Participate in Important Policy Changes: ACHP's Proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities
NAPC has been monitoring potential changes to the federal review process, specifically focusing on policy components that might impact outcomes at the local level. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has proposed an agency-wide Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities. Program Comments are intended to provide an alternative process to standard Section 106 review. ACHP Chair Sara Bronin has offered to give a virtual presentation for NAPC members to learn more about the Program Comments and ask questions.
The goal of the current ACHP Program Comment is to accelerate historic preservation review timelines for federal projects related to housing, climate-smart buildings, and climate-friendly transportation. They include:
-Allowing certain sitework and façade projects to proceed with limited or no review, simplifying routine maintenance and care of existing buildings as well as speeding climate resiliency upgrades.
-Allowing the installation of certain solar panels on historic buildings involved in federal government projects without further historic preservation review.
-Facilitating the electrification of historic buildings by exempting or streamlining reviews for mechanical and electrical system upgrades, including retrofits and installations of new all-electric energy-efficient appliances and building systems, including heat pumps.
-Broadening the scope of building envelope energy efficiency improvements, including replacement windows, doors, and insulation, without further historic preservation review.
Facilitating pedestrian, bicycle, micromobility, and public transit projects.
NAPC appreciates the initiative that ACHP has taken to evaluate policies and practices in the areas of housing, clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate-friendly transportation. While the effort to streamline certain aspects of reviews is valuable, NAPC is concerned that the broad scope of the proposed changes has the potential to limit the ability of local communities to participate in the Section 106 process. Local governments use the consultation process to provide information related to historic resources, balance undertaking needs with local preservation priorities, and ensure that the impacted public has a voice in our government. For some communities, the Section 106 process is their only opportunity to participate in projects that impact local resources. Local consultation has traditionally helped identify eligible cultural resources that might otherwise be overlooked.
NAPC is also concerned that this Program Comment could create confusion between federal and local level reviews. Under the proposed Program Comment, some reviews would be limited to the building façade and the replacement of windows and doors would be exempt. However, most local commissions with design review have purview over any proposed changes to a building’s exterior, including door and window replacements. Alternately, commissions in rural areas may be less focused on design review, while placing great emphasis on protecting archaeological resources, linear resources (for instance national historic trails), and cultural/working landscapes.
Given the potential far-reaching impacts of the proposed changes, NAPC believes it is important that communities have an opportunity to inform the draft. We want to hear from you! NAPC invites you to participate in the public comment period and discuss how this Program Comment will impact preservation at the local level. The public comment period is open until October 9th. Additional information can be found in the "Documents" section below and at: https://www.achp.gov/program_alternatives/program_comment/PCs_2024
Bronin is currently on leave from her position as a Professor of the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, an Associated Faculty Member of the Cornell Law School, the Director of the Legal Constructs Lab, and a Faculty Fellow of the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. She is also a Professor in the Rubacha Department of Real Estate (joint with the College of Business and AAP) and a member of the Graduate Faculty in Architecture. Among other scholarly service, Bronin is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a past chair of the State & Local Government Section of the American Association of Law Schools.
In addition to her books and treatises on land use and historic preservation law, she has written over two dozen articles on renewable energy, climate change, housing, urban planning, transportation, real estate development, and federalism. She also serves as the lead author of the land use volume of the forthcoming Restatement (Fourth) of Property. Among other current projects, Bronin founded and directs the National Zoning Atlas, which aims to digitize, demystify, and democratize information about how zoning regulates housing in around 30,000 jurisdictions nationally. Her book, Key to the City, under contract with W.W. Norton Press, will explore how zoning shapes our lives.
Active in public service, Professor Bronin has served on the board of Latinos in Heritage Conservation and as an advisor for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Sustainable Development Code. In 2020, she founded DesegregateCT, a pro-homes grassroots coalition that successfully advanced the first major statewide zoning reforms in several decades. Previously, she chaired Preservation Connecticut, served on the city of Hartford historic preservation commission, and led Hartford’s nationally-recognized efforts to overhaul its zoning code.
Her research and advocacy has seen signifiant support from public and private philanthropic sources. Among many other grants, she has raised $2.1 million for the National Zoning Atlas, over $640,000 for Desegregate Connecticut, and $350,000 for City of Hartford sustainability efforts. She is a co-principal investigator for a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to advance “living” building materials.
Bronin won several design awards for the rehabilitation of her family’s National-Register-listed 1865 brownstone. She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School (Harry S Truman Scholarship), M.Sc. from the University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholarship), and B.Architecture/B.A. from the University of Texas. While in law school, she clerked for then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. A seventh-generation Texan, Sara is a native Houstonian. She grew up working in her grandparents’ Mexican restaurant.
Email: sbronin@achp.gov
