Georgia Trust warns a rewrite of the 60-year-old Section 106 preservation law would weaken reviews that helped shape Atlanta's Druid Hills

SaportaReport reports the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is leading opposition to changes to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which requires federal agencies to consider the effects of federally supported undertakings on historic properties. In July the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation approved revised guidelines turning that required review into something agencies 'may' do, and a Senate bill would further curtail public input, which Georgia Trust advocacy director Ben Sutton said would 'dramatically curtail' Georgians' ability to speak up for historic sites. Georgia has recorded more than 115,000 historic structures since 1966, and Section 106 review helped halt the Presidential Parkway, which would have cut through Ponce de Leon Avenue, Druid Hills and Emory University. For a fix-and-flipper: weaker review could speed federally tied projects near intown historic districts, but it thins a protection layer that underpins the character premium buyers pay for in neighborhoods like Druid Hills - and it signals a broader deregulatory drift in how older housing stock gets treated.