Scenarios and Guidance

1. Use ConnCRIS to determine if the property is on the State or National Register of Historic Places and to gather other important information.

2. Seek funding or guidance for funding opportunities from these organizations.

• PCT’s funding page.
• CT SHPO’s Funding Opportunities.
• The Connecticut League of Museums may be able to suggest additional funding sources.
• You can seek national grants through the Historic Preservation Fund (U.S. National Park Service) or the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Grant Programs.
• If your non-profit needs signage, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation may be able to help.

And don’t forget to look locally! Reach out to the municipal economic development or planning director.

3. Schedule a Site visit with a PCT Circuit Rider for guidance on all things preservation.

4. Hire a consultant for guidance:

• Find A Professional through PCT’s Preservation Directory.
• Post an RFP or a job on PreserveNet or contact PCT staff to post on their RFP page.

1. Check on ConnCRIS to make sure it is not already designated.

2. Understand the types of Historic Designations that may be useful in helping preserve a property. Work with the Circuit Riders at PCT to explore options and facilitate eligibilty determination with SHPO. Submit the property information to SHPO via their eligibility determination form.

3. If Eligible, nominate a property to the State Register of Historic Places or National Register of Historic Places or explore having a property locally designated: Local Historic District and Property Designations. For properties that are largely open space, look into The Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Program.

3. Hire a consultant in PCT’s Preservation Directory to help write a nomination.

1. Use ConnCRIS to determine if the property is on the State or National Register of Historic Places. Or, find out if it is already protected using the Local Historic Districts and Properties tool.

2. Gather information:

• Understand the types of Historic Designations that may be useful in helping preserve a property including nomination to the State Register of Historic Places or the National Register of Historic Places.
• Contact your local planning or building department and inquire about if a demolition permit application has been submitted and if the building has been identified on any surveys.
• Research the history of the place using Historic Map Works and resources in Connecticut’s Public Libraries and archives and educate the public about why it is important to preserve it.
• Alert local media about the threatened building and its significance to local and state history. For more information on tools and strategies for historic preservation advocacy, see the Vernacular Architecture Forum website and the ideas in How to Save a Place: Get the Word Out.
• Read Preservation Brief 31: Mothballing Historic buildings and encourage the municipality to mothball the building. This is a method of safely securing a building against vandalism and water intrusion that can harm the building; it buys time until a preservation solution can be found.

3. Contact PCT and and Connecticut Preservation Action to look into their numerous advocacy efforts to lead the conversation on statewide policies promoting and protecting historic places.

4. Ask the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) for advice. Federal and federally-sponsored programs and projects are reviewed pursuant to Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

5. Contact local interest groups, community organizations (churches, temples, cultural centers, etc.), historical societies, architectural heritage associations to raise awareness and encourage advocacy and protection. Learn more in A Citizen’s Guide To Section 106 Review.

6. Filing an injunction under the CT Environmental Protection Act as a legal way to stop demolition.

1. Research the history of local places using these tools:

• • ConnCRIS
  • CT’s Public Libraries
  • Historic Map Works
• Archives
  • Sanborn Insurance Maps at Yale
  • Cultural Resources Information System
  • CT Museum of Culture and History
  • CT History Review
  • CT State Library
  • Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries
  • CT Historical Societies, Libraries and Museums (list)
• Seek the assistance of professionals through the Service Corps of Retired Executives
• Gamify your engagement efforts.
• Develop a new app (How To Develop an App in 12 Easy Steps) or website (Guide to Providence Architecture) or populate an existing mobile app (Clio & IZI Travel).

2. Contact PCT and SHPO for best practices!

1. Contact Connecticut Preservation Action, CT’s statewide preservation advocacy group. The national organization, Preservation Action has an Action Center to look through as well.

2. Learn How to Lobby in CT and determine if you are required to file as a Lobbyist.

3. Learn about and track bills in the General Assembly. Talk to your local legislators too! Find them here.

4. Work with PCT to influence legislation.

1. Generate a list of properties that have potential to be rehabilitated into housing. Learn about the use of historic preservation tax credits as a mechanism for creating housing/affordable housing. Contact the SHPO for more information.

2. Gather information:

• Read the National Park Service’s Preservation Brief about housing.
• Learn about how preservation organizations around the country are involved in Affordable Housing & Density
• Read the September/October issue of Preservation Connecticut News with examples.

3. Utilize funding and technical support from CT’s Small Cities CDBG Program.

1. Explore the property’s designation on ConnCRIS. Contact SHPO for more information about archaeology. The American Society of Landscape Architects (or the Connecticut branch) may also be able to help.

2. Seek PCT’s funding opportunities or SHPO’s grants. Funding for rural places is also available through the National Park Service’s Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants Program.

3. Donating open space can help protect it in perpetuity. Seek advice from organizations like those listed by the CT NEMO Program or The Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Program or the Trust for Public Land.

4. If a cemetery, seek advice from professional and volunteer organizations like the Connecticut Cemetery Association. Network with others who are doing the same work through the Connecticut Gravestone Network. Encourage the municipality to acquire title to an abandoned cemetery. You can learn more in Site Lines: Grave Deeds and Abandoned Cemeteries.

5. Call attention to the property by nominating it to Landslide (The Cultural Landscape Foundation).

6. Alert local media about the threatened building and its significance to local and state history. Get ideas in How to Save a Place: Get the Word Out.