Bothell board hears presentation on Secretary of the Interior’s standards for treating historic properties

Adam Alsberg, the city’s historic preservation consultant, told the Bothell Landmark Preservation Board on Jan. 14 that the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties provide the framework the board will use to evaluate forthcoming certificate-of-approval applications.

Alsberg, identified himself as “senior architectural historian and a licensed architect with Willamette Cultural Resources Associates,” and said the standards are grouped into four treatments: preservation, restoration, reconstruction and rehabilitation. “There are 4 standards for the treatment of historic properties, preservation, restoration, reconstruction, and rehabilitation,” Alsberg said, framing rehabilitation as the most commonly applied approach for projects the board reviews.

Why it matters: board members can use the standards to assess whether proposed changes would remove or damage character-defining features, create false historic appearances, or otherwise impair a property’s integrity. Alsberg emphasized that rehabilitation allows compatible new uses and limited additions but requires that new work be differentiated from historic fabric.

Alsberg summarized key points from the 10 rehabilitation standards, including the guidance that historic character-defining features should be retained, deteriorated features should be repaired rather than wholesale replaced when possible, and treatments should be the gentlest that achieve stabilization or repair. He warned against sandblasting historic brick because it removes the fired surface and accelerates decay and used examples — including an adaptive reuse of a Tulsa gas station and the rehabilitation of the Publix Hotel in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District — to illustrate acceptable approaches.

Alsberg also addressed archaeological resources, noting Standard 8 requires preservation in place and mitigation if disturbance is unavoidable. He cited National Park Service preservation briefs as technical guidance and described how new additions should be compatible in scale and proportion and removable without impairing historic integrity.

On incentives and finance, Alsberg said the federal rehabilitation tax credit remains “the strongest” preservation incentive in Washington state and noted it can be applied against income taxes for income-producing properties; he described the credit percentage and how new construction tied to a rehabilitation can help make projects financially viable. He told the board he would follow up with more detail on county-level property tax incentives during a future presentation.

The board asked several follow-up questions, including whether the federal credit applies to individuals or corporations and whether a local property-tax incentive exists; Alsberg said the federal credit applies to income taxes for income-producing properties and that King County’s program functions as a 10-year property tax freeze in some cases.

Next steps: Alsberg said the board should expect additional certificate-of-approval applications next month that will be evaluated using the standards he outlined. Staff and the consultant indicated they will report back with additional details on tax-incentive programs and local applicability.