Economic development and historic preservation should not be at odds

A recently proposed bill to the General Assembly has the state’s preservation community up in arms, claiming that the measure will devastate protections for historic buildings. In doing so, the preservationists are painting themselves as the underdog — the David to the Goliath of insensitive developers and municipal officials bent on sacrificing historic buildings at the altar of economic development. Here, however, the opposite is true. The preservationists are the Philistines.

The preservationist lobby is formidable. Their numbers rival those that faced the Israelites on the hills of Sokoh in Judah. One only need see the testimony submitted to the Legislature’s Planning and Development Committee to observe the phalanxes of statewide support that can be mustered when the group feels it is under attack.

The stone and sling in this scenario comes in the form of proposed bill HB6552, “An Act Regarding Exemptions from Certain Historical Preservation Requirements.” The bill seeks a narrow exception from what has become an extremely subjective and myopic process.

Of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities, 25 are designated as “distressed.” Sixteen of these also have certified Opportunity Zones within them. The bill would only exempt developments where a historic district overlaps the other two; and where a building has been chronically undevelopable for a decade or more. The bill is germane to a current situation in Windham, but its effect would provide relief to other communities struggling with downtown redevelopment.

The key here is the Opportunity Zones. Gov. Lamont has touted the newly created zones as a way to unleash private capital into Connecticut’s distressed municipalities. However, anyone familiar with the state’s historic preservation process knows that it is excruciatingly time-consuming, exorbitantly costly and requires large commitments of taxpayer resources. It is anathema to the private-investment dynamic associated with Opportunity Zones.

In Windham’s case, a developer seeks to use private funds to raze two “historic,” yet badly deteriorated buildings on Main Street and create a 145-unit market-rate housing development with ground floor retail — an absolute gamechanger for the downtown's economic future. The Town Council, area businesses, downtown property owners and community at large overwhelmingly favor the project. The preservation community, led by its Goliaths, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the Trust for Historic Preservation, oppose the plan. It is the inability of such agencies to recognize the unique nature of Opportunity Zone investment that led to Rep. Susan Johnson’s (D-Windham) narrowly tailored proposed exemption.

HB6552 does not imply that Opportunity Zones and historic preservation can never work in tandem. But as many Connecticut communities are looking to write the next chapter in their history, it is critical the historic preservation process be flexible enough to accommodate necessary exceptions within the new Opportunity Zones.

File photo The house at 387 Lenox St., New Haven was restored in a joint project between Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven and Raise the Roof, the Shoreline Habitat connection.