Preservation Planning 2012 – Drafting Goals
By Alice Guerrant, Historic Archaeologist
Our statewide historic preservation plan continues to move forward! Last month, we spent a day at Buena Vista Conference Center with preservationists and planners from around the state to hash out a set of goals based on all of the comments that we’ve been given. It was a very productive discussion with a lot of give and take. We looked at the key issues and concerns that came up over and over again in public discussions. By the end of the day, the group successfully drafted recommended goals for the 2013-2018 plan.
The Draft Goals (no special order to these!):
- Develop effective collaborations in historic preservation with nontraditional partners.
- Think about how we can reach out to minorities, developers, businesses, and others most effectively.
- All government entities serve as positive models for stewardship through their own historic properties.
- Governments need to know what historic properties they own and how best to care for them.
- Increase public education & support for historic preservation.
- Convey the importance of conserving our heritage and maintaining a sense of place.
- Increase training in preservation trades, architectural history, archaeology, and related fields, to provide a new generation of skilled craftspeople and preservationists.
- Maintain & expand access to information on historic properties & preservation.
- Make sure that the information that the Division has been collecting for over 30 years is available and easily accessible to preservationists, teachers, tourists, historians, and the public.
- Active participation in historic preservation by all local governments.
- Provide all governments with information on successful preservation tools as well as the economic and social benefits to historic preservation.
The group also recommended a number of ways to reach these goals, but one of the most important recommendations they made was to hold this type of meeting twice a year. We need to get preservationists and planners together regularly to discuss what’s happened lately, what’s been successful, what’s failed, and where we should go next. This will help to keep all of us focused on achieving our goals without drifting on with our day-to-day work demands. It will also provide a regular means of communicating between partners in historic preservation.
We thank everyone who participated in a public meeting, filled out the on-line survey, and/or helped us draft goals.
For more information on the process that has led us to these goals, check out these previous blog postings:
Planning So Our Historic Places Have a Future
Preservation Planning 2012: Update from Public Meetings
Now we have to write a draft of the full plan for everyone to comment on. We plan to have that available by mid-summer.
How do you feel about these goals? Are there others that we should consider? What kinds of strategies do you think will be most effective in achieving them?
Comment here or send us an e-mail: preservationplan@delaware.gov.