Easton has officially been designated a Certified Local Government (CLG) by the National Park Service, a milestone that places the town among a select group of Connecticut municipalities equipped to compete for federal and state historic preservation funding without the burden of matching local dollars.
The certification, dated August 14, 2026, arrived in a letter from Megan J. Brown, Acting CLG Coordinator for the National Park Service, confirming that Easton’s application had been reviewed and approved in concurrence with the recommendation of Connecticut’s State Historic Preservation Officer, Jonathan Kinney. The letter formally welcomes Easton “as a local partner in the Federal Preservation Program,” and notes the town has now been added to the national CLG database.
For a town that only two years ago was still assembling the basic infrastructure required to apply, the designation represents the culmination of a long and largely volunteer-driven effort.
The path to certification began in 2022, when Easton enacted a Demolition Delay Ordinance, giving the town up to ninety days to document a historic property or work with an owner before a building could be lost to demolition. That ordinance effort, led by Bruce Nelson and Elizabeth Boyce, created the town’s first Historic Review Committee. As the committee began researching grant opportunities to update Easton’s aging Historic Resources Inventory, it discovered that CLG-designated towns are eligible for non-matching state and federal preservation grants and are given priority when the State Historic Preservation Office allocates funding. At the time, only about 50 of Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities held CLG status.
Pursuing that status meant meeting a detailed set of National Park Service requirements, beginning with expanding the committee’s membership to include specific historic and architectural expertise. Last year, the committee was formally reorganized into the Historic Preservation Review Commission (HPRC) under an amended ordinance, with language specifically written to satisfy CLG eligibility standards.
One requirement remained: CLG status requires a town to have designated at least one Local Historic District or Local Historic Property. The Commission settled on Easton’s own Town Hall, built in 1937 and designed by Frederick Dixon, Connecticut’s first officially appointed State Architect. The building’s history was documented in a comprehensive report by HPRC member and Historical Society President Elizabeth Boyce.
Connecticut’s state preservation office, Easton’s Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Board of Selectmen each approved the HPRC’s recommendation, and Easton voters approved the Local Historic Property designation at referendum on May 6, 2025. Under the designation, the town bears no additional cost, and only exterior alterations to the building’s façade require HPRC review; interior changes remain fully under the authority of the Board of Selectmen and the Building Department.
With that final requirement satisfied, Easton’s CLG application moved forward to the State Historic Preservation Office and, ultimately, to the National Park Service for approval.
The designation now opens the door to preservation funding the town has not previously had access to, including grants to update the decades-old Historic Resources Inventory that determines which properties fall under the town’s demolition delay protections. Because CLG grants do not require local matching funds, future preservation work can move forward without placing additional strain on the town budget.
The certification letter was copied to Debbie Szegedi, Easton’s CLG contact, and Mary Dunne, the state’s CLG Coordinator, both of whom worked alongside the Historic Preservation Review Commission throughout the application process. Special thanks to Tina Reynolds in Town Hall, who provided essential support during the application process, as well as former first selectman David Bindelglass and current first selectman Dan Lent.
The achievement reflects years of research, advocacy, and volunteer commitment by members of the Historic Preservation Review Commission and the Historical Society of Easton. It stands as a tangible investment in preserving the buildings, records, and stories that define Easton’s character for generations to come.
