Fulfilling its duty to advise the White House, Congress, and executive branch agencies pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is inviting public feedback regarding application and interpretation of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (Secretary’s Standards) and associated guidelines.

The Department of the Interior sets out four treatments in the Secretary’s Standards:  preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction.  Each of the four Standards differs slightly in its articulation and in the expected results. 

The call for comments about the Secretary’s Standards is further articulated below. Comments must be submitted in writing by 5 p.m. on July 20, 2023, by emailing dnull@achp.gov. Major themes and issues that emerge from the comments received will be shared with the Department of the Interior, which is a member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the National Park Service, which is the bureau of the Department of the Interior tasked with promulgating regulations and issuing guidance related to the Secretary’s Standards.

Importance of the Secretary’s Standards

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (36 C.F.R. Part 68) provide guidance that is central to implementation of federal, state, and local historic preservation law. The application and interpretation of the Secretary’s Standards and associated guidelines significantly affect public and private projects involving historic properties, influence strategies and techniques people choose to deploy, change costs associated with addressing historic property issues, and shape distributional equity. In some cases, the Secretary’s Standards may affect the ability to address the pressing challenge of climate change both through and on behalf of historic properties. 

The Secretary’s Standards are enshrined in law and policy guidance across different agencies and programs.  For example, they are referenced in the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regulations (36 CFR Part 800), which guide federal agencies in complying with the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to consider the effects of federal undertakings on historic properties. Such undertakings are considered to have an adverse effect under Section 106 if associated rehabilitation work is inconsistent with the Secretary’s Standards. They are also referenced in the National Park Service guidelines for Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which deals with federal agency historic preservation programs. And they are referenced in the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (including 36 C.F.R. § 1010) regarding environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Of the four Standards, the Secretary’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties (Standards for Rehabilitation) have been most fully incorporated into law and policy guidance. A version of the Standards for Rehabilitation (36 C.F.R. Part 67) must be met for a rehabilitation project to be certified by the National Park Service as qualifying for a federal Historic Preservation Tax Credit, and conformance with the Standards for Rehabilitation is often a requirement for state historic preservation tax credits. In addition, many local historic preservation commissions either use the Standards for Rehabilitation to guide implementation of local historic preservation ordinances or have tailored local standards based on them.

Call for Comments

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation wishes to obtain a snapshot of public views on the current application and interpretation of the Secretary’s Standards and associated guidelines to assist us in both overseeing the Section 106 review process and in providing recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior on measures to coordinate activities of federal, state, and local agencies related to historic preservation.

While comments will be accepted addressing the Secretary’s Standards in any respect, the following questions are of special interest: 

1.       Are you aware of any substantive or procedural issues (e.g., uncertainties, discrepancies, or conflicts) related to the application and interpretation of the Secretary's Standards and associated guidelines in the following contexts? Are you aware of cost, equity, housing-supply, energy efficiency, renewable energy, or climate-change-related (e.g., adaptation or mitigation) concerns related to the application and interpretation of the Secretary's Standards and associated guidelines in the following contexts?

  • Review of “undertakings” (such as renovations of federal buildings) covered by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act
  • Review of activities involving or affecting tribal resources or traditional cultural properties
  • Review of private development projects seeking federal or state historic preservation tax credits
  • Review of private development projects by local historic preservation boards or commissions
  • Identification by any reviewing authority of substitute materials (i.e., specific materials that may be substituted for historic materials) deemed to be consistent with the Secretary’s Standards

If you are aware of such issues at a particular site, please identify the city and state, the type of historic property, the specific Standard (of preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, or reconstruction) applied to the property, the entity applying such Standard, and the issue or issues presented.  Please try to keep site-specific descriptions to half of a page; large sets of documents or lengthy case studies will not be reviewed. 

2.       How might guidance, training, or other actions relating to application and interpretation of the Secretary’s Standards improve the federal response to equity, housing-supply, energy efficiency, renewable energy, or climate-change-related (e.g., adaptation or mitigation) concerns? Note the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s pending Policy Statement on Climate Change and Historic Preservation and its 2007 Policy Statement on Affordable Housing and Historic Preservation.

Focus Areas & Exclusions

While the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will accept comments about all four treatments, the primary focus of this request for comments is understanding the application and interpretation of the Secretary’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties.

Comments will be accepted about any type of historic property (as defined in the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's regulations to include “any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the Secretary of the Interior,” 36 C.F.R. 800.16(l)(1)), however, the primary focus of this request for comments is buildings. 

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is not seeking public input on:  the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Archeology and Historic Preservation; the Secretary of the Interior Professional Qualification Standards; or the National Register of Historic Places Criteria for Evaluation.  Comments about these criteria and standards will be disregarded. 

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will not advise upon or assist with issues related to specific projects or provide feedback on individual comments. 

References:  Guidelines Associated with the Secretary’s Standards for Rehabilitation

The National Park Service is the bureau of the Department of the Interior tasked with promulgating regulations and issuing guidance on the Secretary’s Standards.  Current guidance from the National Park Service on the Standards for Rehabilitation includes: