Today, The Hill published ACHP Chair Sara Bronin’s op-ed which calls for modernizing federal historic preservation standards to meet today’s pressing needs.

Bronin writes: “At their best, these standards help preserve the historic buildings, homes, schools, and places of worship that form the soul of our communities. But when applied too rigidly and without regard to the needs of communities, they become yet another source of red tape and an obstacle in efforts to expand housing, retrofit buildings for climate change, and spur economic growth.”

In March, Chair Bronin released a report that summarizes the development and prior analyses of the standards, reviews and appends 300 pages of recent public comment received, and makes recommendations on how to improve their application and interpretation to meet modern needs. Developed by the Department of the Interior, the standards are used in federal, state, and local regulatory processes that annually impact 120,000 federal agency actions, $8.8 billion in projects receiving the federal rehabilitation tax credit, and thousands of individual projects reviewed by local historic commissions.

Read the full op-ed in The Hill.

Note this blurb could also be used for LinkedIn.