Park Service Issues Final Guidance to Implement Recommended Changes to Historic Credit Program
By A. J. Johnson & Caitlin Jones
9 min read
THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (NPS) has issued final comprehensive guidance to implement recommendations for improvements to the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit program made by the National Park Service Advisory Board (NPSAB). The implementation documents, which have prompted mixed reactions, are designed to promote consistency in the program and make it more flexible and user-friendly.
The implementation documents, issued in late December, consist of a summary report and separate detailed written materials that are all on the NPS’Web site. The report, entitled Making a Good Program Better, Final Guidance and Implementation of National Park System Advisory Board Recommendations for the Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program, is posted at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/tax/committee.htm. The other materials are at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/tax/guidance.htm.
Background
In its implementation documents, NPS provides revised and new guidance and details actions it has taken or plans to take that implement recommendations adopted by NPSAB in September 2006 for non-legislative improvements to the federal historic credit program.
An NPSAB committee that developed the recommendations assessed the program’s requirements, users’ experiences, application and review procedures, and the interpretation and application of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation in reviews by NPS and state historic preservation offices (SHPOs) of applications for proposed historic rehabilitation projects. NPS staff developed the implementation documents against a year-end 2007 deadline with the aid of four SHPOs, and after considering feedback and suggestions from various program participants including SHPOs, developers, consultants, and preservationists.
The NPS’ implementation report and separate documentation contain revised and new guidance and outline actions taken or planned regarding seven NPSAB recommendations.
Windows
One thorny problem for developers has been getting approval to replace damaged historic windows in rehabilitation projects, rather than have to restore them or make costly repairs. NPS’ report says for some SHPOs, deterioration has been the only justification for replacement of historic windows.
The report indicates NPS will now “take a broader view nationwide” and that “other factors may be considered, in addition to deterioration, in determining that historic windows may be replaced.”
NPS also says historic windows that don’t meet safety code requirements, even if not deteriorated, may be replaced with matching windows. Also, a very small percentage of all historic windows in a building may be replaced without having to be justified by deterioration.
NPS also notes a full survey of all windows in a building isn’t required to document deterioration to justify window replacement; that replacement windows for missing historic windows need only be compatible and don’t have to replicate the historic windows; and that “substitute materials may generally be used for replacement windows on secondary elevations of buildings, and above the base on all elevations of tall buildings.”
Interior Treatments
NPS issued clarified policies with more flexibility regarding the ability to alter or change interior spaces in historic buildings. It said:
- Great flexibility is provided for extremely deteriorated or previously altered historic interior spaces. Their surviving historic character as finished or unfinished spaces must be maintained, but such spaces don’t have to be restored or reconstructed.
- Considerable flexibility and opportunity for change/ alteration are provided in the treatment of secondary historic interior spaces.
- Considerable flexibility, including shortening or truncation, is provided in the treatment of historic corridors.
- Considerable flexibility and opportunity for alteration/subdivision is provided in the treatment of assembly spaces that aren’t primary to the historic character of the building or that are secondary in historic significance to other assembly spaces in the building or property.
New Additions, Related Construction
NPS clarifies that new additions to historic buildings and related new construction can be of any architectural style, provided the criteria in [Secretary’s] Standards 9 and 10 are met.
NPS also says that while subordination of a new addition to an historic building generally is an essential component of compatibility, “The compatibility of new additions and new construction within urban or densely built environments will be viewed in a wider context and may allow greater flexibility of size and design than would be appropriate for stand alone buildings.”
Modern Technologies, Materials
NPS indicates “considerable flexibility” exists to make modifications to buildings to meet state or local code and other performance requirements, “as long as these changes do not compromise the historic character of the building.” NPS acknowledged states and localities are constantly adopting new codes and that energy efficiency and green building practices are more in demand.
NPS says:
- Evaluations for code and other performance requirements must be done on a building-by building basis after a careful code and performance analysis is completed.
- NPS will work with national code, other regulatory, and preservation organizations to seek solutions that consider the preservation of a building’s historic materials and features.
- NPS will seek new areas of flexibility and highlight creative treatments in modern requirements and new technologies/ materials, and update its guidance as new approaches are identified.
- Several NPS staff will become Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professionals within the next 18 months.
- Great flexibility is allowed in the use of compatible substitute materials to replace historic building materials too deteriorated to repair.
Application Review Fees
The NPS noted it’s begun the process to facilitate an increase in the current application review fees for the historic credit program — unchanged since 1990. It said the new fee levels will be specified in a future notice in the Federal Register.
NPS said the revised fees will enable it to improve the program by hiring more staff to expedite application reviews, fund more project site visits and owner consultations, increase training for SHPOs, etc.
Functionally Related Complexes
NPS’ previous policy has been that all buildings in large functionally related multiple-building complexes constitute a single project. This has constrained the ability to qualify for historic credits to renovate fewer than all the buildings in such a complex.
NPS’ new policies say very large, functionally-related, multiple- building complexes will be treated as historic districts, allowing NPS to limit the definition of “functionally-related buildings” to distinct usage-related groupings. Also, that long-term lessees in very large, functionally-related, multiple- building complexes will be treated as owners.
Education,Training
NPS provided or described numerous new written- and Webbased guidance, technical and other publications, and educational materials that it has issued or plans to issue, plus other actions, activities, and steps that it has or plans to undertake, to enhance access to and information about the program for users, to enhance training opportunities for the SHPO and public, and to interact more with different program participants including developers, preservationists, and others.
Reaction to Documents
Four historic credit program participants based in Washington, DC reacted to the NPS final guidance documents in comments to TCA.
“There are a number of specific areas where the Park Service’s final guidance document responds in a constructive and useful way to the needs that were identified by users of the program,” said historic preservation consultant William MacRostie, Principal, MacRostie Historic Advisors LLC. “Some examples of these are in the area of window replacements, the treatment of interior spaces, and the way that large multiple-building functionally related complexes are treated.”
MacRostie described as “positive” new guidance allowing non-historic existing windows to be replaced with compatible new windows that don’t replicate the original historic windows, and that altered or unfinished interior spaces in a building don’t have to be restored or reconstructed as part of a rehab project.
EmilyWadhams, Vice President for Public Policy, National Trust for Historic Preservation (NHTP). Wadhams, said there “does appear to be some degree of increased flexibility in the guidelines” in the areas of windows, secondary interior spaces, and additions. She also indicated an increased application review fee could foster more project field visits by NPS, speed processing times, and promote other improvements.
Wadhams, though, felt more work and guidance is needed on the issue of functionally related buildings. She also hoped the NPS will assess the impact of its implementation guidance in 12 to 18 months.
Thom Amdur, Associate Director of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA), said NH&RA’s Historic Preservation Development Council “has long advocated for greater flexibility in the administration of the historic tax credit program. On the whole, we are very encouraged by the progress made by the NPSAB report and its implementation documents. We hope this will translate to increased sensitivity in the field by reviewers at the Park Service and SHPO offices and look forward to continued collaboration to make a good program even better.”
John Leith-Tetrault, president of the National Trust Community Investment Corporation (NTCIC), said: “I have heard a great deal of frustration in the historic tax credit industry about both the process and results of this five-year effort. Very few that I have spoken to believe that this report will provide the kind of flexibility on application of the Standards that is needed to increase interest in using the historic tax credit as a community revitalization tool.”
NTCIC, an affiliate of NTHP, syndicates federal historic and new markets tax credits.
