A training program designed to help support the work of Palm Beach’s landmarks board will be held Monday at Town Hall.
Hosted and sponsored by the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, the Commission Assistance and Mentoring Program (CAMP) will assist commission members in their efforts to build strong local preservation programs.
Members of the town’s architectural board and of the Town Council have been invited to participate because their work “also includes architectural styles, design review, and landmark considerations,” said Aimee Sunny, the Foundation’s director of preservation and planning.
The program will be administered by the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions based in San Francisco.
The training is conducted nationwide in an effort to build strong local preservation programs and leaders “through education, training, and advocacy,” according to alliance’s website.
The training offered to town board members will include presentations, hands-on exercises, group discussions, networking and mentoring, Sunny said. Five sessions have been selected for the one-day program.
“The Preservation Foundation is proud to host and underwrite the first CAMP training program in Palm Beach,” Sunny said. “In partnership with the Town of Palm Beach and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, we have curated a series of programming sessions focused on the island’s architectural styles, design review processes, and landmark considerations. Our objective is to equip community leaders with the education and tools they need to effectively implement robust local preservation measures and promote advocacy within our community.”
The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach has worked with the town for more than a year to select the trainers, training session topics, and dates for the program, Sunny said.
Sunny and Friederike Mittner, the town’s design and preservation manager, will serve as facilitators during the training. Both serve as trainers for the NAPC, and have taught dozens of these programs around the country.
Mittner said this type of training provides volunteer commissioners such as those in Palm Beach the opportunity to learn how to be most effective in their roles.
“Many communities just like ours in the town, it’s very small,” she said. “You have to know a lot of people, and how to differentiate what you’re reviewing architecturally versus the emotional piece and the aesthetic piece. Preservation is amazing, but sometimes the aesthetics and true best practices in historic preservation do not always align. This just kind of gives those high-level best practices from around the country for consistency to a local commission.”
The training sessions will be taught by three preservation experts from across the country. Adrian Scott Fine, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy, will serve as the lead trainer. He will be joined by James Reap, an attorney and professor of historic preservation at the University of Georgia, and Angela Schedel, a coastal engineer and Director of Coastal Programs for HDR, Inc., in Jacksonville.
The CAMP program will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, 311 Peruvian Ave. Members of the public are invited to participate if space is available.
For information, contact the Foundation at asunny@palmbeachpreser- vation.org.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdaily- news.com.