new policy statements on climate change, housing, the treatment of burial grounds and human remains, and Indigenous Knowledge.
The policies are intended to guide decision-makers at all levels of government and professionals in private practice. They offer critical support to planners seeking to update historic preservation approaches and align them with climate change, housing, and other goals — while also encouraging elected officials, fellow professionals, and community members to join their efforts. Indeed, the American Planning Association will use the ACHP policy statements to inform a rewrite of APA's Historic and Cultural Resources Policy.
Historic properties face climate risks
Forty percent of buildings in the U.S. were built 50 years ago or more. Planners recognize that the need to retrofit those existing structures for climate change adaptation and mitigation has never been more important. While preservationists often say that the "greenest building is the one that's already built," we can do more to make that mantra a reality.
To improve our adaptation response, the ACHP policy statement on climate change urges more systemic assessments of and planning for climate risks to historic properties. There are rare but excellent examples of the positive impacts of such data-gathering.
In Connecticut, the State Historic Preservation Office built a geodatabase that combines climate change threats (including sea level rise scenarios and floodplains) with an inventory of historic resources, allowing for improved accounting of challenges. In 2021, Boston changed its zoning code to allow for building heights to be measured from base flood elevations rather than street grade and published a detailed guide on acceptable flood-related adaptations to historic buildings. Other governments at all levels can collect information and take action to minimize risks to vulnerable sites.
Connecticut is mapping climate change threats, like sea level rise, and combining that data with historic property data to more fully understand and mitigate risk. Image courtesy Connecticut Cultural Resource Information System.
Existing buildings act as a huge store of embodied carbon. Any decarbonization strategy, therefore, must facilitate their reuse. The ACHP calls for more incentives and programs that support energy efficiency upgrades and solar panel installations. It also calls for increased flexibility in federal historic preservation standards that sometimes prevent us from making that happen. Planners can look to cities like Hartford, Connecticut, for examples of clear guidelines for solar on historic properties. Later this year, the ACHP is also expected to issue new guidance on solar panel installation for federal agencies under its purview.
Fortunately, manufacturers of windows, insulation, and other materials now offer an array of products that are more compatible with historic fabric than ever before. By marrying old buildings with complementary new materials and products, preservationists can achieve climate goals without sacrificing aesthetics.
Preserving housing and legalizing ADUs
Planners already know that fixing the current housing shortage requires not only new construction, but also the repurposing and rehabilitation of existing buildings. Sometimes, rhetoric around preservation as "obstructionist" to increasing housing supply obscures the important role that preservation can have in supporting housing creation.
Recognizing this, the ACHP Policy Statement on Housing and Historic Preservation takes a decidedly pro-housing approach. It encourages local governments to legalize housing in areas where it is not currently permitted, including the conversion of vacant office and commercial buildings to housing.
Streamlined adaptive reuse policies smooth the way for projects like the Broadway Lofts in Los Angeles. The interior lightwells of the 1907 former department store now feature catwalks residents use to access the apartments.
Once home to stores, medical and dental offices, and the Los Angeles Public Library, the Beaux Arts–style Metropolitan building in downtown LA now houses residents in 87 loft apartments. Photos by Brian Feinzimer.
A model in this regard is Los Angeles's Adaptive Reuse Ordinance. Seen as a pioneer in jump-starting downtown conversions, LA's 1999 ordinance is under consideration for expansion by local leaders this year. The ACHP encourages changes to zoning codes to support additional infill housing construction in historic neighborhoods. Many cities have implemented form-based codes, pattern books, and other means of allowing compatible infill development in historic districts.
ACHP also suggests zoning reform efforts like the legalization of accessory dwelling units and the removal parking minimums, as well. California has made headway in these areas, with the statewide legalization of ADUs (including in historic districts) and the abolition of parking requirements for projects in historic districts, both under SB 35. Preservationists can be strong partners in support of common-sense updates to outdated land use rules.
Respecting final resting places
As America continues to develop in sensitive areas, planners have long grappled with the best ways to protect burial sites from unnecessary disturbance. On a recent field trip to Mount Zion-Female Union Band Cemetery, a historically Black resting place in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., ACHP members learned about gravesites destroyed or moved by governmental and private actors. Climate change is a factor here too, as many gravesites are subjected to stormwater-related erosion from the runoff of neighboring development.
In its policy statement on burial sites, human remains, and funerary objects, the ACHP explicitly recognizes past inequitable treatment of gravesites associated with disadvantaged and underrepresented communities and Tribal nations, and emphasizes the importance of respecting the final resting places of all people. Importantly, the ACHP firmly discourages the disturbance or disinterring of burial sites whenever possible and encourages early and continuous communication with descendant communities.
The Mt. Zion-Female Union Band Cemetery, established in 1842, remains a final resting place for free and enslaved African American women who lived in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood. After years of neglect, gravesite removals, and vandalism, advocates are working to restore it as a memorial park. Photo by Brian Palmer/The New York Times.
These principles will be embedded into the ACHP's regulatory process governing federal agency action, but they can also be championed by planners at the state and local levels. Last year, New York State adopted a bill that, for the first time, protects unmarked Native American burial sites from destruction when human remains or funerary objects are unearthed by developers. Other state and local governments should follow New York's lead, drawing from the policy statement to ensure consistency across public actors.
Honoring and incorporating Indigenous Knowledge
In March 2024, the ACHP published a policy statement on Indigenous Knowledge and historic preservation. Indigenous Knowledge is defined roughly as the body of observations, oral and written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiians, and Indigenous Peoples. ACHP recognizes that Indigenous Knowledge is valid and self-supporting, and that holders of Indigenous Knowledge need not prove any particular academic or professional qualifications. ACHP also acknowledges that certain Indigenous Knowledge is confidential or sensitive, and that sacred sites may raise additional concerns, which should be accommodated by those seeking an understanding of Indigenous Knowledge.
Planners who work with, or do work that may affect, people who may hold Indigenous Knowledge should carefully review this statement to consider how and to what extent Indigenous Knowledge can be incorporated into their practice. For its part, the ACHP has identified (and soon will share information on) the points during the regulatory process during which Indigenous Knowledge should be included. ACHP also will work to ensure Indigenous Knowledge rises to the forefront in our future policy and regulatory actions.
In adopting all of these new policies, the ACHP is fulfilling its statutory role under the National Historic Preservation Act to improve preservation policy and to advise people working at all levels of government and in the private sector. ACHP encourages dialogue and debate about these issues, as we all work to ensure that we honor historic and cultural sites, while advancing other important societal values.
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