The Equity-Based Preservation Plan has been adopted! Read the plan in English or Spanish (PDF).
The plan replaces Austin’s 1981 historic preservation plan with an inclusive, community-oriented process and outcome. It was created by a community working group and adopted by City Council on November 21, 2024. The plan has been nationally recognized with a Public Outreach/Advocacy Award from the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC).
Vision for preservation
Historic preservation in Austin actively engages communities in protecting and sharing important places and stories. Preservation uses the past to create a shared sense of belonging and to shape an equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and economically vital future for all.
In the news
KVUE (11/25/2024)
"The plan aims to recognize Austin’s cultural heritage and will focus preservation efforts on displacement prevention and environmental sustainability, which includes expanding criteria to what merits preservation and expanding historic landmark tax breaks that help pay to maintain the property. 'If we don't pass them on, the future generation will be ignorant of this history,” [Historic Landmark Commission Chair Ben] Heimsath said. 'It's our duty to say these are important enough, we value them enough.'"
Austin Monitor (11/26/2024)
Council adopts Equity-Based Preservation Plan
"After a public hearing on Thursday, City Council approved the Equity-Based Preservation Plan – a new strategy for preserving historic buildings that prioritizes diversity and cultural heritage. The plan was adopted as an ordinance amending the larger Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, a 30-year document for the city’s growth... 'We need to protect the people, places, and stories that people, places, and stories that define Austin’s culture and soul. The Equity-Based Preservation Plan gives us a path forward to achieve all of these goals,' said Meghan King, policy and outreach planner with Preservation Austin... 'This was a monumental step toward preserving Austin’s cultural heritage in a way that thoughtfully reflects the diversity and history of our communities,' Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison told the Austin Monitor in a statement."
KUT Austin (11/22/2024)
Austin's new historic preservation plan aims to protect what makes the city special
"Austin will implement a new historic preservation plan, replacing the city's four-decade-old document. 'This is a turning poin for our city to make sure that we celebrate everyone's history and create great places in the process,' Council Member Zo Qadri said after the plan was adopted Thursday... Council Member Vanessa Fuentes called adoption of the plan a milestone moment. 'We can't freeze Austin in time, but we can preserve and capture the ethos of what makes our city so special,' she said.
Hoodline Austin (8/9/2024)
Austin wins national award for innovative equity-based historic preservation plan
"Austin's efforts to reshape and redefine historic preservation have earned the city's Historic Landmark Commission significant accolades. The commission recently received the Commission Excellence Award in Best Practices: Public Outreach/Advocacy from the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC). This national nod of approval recognizes the city's first comprehensive preservation plan in decades, focusing on equity and inclusion."
Governing (7/23/2024)
The escalating argument over historic preservation
"Earlier this year, Austin’s planning department unveiled what it called an Equity-Based Preservation Plan, replacing the previous plan that dated all the way back to 1981. It calls for more than the current one-sixth of new historic designations to be linked to communities of color... Preservation serves the vital purpose of helping people to understand, appreciate and connect with their local history at a time when historical awareness is a missing element in much of America. If preservation has gone too far, it has gone too far in the right direction. We ought to be able to manage it without denigrating the things it has achieved."
Interview – KUT (5/17/2024)
Julia Brookins and JuanRaymon Rubio, members of the Preservation Plan Working Group, and City staffer Cara Bertron spoke with KUT's Jennifer Stayton about why the Equity-Based Preservation Plan matters and how people can get involved in the planning process. Listen to the interview.
Interview – KAZI (5/17/2024)
Project manager Cara Bertron and Preservation Plan Working Group member Misael Ramos talked to Edward Crowder and Dapper D about the Equity-Based Preservation Plan and how community members can provide input on the draft.
Austin Monitor (5/17/2024)
Planning Commission backs historic zoning for east side beauty shop
“‘...Zoning the [Fashionette Beauty Shop and McDonald Jackson House] historic and having it fixed and having its value raised will actually be part of stabilizing that property in that neighborhood,’ said Commissioner Awais Azhar, who noted that it can be hard to trace histories and lineages of properties in East Austin, particularly for people of color. ‘Here we have an exciting opportunity of a living legacy in front of us.’ Historic Preservation Officer Kalan Contreras added, ‘It does dovetail nicely with the efforts we are hopefully going to be making in the future with the Equity-Based Preservation Plan, which is really going to focus on how we can balance our acknowledgement of the built history of all kinds of Austinites, including underrepresented communities, especially those that haven’t had a voice in past, or whose voice has been silenced by systemic racism.’”
