[MassHistPres] Certificates of Hardship

[Chris Skelly]

Here are some draft guidelines for Certificate of Hardships.  
*********************
(DRAFT) SAMPLE GUIDELINES FOR GRANTING A CERTIFICATE OF HARDSHIP

It is the expectation that the Historic District Commission will approve
a certificate of hardship only in extraordinary cases.  

Under the Massachusetts General Law, the granting of a certificate of
hardship will be based on "conditions especially affecting the building
or structure involved, but not affecting the historic district
generally."  In other words, the hardship must be unique to the
applicant's property and affect it in a particular manner. It cannot
constitute a condition which generally afflicts other property within
the district.  For instance, a fire escape may be essential on a
particular building in order to keep the building up to fire safety
codes.  That would be a specific condition affecting a particular
building and might warrant the granting of a certificate of hardship.  A
certificate of hardship for vinyl siding is not a specific condition
affecting a particular building.  All the buildings in the district have
the same condition - they all need protection from the weather and vinyl
siding is inappropriate on all buildings found in the district.  

Under Massachusetts General Law chapter 40C, the approval of a
certificate of hardship should not have "substantial detriment to the
public welfare" or "substantial derogation from the intent and purposes"
of MGL Chapter 40C.  According to the purpose section of MGL 40C, local
historic districts are "to promote the educational, cultural, economic
and general welfare of the public through the preservation and
protection of the distinctive characteristics of buildings and places
significant in the history of the commonwealth and its cities and towns
or their architecture, and through the maintenance and improvement of
settings for such buildings and places and the encouragement of design
compatible therewith."  As an example, the removal of architectural trim
would not promote the welfare of the public and would derogate from the
intent of MGL Chapter 40C. 

Applications for certificates of hardship based on financial loss must
demonstrate a substantial deprivation of beneficial uses of the
property.  For instance, an application for a certificate of hardship to
replace a duplex with a six unit building does not constitute a
deprivation of beneficial use as the existing duplex provides the
beneficial use and a reasonable economic use of the property.  

Applications for certificates of hardship based on a financial hardship
may be requested by the historic district commission to supply financial
and other records.  These records may include: 1) the amount paid for
the property, the date of purchase and the party from whom purchased
(including a description of the relationship, if any, between the owner
and the person from whom the property was purchased; 2) the assessed
value of the land and improvements thereon according to the most recent
tax assessments; 3) real estate taxes for the previous two years; 4)
annual debt service, if any, for the previous two years; 5) all
appraisals obtained within the previous two years by the owner or
applicant in connection with purchases, financing or ownership of the
property; 6) any listing of the property for sale or rent, price asked
and offers received, if any; 7) any consideration by the owner as to
profitable adaptive uses of the property.  If the property is
income-producing, an owner may be asked to provide: 1) annual gross
income from the property for the previous two years; 2) itemized
operating and maintenance expenses for the previous two years; 3) cash
flow, if any during the same period.  

Applications for certificates of hardship based on a financial hardship
may be requested by the historic district commission to supply a
reasonable number of good faith estimates for products and services from
contractors, suppliers and tradespeople.  

Examples of potential certificates of hardships include fire escapes,
utilities and accessibility improvements when other more appropriate
designs are not feasible.  

The application for a certificate of hardship shall be carefully
scrutinized and granted in rare circumstances only.

Christopher C. Skelly
Director of Local Government Programs
Massachusetts Historical Commission

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Ellen Fitzpatrick
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 4:37 PM
To: MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Certificates of Hardship

I am interested to know how local historic district commissions have
handled definitions of "financial hardship" in evaluating applications
from residents for certificates of hardship. In the case of financial
hardship, have any commissions required documentation?  If so, of what
kind? Or have commissions tended to take the word of applicants? Any
experience/information available would be greatly appreciated.

Ellen Fitzpatrick
******************************
For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact
Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE
WHOLE LIST.  
MassHistPres mailing list
MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
********************************