Recently there have been a spate of articles in various newspapers reporting on the supposed restrictions placed on a property once it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This article is meant to clear the air of these misconceptions, and to be used in the future by those of us concerned with accuracy to try and educate reporters, developers and public officials about the role the National Register can play in community preservation.

First of all, the National Register of Historic Places is a federal program overseen by the National Park Service, but administrated on the state level by each State historic Preservation Office. The offices go by many names: in the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's Bureau for Historic Preservation acts as the State Historic Preservation Office.

According to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which created the National Register, there are no restrictions placed on the owners of any privately owned property, whether listed individually or as part of a historic district. The National Register does not restrict private owners from changing, adding to or demolishing their historic resources.

However, by Federal Law, listing on the National Register can help preserve historic resources in the following ways:

• by encouraging the recognition and therefore the appreciation of historic resources and their importance to their communities
• by insisting on taking into consideration the importance of historic resources in planning Federal and Federally assisted projects
• by making property owners eligible for Federal tax benefits
• by insisting on taking into consideration the importance of historic resources in decisions to issue surface coal mining permits
• and by qualifying preservation projects for Federal grant assistance.

If a municipality wishes to prevent private property owners from irrevocably changing what the municipality perceives as the municipality's historic resources, then it may decide to adopt a Historic District Ordinance, by which the municipality establishes a historical and Architectural Review Board (HARB) to oversee the historic resources found within the municipality's designated Certified Historic District. Many times, these Certified Historic Districts are based on National Register Historic Districts, having the same or similar boundaries. This is where the confusion comes in. Many residents of the municipality may be aware of the existence of the National Register Historic District. They may assume, when they are informed that they can't make changes to their buildings, that it is the National Register placing those restrictions on them. In fact, it is the Ordinance which established the Certified Historic District that places restrictions on what property owners can do to their buildings. To add to the confusion, both kinds are referred to as "Historic Districts". Maybe it's time we came up with a more precise, less confusing vocabulary that distinguishes between (or among) the different kinds of historic district.

In the meantime, the first thing a property owner should do, after learning that his/her property is listed on the National Register, is ascertain whether or not it is also included in a Certified Historic District. If it is not, then there are no restrictions as to what that property owner can or cannot do to the property.

Upper Uwchlan Township does not have an Historic Preservation District Ordinance.