[MassHistPres] Brookline/Cambridge/Boston/Newton

[Lara Kritzer]

I don't know if I can really compare Brookline and Newton's programs but I can go 
over Newton's existing preservation legislation. By far the most well-used ordinance 
is the City's Demolition Review Ordinance which was established in 1986 as a six 
month ordinance and expanded to 12 months in the mid 1990s.  The ordinance is 
triggered when complete or partial demolition is proposed for any building in whole or 
part over 50 years old, which at this point is probably about 80% of the City.  The 
ordinance allows for a very broad definition of partial demolition which allows the 
Historical Commission to define what constitutes an historically or architecturally 
significant element of the buildng.  This definition has been crucial in preserving 
many of the significant structures within the City, but it also means that the vast 
majority of buildings within the City will trigger demolition review in the course of new 
construction, additions, or renovations.  It is not unusual for the Historical 
Commission to receive over 20 applications for demolition a month so due to the 
shear volume of reviews which are conducted under our Demolition Ordinance, I 
think that Newton's approach is probably very different from the other communities 
you mentioned.  

In addition to Demolition Delay, Newton has a local historic district ordinance that 
governs four local historic districts.  Each district has its own Historic District 
Commission and they vary in size from about 120 properties to over 300 properties.  
Each of the districts is also very different in terms of its development and 
architectural styles.  The City's Local Landmark Preservation Ordinance places 
restrictions similar to those of a local historic district on individual properties - 
currently, we have 16 sites that are designated including early mill buildings, 17th 
century farmhouses, and the first house designed by Walter Gropius' firm, TAC.  The 
Local Landmark ordinance was also recently updated to include a demolition by 
neglect provision - right now this only protects those buildings that are designated as 
local landmarks. 

Lara Kritzer
Senior Preservation Planner
City of Newton



> > Broadly, how do the City of Brookline's preservation laws compare  
> > to other big (and relatively wealthy) places like Boston,  
> > Cambridge, Newton, et al.?  It sounds like your HC made great  
> > strides at Town Meeting.  Congrats.
> > Anne Kornitsky
> 
> Anne
> 
> You have asked a potentially huge question and I'm not sure that I'm  
> the right one to answer it.  The following are my impressions and I  
> would welcome comments and corrections from Cambridge, Newton, and  
> Boston.
> 
> First, an important note, Brookline is NOT and probably never will be  
> a city.  We have a very strongly diffuse political culture nurtured  
> by 240 active, involved TMMs and an uncountable number of committees  
> for everything conceivable.  And we have a tradition of active  
> involved selectmen working with a strong -- but not mayor-like town  
> manager.  From a preservation standpoint that has its strengths and  
> weaknesses but in some real way it does make us fundamentally  
> different from those three cities.
> 
> I'd guess we are ahead of the three of them re DD, altho I understand  
> Cambridge may be working on some sort of revision.
> 
> We don't have Landmarking, much less interior landmarking, which  
> Boston & Cambridge do.
> 
> We don't have Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs) which Boston  
> & Cambridge do, although there has been work done on a possible bylaw  
> here.  I'm yet to be convinced that I have seen a neighborhood here  
> that would be interested in one, although its possible -- and we  
> wouldn't want one where an LHD was appropriate.  It appears to me  
> that Cambridge's NCDs may have been instituted as a way of fighting  
> off the effects of overzoning.  To me the original Cambridge NCDs  
> seem rather weak with respect to existing buildings and much stronger  
> and more zoning-like re replacement buildings. Their zoning-like  
> aspect makes them not just 40c-lite, as is sometimes thought.   
> However, at about the time Cambridge was establishing its NCD's  
> Brookline had a radical downzoning which perhaps dealt with the same  
> issue of intrusive development in a different way.
> 
>  From what I know of Boston's NCD's they tend to be in rowhouse areas  
> which are not as demanding in terms of preservation controls.
> 
> Also both Cambridge and Boston do a lot of staff design review.   
> Everything in Brookline is done by the Commission or its  
> subcommittees with staff more involved at a preliminary guidance and  
> execution follow-thru level.
> 
> We don't do paint colors.
> 
> We have 1.66 staff which is small compared to Boston or Cambridge.
> 
> We have one commission with seven commissioners and four alternates  
> (In the back of my head -- but maybe no one else's -- is the idea of  
> recreating our Historical Commission which was merged into our LHD  
> commission 23 years ago, but that's just my thought.)  Boston,  
> Cambridge, and Newton all have multiple district commissions or one  
> sort or another.
> 
> We have 5 LHDs, three large one medium and one quite small, 18 NRDs,  
> and two National Historic landmarks.  (Earlier there were three  
> failed LHD attempts in two very up-market NRD neighborhoods.  I don't  
> see any additional LHDs at the moment.)  We hope to update our  
> comprehensive NR survey cutoff from 1927 to 1957 next year.
> 
> Our planning Board has design review over everything built on Route  
> 9, Harvard Ave., Washington St. Beacon St. and Brookline's part of  
> Comm. Ave.  In addition they appoint professional design advisory  
> teams for major projects.
> 
> We have an anti-billboard bylaw which Boston clearly do not.   
> However, our building sign controls which were once very tight are  
> now very loose.
> 
> I didn't say much about Newton, because I don't know much about it.   
> I hope I didn't misrepresent anything re Boston or Cambridge.  If so,  
> I trust someone from those towns can continue the conversation.
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> Dennis De Witt
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