Trends & Issues

By Kiersten Faulkner, Executive Director, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation As owners, stewards or development interests consider approaches to historic properties and cultural resources, they have the opportunity and responsibility to support appropriate preservation of these properties. In many cases, a development or infrastructure project—whether done by a government agency or a private interest—has the potential to impact a historic property, either for good or for ill. State, federal and local laws and regulations include processes that provide a systematic way to understand and address any potential harm. The process includes several basic steps: Define the project or undertaking; Define the geographic area of potential effect; Determine if historic properties are present; Determine if there is an adverse effect to those historic properties; Determine how to avoid, minimize or mitigate that adverse effect; and Document and execute the agreement. This process may identify cases where a historic property will suffer an adverse effect from a proposed project. “Adverse” is a general category that indicates that the historic property will be diminished or harmed in a way that undermines its historic integrity or the characteristics that make it eligible for designation on the state or national registers of historic places. “Adverse effect” may include a continuum of effects that range from changes to context, inappropriate alterations, or complete demolition or destruction of the resource. As Historic Hawai‘i Foundation participates in discussions about proposed changes that affect historic properties, HHF advocates for resolution of issues using a hierarchy of preferred actions. HHF’s priorities are to: Benefit the historic property through appropriate preservation treatment (preserve, restore or rehabilitate following appropriate standards and techniques), planning, use and operations. Avoid adverse effect on the historic property. Do not demolish, raze, relocate, inappropriately [...]

By Peter Apo, Trustee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs The good news is that the economic impact of Hawaii’s film industry generated 250 million dollars in direct in-state spending in 2012. When the multiplier of residual spending is calculated, the industry weighed in at $400 million in economic impact. The caution is that as the industry grows, so does the demand for film locations.  The imminent challenge upon us is that our island landscapes and culturally important historic properties are more frequently coming under siege as film crews work with scripts that tempts film producers to want to alter or otherwise impact these precious environments in ways that threaten the cultural and historic integrity of the site without proper monitoring.  The worst case is if the site is impacted some way that renders the altered or impacted condition irreparable or requires a long recovery time. While I am a new observer to industry growth, I know enough about stewardship of Hawaii’s historic and cultural resources to comment that there’s an immediate collective challenge for the state, the counties, and private land owners, who have kuleana (responsibility) over historic and cultural properties to get on the same page with a much better articulated system of protocols and compliance monitoring that helps the industry grow in ways that are community friendly and sustains goodwill. Raising the public policy bar on the joint stewardship of these precious spaces begs for action. The properties function as time tunnels of our community heritage and remains fundamental to our psyche as being people of Hawai‘i and they are too important to sacrifice to the whims or short-term goals of any industry.  A heightened stewardship model should start with far more state support [...]

By Katie Kissling, Field Services Program Manager Preserving Hawai‘i’s historic neighborhoods is vital to maintaining the character of these places. Think of historic neighborhoods and towns like Kaimuki, Manoa, Honoka‘a, Lana‘i City, and Hanapepe just to name a few. They all evoke specific images in our minds. We like these towns or neighborhoods because they have unique characteristics that make them distinct from other areas. Their history is told through the “sense of place” that the buildings convey, making a neighborhood an attractive and unique place to live. Tearing down buildings in historic neighborhoods wipes away that “sense of place” and creates a sterile environment void of character. A 1920's home in Manoa was demolished in October. A pre-WWI home in Kaimuki was replaced by a much larger new structure last year. In most cases historic neighborhoods are wiped out slowly—one by one historic homes are demolished and larger homes out of scale with the neighborhood are built. This continues until the neighborhood eventually bears little resemblance to the place that it once was. What can be done to protect these neighborhoods? There are a number of tools that communities use to address teardowns. An important step is to initiate discussion about the future of the community. Asking a community what characteristics make their neighborhood a special place to live is an important step. This can be done through opinion surveys, town meetings, focus groups, interviews with key leaders, and design charrettes. The goal is to develop a common consensus for the future of the community. Some other states and municipalities have used demolition delay ordinances to prevent the demolition of a potentially historic building for an established waiting period. If the building is deemed [...]