Austin Monitor (3/15/2024)
Planning Commission gets its first look at Equity-Based Preservation Plan
“With the draft Equity-Based Preservation Plan now available for public review, city boards and commissions are getting briefed on the document that includes over 100 recommendations for preserving the highs and lows of Austin’s history. An overarching goal... is for preservation to serve all of Austin, including underrepresented and underserved communities.”
Austin Monitor (2/7/2024)
Equity-Based Preservation Plan now available for review
“The long-in-the-works Equity-Based Preservation Plan now has a draft, and the city is asking for your feedback. The plan, which is ‘built on an inclusive, equity-focused, and community-oriented framework,’ recommends a number of historic preservation policies and tools and, if approved, will replace the current preservation plan that has been in place since 1981.”
Austin Monitor (3/30/2023)
Council approves review of historic preservation incentives, with eye on equity
“‘Preservation is undoubtedly important to Austinites and vital to protecting the cultural heritage and history of our city, [Council Member Zo Qadri] said via email. ‘There’s no doubt our city is facing a housing shortage that is driving up rents and sales prices. We definitely need more housing in all parts of our city to meet demand. At the same time, historic preservation has a role to play in a more affordable Austin by encouraging rehabilitation of older homes, which can cost less than scraping a lot and replacing it with a brand-new mansion.’”
Austin Monitor (9/13/2022)
Preservation office gets new design standards and equity plan(External link)
“Next year will also usher in changes on the broader preservation front, with the city budget set to fund full-time staff and community outreach personnel to spearhead the final phase of the equity-based preservation plan... New community engagement strategies, legacy business relief, proactive stewardship incentives, and expanded historic survey programs are all on the table.”
Austin Monitor (7/19/2022)
“The [draft plan] recommendations address many topics: how to be more inclusive in the historic resources that we recognize and designate, and how the historic review process can be made more efficient [and] effective. Others expand the concept of preservation to community and cultural preservation - intangible heritage - and look at how preservation can help affordability and anti-displacement work.”
Austin Business Journal (7/8/2022)
New historic preservation plan taking shape in Austin(External link)
“‘[The Preservation Plan Working Group] emphatically embraced the broader idea of our heritage, our culture and how we can creatively start expanding what the tools of preservation can be so that we can be much more effective in allowing future generations to have a real understanding of their history, heritage and their legacy,’ said Ben Heimsath, the Historic Landmark Commission’s vice chairman.”
Austin Monitor (4/5/2022)
Staffers provide update on new equity-focused historic preservation plan(External link)
“Equity is a primary consideration. In light of that, the planning process has taken a bottom-up approach, with a working group of community members leading the plan’s development. The group, created by the Historic Landmark Commission last year, has met several times in recent months to discuss goals for the plan. Group members’ demographics roughly align with Austin’s demographics.”
The Austin Chronicle (7/2/2021)
With equity in mind, Austin embarks on bringing its history up to date(External link)
“How does one preserve heritage and history in a city changing as rapidly as Austin is? Does protecting existing buildings in some neighborhoods contribute to faster turnover, lower affordability, and more displacement in other areas of town? How should the city balance protecting its architectural assets with honoring and sustaining a cultural legacy that is both ‘historic’ and still alive today? That's what makes the new preservation plan such a gargantuan project.”
KXAN (6/11/2021)
“‘Communities whose heritages has been underrepresented in Austin’s historic preservation program really should have a seat at the table in helping to craft this new preservation plan,’ Elizabeth Brummett, the Historic Preservation Office’s manager, said. ‘This is important because the preservation plan should represent the heritage of all Austinites.’”
The Austin Chronicle (6/11/2021)
City seeks to break the rich, white “historic” mold(External link)
“A new working group, for which the city is accepting applications from prospective members through June 14, has been tasked with rewriting the city's preservation plan, last updated in 1981… The hope is for the new working group to be empowered to go further to create a historic preservation strategy that reflects Austin's diverse and intersecting cultures.”
Interview – KAZI (6/9/2021)
Project manager Cara Bertron talked to Deejay Slyce about the Equity-Based Historic Preservation Plan and how community members can apply to the working group.
Austin Monitor (5/4/2021)
New working group to study equity in preservation(External link)
“Now, the HLC and the Historic Preservation Office aim to bring a more egalitarian playing field to the city’s preservation program with the formation of an equity-based Preservation Plan Working Group made up of about 30 community stakeholders… The group would be charged with crafting recommendations for improving the preservation program while introducing social justice metrics into the equation when considering a property’s historic significance.”
Funding acknowledgment
This project is funded in part through a Certified Local Government Grant from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and administered by the Texas Historical Commission.