For many years, the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) had a model historic preservation ordinance to help Pennsylvania’s municipalities protect historic places in their communities. The tool, while it had its uses, proved to be unequal to the task of accounting for the wide variety amongst Pennsylvania’s more than 2,500 municipalities. The model ordinance helped communities answer the question ‘how can we protect historic places,’ but it did not help communities address why they want to protect historic places or determine what residents in their communities valued.

The PA SHPO’s new Preservation Ordinance Guidebook and Workbook seeks to address not only how but also what and why to help communities develop implementable preservation ordinances which meet community needs.

The Ordinance Guidebook and Workbook gathers the experience of the SHPO’s community preservation coordinators work with communities and is intended to be used with our assistance, although it can be used independently. The text walks through several different phases of developing an ordinance including:

  • Getting Started
  • Determining the Legal Approach
  • Ordinance Types
  • Writing the Ordinance
  • Adopting the Ordinance
  • Ordinance Implementation
  • Other tools for Historic Preservation.

This tool is not, however, a substitute for legal advice related to ordinance development and implementation. Communities are still advised to refer any new or amended ordinances to their municipal solicitor or other attorney with expertise in land use law.

Getting Started

The first substantive chapter, Getting Started, lays a foundation for the process of developing or rewriting an ordinance and covers community engagement, defining historic preservation in the community, assessing capacity, and historic resource surveys. Upon completion of the tasks outlined in this section, communities should have a shared understanding of historic preservation priorities, what preservation means in their local context, and where historic places are located. Communities should also have a firm grasp on the capacity of the municipality as well as the community itself to develop and implement preservation regulations. Example questions for assessing capacity and community are compiled in Appendix A and B, respectively.

Man stands inside a large room in front of four posters and a screen while people listen from nearby chairs.

Robert Emmanuel, Tredyffrin Township, talking about amending the Township’s preservation overlay with community members in February 2026. Photo by Rob Williams.

Determining the Legal Approach and Ordinance Types

Determining the legal approach walks communities through Pennsylvania’s two pieces of enabling legislation for historic preservation. Enabling legislation is the legal foundation Pennsylvania’s municipalities must use to create historic preservation regulation. [1] This chapter compares the two pieces of legislation to help communities determine how to work within the framework of the enabling legislation to meet their communities’ goals and needs while still relying on a best practice approach. The following chapter, Ordinance Types, then provides a general overview of the varying levels of review that exist within ordinances across the Commonwealth. By the end of these two chapters, communities should have a general idea of how they will rely on the enabling legislation and what types of projects would be reviewed under their ordinance.

image of document

This chart provides an at a glance look at the differences (and similarities) between Pennsylvania’s two pieces of enabling legislation: the Historic District Act and the Municipalities Planning Code.

Writing the Ordinance

Prepared with their approach, communities are generally ready to move into writing the ordinance. Chapter four, Writing the Ordinance, provides a baseline list for sections that all ordinances should include as well as the purpose of each of these sections. The guidance in this chapter is summarized in checklist in Appendix C.

image of document

This checklist provides communities with a quick reference for sections to be included in the ordinance as well as two sections communities may want to discuss for inclusion. This checklist can be found on pages 36-37 of the Guidebook and Workbook.

Adopting the Ordinance and Ordinance Implementation

Chapters six and seven walk through adoption of the ordinance and moving from development to implementation. The final chapter addresses some preservation adjacent tools that municipalities can use depending on their goals. The Guidebook and Workbook wraps up with a glossary of terms used throughout the workbook—these can be quickly identified as the bolded terms in the text, the previous referenced appendices, and some additional resources/useful links.

Large 3-story brick building at the corner of two streets with cars and trees in front.

In 2022 and 2023, PA SHPO provided funding to the Borough of Milford, Pike County through the Certified Local Government (CLG) program to revise their preservation ordinance for the borough’s historic core.

Takeaways

There are a few highlights we hope readers will take away. You may note in the Guidebook and Workbook that writing the ordinance is about halfway through the text. That is both intentional and symbolic. While writing the ordinance is at the heart of this tool’s purpose and is where many want to start, for long-term success it is critical to undertake robust community engagement and education.

To quote from the Guidebook and Workbook “Preservation ordinances are a planning tool to assist communities in managing change over time. As such, preservation ordinance development must include a community engagement and education component. This process builds trust, creates more sustainable community outcomes, and a transparent process.”[2]

Whether your community is ready to explore adopting a historic preservation ordinance for the first time, overhauling a longstanding ordinance, or assessing your own practices, we hope that the Ordinance Guidebook and Workbook will be a helpful resource! If you have any questions, please contact the community preservation coordinator for your region. You can find the appropriate contact here.

[1] Municipalities with Home Rule charters may have additional options which are not covered in the Guidebook and Workbook.

[2] Preservation Ordinance Guidebook and Workbook for Pennsylvania, PA SHPO, page 5.

Comment Policy

PHMC welcomes and encourages topic-related comments on this blog.  PHMC reserves the right to remove comments that in PHMC’s discretion do not follow participation guidelines.

Commenters and Comments shall be related to the blog post topic and respectful of others who use this site.

Commenters and Comments shall not: use language that is offensive, inflammatory or provocative (this includes, but is not limited to, using profanity, obscene, or vulgar comments); disparage other commenters or people; condone illegal activity; identify the location of known or suspected archeological sites; post personal information in comments such as addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses or other contact details, which may relate to you or other individuals;  impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or an organization; make any commercial endorsement or promotion of any product, service or publication.

If you would like to comment on other topics not related to this blog post but related to PHMC, please fill out the PHMC Contact Us Form.