A Certified Local Government (CLG) is a local historic preservation program established when a county or municipal government passes a historic preservation ordinance to identify, recognize and protect buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts which have historic importance.  The ordinance establishes a volunteer, citizen commission to develop and carry out the local historic preservation program, usually assisted by the county’s planning department. In 1966 the National Historic Preservation Act established a nationwide historic preservation program.  It defined the state’s role in preservation efforts and created the CLG program to encourage local governments to undertake local historic preservation efforts.  In Hawai‘i we have four local governments consisting of our four island counties.  Kaua‘i, Maui, and Hawai‘i counties each have a county-level preservation ordinance.  Kaua‘i established its Historic Preservation Review Commission in 1987; Maui enacted its Cultural Resources Commission in 1992.  Hawai‘i County passed its local preservation ordinance in 2009, but is still working toward implementation of the program. A CLG helps to preserve local resources by: encouraging historic preservation at the local level; encouraging local governments to follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards & Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Archaeology; providing technical assistance through the State Historic Preservation Division; and providing the counties with funding to underwrite various historic preservation activities. The benefits of an effective historic preservation program at the local level include building pride in the architectural and historical character of a community.

Preservation easements are a tool to ensure that a historic building, with its associated site and character-defining features, can be preserved in perpetuity.  Similar to conservation easements, the owner severs certain property rights, including the right to demolish or develop the site, and grants those property rights to a qualified preservation organization. The preservation easement gives the receiving organization the right and responsibility to ensure that the site’s historic characteristics are preserved and maintained in perpetuity.   Typically, a preservation easement protects against changes to a property that would be inconsistent with the preservation of the property, such as demolition of historic buildings, inappropriate alterations, or subdivision of land. The easement may also protect against deterioration by imposing affirmative maintenance obligations. The restrictions of the easement are generally incorporated into a recordable preservation easement deed that is part of the property’s title (it “runs with the land”).  This title interest is binding both on the present and future owners. The owner retains other rights, including access, development on other parcels, use and enjoyment.  The owner also retains responsibility for maintenance and compliance with applicable codes.  Under the federal tax code, a charitable contribution is considered to be made for a conservation or preservation purpose if it protects land areas where such preservation will yield a significant public benefit, including a certified historic structure or historically important land area. To qualify for the tax deduction, easements must first meet the requirements of state law, including the applicable requirements of state law authorizing the granting of easements, and they must be enforceable. In addition, easement donors seeking federal tax benefits  need to meet the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations. For example, the easement must be [...]

Lead paint is a serious health and safety issue. New regulations – known as the renovation, repair, and painting rule – were officially adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and went into effect on April 22, 2010. The stated goal of the new regulations is to protect children from lead-based paint problems by focusing on places built prior to 1978 where children are most likely to be, including housing, schools, and childcare facilities. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently released guidance for Lead-Safe Practices for Older & Historic Buildings.  The National Trust recognizes the concerns that lead paint presents and encourages lead-safe work practices. Properly addressing lead paint, however, does not translate to tearing out older painted windows, doors, woodwork, and siding. Through inexpensive materials and lead-safe renovation techniques, historic buildings can be made lead safe while preserving their architectural features. The guidance can be found at http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/lead-paint/new-rule.html It covers Lead-Safe Practices for Older & Historic Buildings, including: Lead Paint: What's at Stake? Understanding New Regulations Ten Basic Tips for Lead-Safe Practices FAQ for Homeowners FAQ for Contractors FAQ for Preservation Organizations FAQ for Community Organizations and Property Managers Additional Lead Paint Resources The new EPA rule requires the following: Renovation firms must be certified. Renovators and dust sampling technicians must be trained and certified. Non-certified workers must work under and be trained on the job by a certified renovator. Work practices must be followed for renovations covered by the rule. Renovators must educate owners and/or occupants. Training providers must be accredited. The renovation, repair, and painting rule does not apply to: Minor repair and maintenance activities that disrupt six square feet or less of painted surface per room for interior projects, and [...]

While historic property owners must adhere to federal standards for rehabilitation if they want to alter and repair their buildings to ensure historic integrity and compatible alterations, the benefits of being listed on the State and National Register are primarily honorific. To encourage the preservation of historic buildings, state and local governments may elect to use certain regulatory incentives. Programs for granting additional land use rights in exchange for historic preservation commitments are well established in the land use code and planning practice both in Hawai‘i and in other states. The concept behind these programs is that protection of historic and cultural sites benefit the public at large through preserving significant properties important to Hawaii’s history; improving the community’s quality of life; providing economic development opportunities; and contributing to environmental sustainability.  Although the entire community benefits from preserving our collective heritage, most historic properties are in private ownership and the primary costs of their preservation is often born by the private sector.  Therefore, governments offer a variety of incentives to help make preservation feasible, affordable and accessible. These incentives can take the form of tax credits or exemptions, additional approved uses in certain zone districts, or additional density or development entitlements.  The concept of transfer of development rights from a donating parcel (the historic or conservation area) to a receiving parcel (the urban or high-density area) has been used successfully across the country for both historic preservation and conservation of natural and agricultural lands. Another common method for preservation is to permit owners of historic properties to operate limited income-producing activities in areas zoned only for residential, such as a bed and breakfast, conference facility or museum. These conditional uses are subject to both administrative [...]

