[MassHistPres] CPC funds prevailing wage and volunteers on town owned building

[Tucker, Jonathan]

Sara:

Thank you for your good information and well-considered response.

I would suggest that "creation" is a part of the definition of community historic resources because CPA anticipated the need for the creation of new capital improvements such as historic interpretive signs, memorial site improvements, etc., some of which become the visual and social focus for the historic resource itself.  An example is the proposed memorial stone sign for our buried and otherwise invisible black Civil War veterans--without the monument, nobody (or very, very few people) know the historic resource is there, resting in our historic burying ground.  For most people, the resource essentially does not exist.  Its visibility and meaning and presence in the community are created by the proposed new monument, and it is to that monument that people will be drawn to learn about the historic resource it celebrates, bringing it into an existence it did not have before.  In 100 years, the monument itself will be an historic resource that was created by the community, just as so many Civil War-era monuments are now.  That is "creation" of an historic resource.

As for what's extraordinary or "substantial" (which, again, is a defining DOI 'in advance' standard), it's all about the context.  As you point out, the Act describes the kinds of projects a CPA committee can recommend as "the acquisition, preservation, rehabilitation and restoration of historic resources."   As our Town Counsel pointed out, rehabilitation does include "creation" in the form of capital improvements that improve the function of an existing historic resource.  See attached.

Finally, I understand why DOR and communities have leaned toward making a distinction between the kinds of activities that could be understood as "maintenance" of historic resources and more significant activities.  But it is a fundamental mistake and it perpetuates a basic misunderstanding about what community historic resources are.  Under the definitions and guidance provided in the CPA statute, and the many decades of historic preservation practice, no capital improvement to an historic resource is "maintenance."  Instead, any capital improvement (like repainting) is an act of "preservation" as defined under the Act.  To define them otherwise is to ignore their fundamental character, and to not see the essential difference between an historic resource and an open space, housing, or recreational resource.  

The language of CPA is deliberately broad to try to embrace all of the distinctive qualities of the different community resources.  But historic resources are different from the others.   We can engage in the "maintenance" of an affordable housing unit or a ballfield or a conservation trail, but we do not maintain an historic building or other historic resource when we make capital improvements, including repainting.  Because they are historic resources, we are engaging in their preservation.

Jonathan Tucker
Senior Planner
Amherst Planning Department
4 Boltwood Avenue, Town Hall
Amherst, MA  01002
(413) 259-3040
tuckerj at amherstma.gov  


-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Sara Wermiel
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2016 10:39 PM
To: 'MA Historic Preservation'
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] CPC funds prevailing wage and volunteers on town owned building

Jonathan, Jim, Mike et al.,

First to the main question: what is allowed under the CPA with respect to historic preservation? 
Yes, it is strange that the act defines "community preservation" as including the "creation" of historic resources. This seems like a drafting error to me, but assuming it was intended -- following the guidance on the Community Preservation Coalition website -- it could mean converting a historic building from one use to another. The act describes the kinds of projects that a CPC can recommend as, "the acquisition, preservation, rehabilitation and restoration of historic resources", which makes more sense (no creations).

The CPA defines rehabilitation, as "capital improvements, or the making of extraordinary repairs, to historic resources, ... for the purpose of making such historic resources ... functional for their intended uses"

To me, this language suggests substantial improvements. It's not painting as such, but the scope of work. If a building is painted as part of a substantial rehab project, then it's rehab. Regular painting alone, even though it can be very expensive, doesn't seem to be what was contemplated in the act. If work is phased, as Mike indicated, then all the phases could be added up, and combined may qualify as rehab.

Whether the funds should be allowed for repairs that are not "extraordinary," of course, can be debated.

Regarding Part 68 and Part 67: the rehab standards in both parts are more or less identical, but Part 68 includes standards for three other treatments in addition to rehabilitation: preservation, restoration, and reconstruction.
Since the act indicates that "restoration" is allowed, then it seems logical that these standards would apply to that kind of project, while the rehab standards would apply to rehab. You can find 36 C.F.R Part 68 online (I don't think I can send the link).

And as Jonathan said, these standards mainly give guidance for how work is to be done. 

Sara Wermiel
Jamaica Plain, MA

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