C O N T E X T 9 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 25 JAMES K REAP Historic preservation and local government The US federal government leads by setting standards and providing economic incentives, while the power to protect resides in the most local level of government. ‘All politics is local,’ declared Thomas ‘Tip’ O’Neill, a long-time Speaker of the House of Representatives. Likewise, preservationists working at the city and county level have a corollary: ‘All preservation is political, and all preservation is local.’ While that is certainly an exaggeration, it is at the local level where the greatest power to protect specific historic properties and districts exists. The movement to preserve historic places actually began at the local level. First came private initiatives in the 19th century to save important landmarks, followed by government efforts to acquire key historic buildings. In the late 1920s the City of Charleston, South Carolina, was the first local government to adopt a law for the protection of an entire historic district. Many local governments in subsequent decades followed this approach. The US government did not enact comprehensive preservation legislation until passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Even that effort resulted from a study sponsored by the US Conference of Mayors to help formulate a national approach. The US constitution is based on the premise that power should not be concentrated in one person or group, or in one place.TheTenth Amendment specifies that ‘the powers not delegated to the United States (ie the federal government), nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.’ Given this limitation, the federal approach has generally been one of establishing nationally recognised standards and providing incentives for their adoption and implementation. The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) created a partnership among federal, state and local governments. The 1980 amendments to the NHPA further expanded the partnership concept by certifying local government preservation programmes that meet federal standards. These ‘certified local governments’ can receive specially dedicated grant funds and enjoy an enhanced participation in the administrative processes under the act. One of the NHPA’s most important tools, the National Register of Historic Places, recognised properties of local significance for the first time at the national level. Other federal laws have included these locally significant properties in providing grants, tax incentives and protection under federal environmental laws. However, listing in the register does not prevent a private owner from doing whatever he wishes with his property – including demolition – unless a federal licence or federal funds are involved.That protection is available only at the local level. Among the most important powers traditionally reserved to the states is the ‘police power’, a concept inherited from English law. This is the authority of the state to regulate, protect and promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare. Exercising this power, states have enacted laws regulating the use of land and have delegated some of their authority to local governments. Many local governments, in turn, have enacted local zoning and historic preservation laws. The US Supreme Court held in the 1978 case, Penn Central Transportation Co v New York City, that the power to protect buildings and areas with special historic, architectural or cultural significance was a Jonesborough,Tennessee’s historic district, has kept its residential charm through stringent regulations.
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