It is difficult to have a good perspective on what is worth saving when the buildings we are talking about were built within our society’s living memory.  However, it is important that we start to recognize those modern buildings that are significant and worth preserving. Already people are starting to recognize and fight to preserve buildings from the past 50 years. Groups such as DOCOMOMO (Documenting the Modern Movement), the Recent Past Network, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) have launched nationwide efforts to increase awareness of the importance of architecture of the recent past. NTHP describes Modernism as a design language with emphases on form rather than ornament, structure and materials rather than picturesque constructions, and the rational and efficient use of space. “The Modern movement in architecture in the United States flourished beginning in the 1930s, and encompassed individual design movements with their own individual ways of expressing Modern ideals. These include the International, Expressionist, Brutalist, New Formalist, and even Googie movements, to name a few. Technical innovation, experimentation, and rethinking the way humans lived in and used the designed environment, whether buildings or landscapes, were hallmarks of Modern architectural practice,” according to the NTHP Modern + Recent Past program. As with any time period, there is architecture from this era that is not worthy of preservation, but there are many buildings that are architecturally or historically significant.  It is harder to decipher what is worth preserving and what is not when we are dealing with buildings that were constructed so recently. These buildings, perhaps because they were built so recently, are not given much attention by the general public, and many people regard them as ugly. Just because some people [...]

Amidst much discussion of the Honolulu High Capacity Rapid Transit it is important to understand the various review processes in place to help protect historic resources impacted by the project. The process preservationists are most familiar with is Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) which requires any project with federal involvement to take into account effects on historic resources. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) also includes disclosure about impacts to historic and cultural sites. For transportation projects, there is another law that also concerns the protection of historic resources, known as Section 4(f). Section 4(f) is part of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. Becoming law the same year as the NHPA, Section 4(f) was meant to reflect an effort of federal transportation policy to preserve the beauty and integrity of publicly owned parks and recreation areas, waterfowl and wildlife refuges, and historic sites considered to have national, state, or local significance. Section 4(f) stipulated that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies cannot approve the use of land from a “4(f) resource” unless there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the use of the land and the action includes all possible planning to minimize harm to the property resulting from use. In instances where section 4(f) relates to historic resources, Section 106 of the NHPA is an integral part of the Section 4(f) process. The most important connection between the two statutes is that the Section 106 process is generally the method by which a cultural resource’s significance is determined for a federal undertaking under Section 4(f). Because of the similarities between Section 4(f) and Section 106, the relationship between the processes can [...]

In recognition that preserving a community’s historic resources is a way to serve the larger public good, many local governments offer economic and other incentives to increase the level of protection of historic buildings.  In Hawai‘i, all four counties have made substantial contributions to preserving and rehabilitating historic structures by providing tax exemptions. Historic Residential Tax Incentives In all four counties in Hawai‘i, a property tax abatement is available through the county for owner-occupied residences that were listed on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places after January 1, 1977 either individually or as a contributing member of a historic district. In order to receive this tax abatement, the owner(s) of the property must complete their county’s Petition to Dedicate Historic Residential Properties form by September 1 and submit it to the county. Owners of dedicated properties pay $100 each year in property taxes. The exemption is effective October 1st of the calendar year in which you apply. In exchange for receiving this tax abatement, the owner agrees to maintain the property in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The concept is that the savings in property taxes will be put into maintaining the structure and preserving its historic character. In the City and County of Honolulu, the owner of a historic residential property must place and maintain a sign or plaque on the property that has been approved by the director of the Real Property Tax Office and the State Historic Preservation Officer.  This is not a requirement for the other three counties.  Historic plaques that have been pre-approved by the County and SHPO are available for purchase from Historic Hawai‘i Foundation (www.historichawaii.org). If at some point the owner chooses to [...]