For the first time in more than 40 years, the City of Austin has established a comprehensive new vision for preserving historic buildings citywide, while honoring the rich cultural heritage of its diverse communities.

On Thursday, Council adopted the Equity-Based Preservation Plan, a community-authored blueprint that supports historic preservation as a tool to advance a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future.

The Equity-Based Preservation Plan includes 14 goals and 107 recommendations. The plan aims to honor Austin’s complex history, safeguard cultural assets like legacy businesses and murals, and use preservation tools to prevent displacement and promote sustainability. It emphasizes broader community participation in heritage preservation and provides guidance on identifying and preserving important places, supporting the stewards of historic properties, streamlining reviews, and enhancing protection of historic resources. 

Council’s adoption of the plan concludes a significant planning effort that spanned more than three years. The Historic Landmark Commission launched the plan in 2021 with the creation of the Preservation Plan Working Group. The 26 community members in the group collaborated with City staff, technical experts, and other Austinites to develop the draft plan. 

“Asking a community working group to create a major new plan involved a lot of trust on the part of the Historic Landmark Commission and City staff,” said Cara Bertron, who managed the planning process for the City of Austin Planning Department. “It also involved considerable trust from the Working Group members, who committed years to creating the plan and seeing it through to this milestone. The final plan is a remarkable testament to what this rich collaboration can achieve.” 

The plan was finalized by the Working Group and Commission after extensive community engagement. More than 2,500 residents provided feedback on the draft plan in spring 2024 through public meetings, surveys, and events. Additional outreach was conducted in partnership with nine paid community ambassadors and five community organizations that received $5,000 mini-grants: Anderson CDC, Creative Action, East Austin Conservancy, Taiwanese American Professionals—Austin chapter, and Tomorrow’s Promise Foundation. Outreach was conducted in multiple languages to reflect Austin's diverse community. 

“We’re proud to have conducted such a thorough engagement effort with so many of our neighbors in so many parts of town,” said Planning Director Lauren Middleton-Pratt. “Robust engagement helps ensure that this plan represents the goals and priorities of every Austinite, particularly those whose history and heritage have too often been overlooked.” 

The plan explores the root causes of inequity and difficult aspects of Austin’s history while highlighting the many benefits of historic preservation. These range from the importance of affordable, smaller, older housing to the stabilization of neighborhoods; economic development through job creation, small business support, and heritage tourism; and environmental sustainability through the reduction of construction waste.

"Preservation’s cultural benefits are significant, especially in a rapidly growing city like Austin,” said JuanRaymon Rubio, a member of both the Historic Landmark Commission and the Preservation Plan Working Group. “Preservation supports a sense of place, identity, and continuity for both residents and visitors.” 

Lindsey Derrington, Executive Director of Preservation Austin, agreed. “Great cities preserve their history and culture, and Austin is no different. We’re thrilled to support the Equity-Based Preservation Plan and look forward to realizing its goals with the City and other stakeholders,” she said.

The Equity-Based Preservation Plan is expected to span ten years, with a substantial update at the five-year mark. Implementation will begin immediately, led by the Planning Department in collaboration with other City departments and community partners. A dashboard to track progress on the plan will be publicly launched in January 2025.