Title:  Building Quality Communities: Historic Preservation in Connecticut

Connecticut Preservation Plan

Number of Pages:  73
Approved:  March 3, 2003
Planning Cycle:  5 years

Contact Information:
     Linda Spencer
     Connecticut Historical Commission
     59 South Prospect Street
     Hartford, Connecticut 06106
     (203) 566-3005; fax (203) 566-5078
     E-mail:  linda.spencer@po.state.ct.us
     Web site: www.ct.gov/cct/lib/cct/history/shpoplannew.pdf

Mission/Vision Statement:
None specifically identified.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Forging a Future With a Past
Heritage Matters

Connecticut Stories
The Value(s) of Historic Preservation
Preservation Works

Creating Awareness of Connecticut's Heritage Resources
Supporting Community-Based Initiatives
Preserving Connecticut's Character
A Connecticut Perspective

Context for Historic Preservation
Heritage at Risk
Agenda for Action

Planning Process
Goals and Objectives
Bibliography

• Distributed about 4,000 copies of a planning questionnaire to chief municipal elected officials, municipal historians, local historical societies, preservation organizations, town planners, and local historic district/property commissions (including CLGs); to professional historians, architectural historians, and archaeologists; to regional planning agencies; and to members of the Connecticut historical Commission, State Historic Preservation Board, and Planning Advisory Committee; at all meetings and workshops held or attended by the SHPO for general and specific interest group audiences; and included in the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation's newsletter.
• "Lunch and Learn" session at the statewide historic preservation conference focused on planning initiatives.
• Topical workshops, Urban and Rural Roundtable discussions, and annual conferences and meetings provided opportunities to discuss historic preservation best practices, issues, and concerns.
• Draft plan circulated to outside reviewers, including members of the Connecticut historical Commission, State Historic Preservation Board, and Planning Advisory Committee, directors of local preservation organizations, and CLGs.
• Announcement of draft plan's availability inserted in Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation's newsletter, and posted on the Trust's web site.

• Planning Advisory Committee established;
• CHC staff reviewed draft plan and provided comment.

ISSUES, THREATS, & OPPORTUNITIES

• Residents are concerned about quality of life in their communities, the negative effects of sprawl, threats to the integrity of historic residential neighborhoods, and the loss of local landmarks in the name of progress;
• Preservation successes provide good foundation to build on for the future;
• Preservationists need to get the message out, broaden the constituency, and incorporate historic preservation into public policy;
• Existing preservation tools need to be more widely used at the local level;
• Residents are concerned about quality of life in communities, the negative effects of sprawl, threats to the integrity of historic residential neighborhoods, and the loss of local landmarks in the name of progress;
• Preservation contributes to community revitalization;
• Heritage tourism builds on the unique historic and cultural aspects of a community, supports jobs, and generates revenue;
• Sprawl "eats up" open space and farmland, and saps the strength of cities;
• Recycling historic buildings makes economic sense;
• Smart growth strategies help maintain quality of life;
• Main Street program is an effective tool for community revitalization;
• Continuing decline in manufacturing leaves historic industrial buildings and complexes underused or vacant;
• Suburban and exurban population growth and development threaten cultural landscapes cross-road villages, and archaeological site, as well as contributing to the loss of farmland to housing, increased strip development and "big box" retailers;
• Dispersed development forces greater reliance on the automobile, requiring new road construction;
• Exodus from cities hastens the decline of historic residential neighborhoods;
• Retail and office development on the edges of urban centers saps the vitality of main streets and downtowns, leaving commercial buildings disused;
• Population shifts away from urban areas can lead to redundant institutional buildings, including schools and places of worship;
• New heritage resource legislation, including Historic Homes Rehabilitation Tax Credit, Establishment of Village Districts, and Transportation Improvements Design increase preservation tools available;
• Despite successes, heritage resources continue to be threatened or lost through neglect, disrepair, and deterioration, abandonment, vandalism, looting, arson, destruction, fragmented and unplanned development
• Reuse of historic industrial buildings for other than residential purposes has been difficult;
• Urban landscapes are still in danger from weakened economic base and declining residential neighborhoods;
• Historic residential buildings are being demolished at an alarming rate where owners want to build larger houses, threatening the integrity and diminishing the character of neighborhoods;
• Challenge to identify and protect significant examples of Modern residential architecture from the 1950s and 1960s;
• Cell towers have dramatic impact on built and natural environments;
• Many urban and rural cemeteries are uncared for, long forgotten, vandalized, and deteriorating, but existing state laws and State Register listing are tools that help protect these resources;
• Preservation network is benefiting from the Connecticut Circuit Rider program;
• Demolition by neglect is issue of concern.

1. Promote identification and recognition of a wide range of cultural resources that reflect the historical development of the state and its individual communities, and the heritage of a multi-cultural society.
2. Implement programs and policies to protect Connecticut's diversity of heritage resources.
3. Promote statewide adoption of historic preservation ethic.
4. Encourage heritage resource planning at the state and local government levels.

1. Identify wide range of cultural resources.
   • Complete town-based survey.
   • Give high priority to funding archaeological surveys.
   • Give high priority to surveying and nominating to National and State Registers under-represented heritage resources and those relating to minority and women's history.
   • Publish and distribute survey documents for community and scholarly use.
   • Develop ways to expand public appreciation of heritage resources.
2. Protect heritage resources.
   • Assist state and federal agencies in consideration and appropriate treatment of heritage resources.
   • Encourage reuse of privately and publicly owned historic buildings.
   • Give high priority to State and National Register listing of endangered historic properties.
   • Record significant endangered historic properties.
   • Designate state and local scenic roads.
   • Adopt municipal historic preservation legal tools, including demolition delay, overlay zoning, and archaeological protection ordinances.
   • Provide guidance in establishing local historic districts/properties.
   • Promote use of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
   • Promote use of professional standards for archaeological work.
   • Designate State Archaeological Preserves.
3. Adopt preservation ethic.
   • Heighten public awareness of values and benefits of preservation.
   • Develop local preservation leadership.
   • Build coalitions among diverse organizations.
   • Expand minority participation in preservation network.
   • Increase public awareness of Connecticut's archaeological heritage.
4. State and local heritage resource planning.
   • Expand participation in CLG program.
   • Give high priority to funding local historic preservation plans.
   • Develop heritage tourism programs.
   • Develop heritage corridors as regional planning tool.
   • Strengthen stewardship of historic properties by municipal, state, and tribal governments.