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Q. I am confused about what kind of historic preservation activities may be carried out by local governments, as opposed to the state and federal government. Are local government activities fairly limited in nature?
A. No, local communities can carry out a wide variety of historic preservation activities, as you can see from this summary, below:
Conducting
surveys and maintaining an inventory of historic and cultural resources.
Developing
a preservation plan or preservation element of the local master
plan.
Developing
a local preservation ordinance.
Developing
regulations, standards, guidelines, and procedures for complying
with the ordinance (including specific design guidelines for a historic
district).
Designating
properties, landmarks, and districts under the local ordinance.
Reviewing
proposals and applications for alterations, new construction, demolition,
certificates of appropriateness, and design review.
Reviewing
local zoning amendments, subdivision proposals, and development
projects not specifically related to historic districts.
Reviewing
federal undertakings under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act as an interested party or as an “in house expert”
for a fellow agency in the same local government (e.g., local commission
review of a state/federal highway project or a local Community Block Development
Grant project).
For
Certified Local Governments (CLGs), official, required authority for
reviewing and commenting on National Register nominations, and
recommendations to the SHPO.
Carrying
out preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration projects; monitoring
covenants and easements
Creating
broad-based public education programs and heritage tourism activities,
including brochures, walking tours, lectures, publications, marker programs,
preservation award programs, etc.
Assuring
public participation in various areas, including open meetings
of the historic preservation commission or review board, public hearings
on National Register nominations, and soliciting public reviews on preservation
issues (e.g., in developing plans or ordinances).
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The web page content is by Susan Henry Renaud, Preservation Initiatives Branch, Heritage Preservation Services Division, National Center for Cultural Resources, National Park Service.