[MassHistPres] Great News from Amesbury

[AML - New Horizons A&D]

    Great News.... Just want you all to know Amesbury's Municipal 
Council supports preservation!   By an overwhelming 8-1 margin the 
Council overrode the Mayor's veto of the by-law that now actually gives 
our Historic Commission some bite in preserving the character of the 
Town and its neighborhoods.

    On Oct 30 the Municipal Council put into local law an 18 month full 
demo delay and a 12 month delay for partial demolitions such as removing 
a roof or side of a building when not for repair and visible from a 
public way.  The newly rewritten ordinance took at least a year for the 
AHC to write.  It also went through at least 2 Ordinance Committee 
workshops where the bugs were ironed out to great satifaction all around.

    As Municipal Councilor I am proud to have been the sponsor of this 
new ordinance and I am also excited to be involved again with the 
regional LEAP this coming year.  LEAP Merrimack Valley! will be hosted 
in Amesbury in 2008 and this great demo delay achievement coupled with 
demo by neglect will be the topic of a seminar for the event! Now to 
figure out how to stop these demos by neglect.

    Another bit of news from the Council is that we have, on our 11/14 
agenda, legislation that will allow certain historic properties to 
become non-conforming to its zoning in order to preserve the structures 
and property.  This type of legislation is a better than nothing 
trade-off that we all are in need of because we are losing too much with 
what MGL and most local laws prevent and permit.  If you have any ideas 
about or experience with this legislation I would greatly appreciate 
your input or your presence at the meeting which starts at 7pm in the 
Town Hall on Friend St.

Alison Lindstrom
-- 
Alison M. Lindstrom
EotU
New Horizons art & design
Amesbury, MA 01913
www.ItsJustArt.com <http://www.itsjustart.com>
Vita brevis, ars longa. Hippocrates