Sunny and Friederike Mittner, the town’s design and conservation manager, will serve as facilitators during the training. Both serve as instructors for NAPC and have taught in dozens of these programs across the country.

This type of training provides volunteer commissioners like those in Palm Beach the opportunity to learn how to be most effective in their roles, Mittner said.

“A lot of communities like ours in town are very small,” he said. “You have to know a lot of people, and you have to know how to distinguish the piece you’re looking at architecturally from the sentimental piece and the aesthetic piece. Preservation is wonderful, but sometimes the aesthetic and actual best practices in historic preservation aren’t always compatible. To ensure that consistency, you need to use high-level best practices across the country.” presents it to a local commission.”

Training sessions will be delivered by three conservation experts from across the country. Adrian Scott Fine, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy, will serve as lead instructor. He was joined by James Reap, an attorney and historic preservation professor at the University of Georgia, and HDR, Inc. in Jacksonville. Coastal Engineer and Coastal Programs Director Angela Schedel will accompany you for the event.