[MassHistPres] Springfield HC window guidelines published

[slater at alum.rpi.edu]

If anyone is interested, the Springfield Historical Commission has
recently developed and published a comprehensive set of window
replacement guidelines. They can be found here:

http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/planning/fileadmin/Planning_files/Win
dow_replacement_guidelines-final1.pdf

Springfield is somewhat different than most MA districts because we have
a large number of properties (1,500) across six local districts, and
this large supply, coupled with changing demographics in Springfield
have resulted in not everyone who lives in districts being 100%
preservation-oriented.

The guidelines were a compromising attempt to give people a clear avenue
to change original windows while also maintaining the relative character
of the property. They also deal with the fact that we have a significant
number of tenement apartment blocks in our districts. 

Some of our districts have upwards of 40-50% white vinyl replacements
done without approval.The guidelines are an attempt to explicitly set
the standards (prior guidelines just said "changing windows requires
commission approval) and give people the correct idea as to what is
expected of them before they even contemplate the work. The thought is
to not let the homeowner fall in love with the idea of "cheap white
vinyl" before appearing before the commission, because that was just
leading to a lot of hard feelings and accusations of the SHC being
inflexible.

We are also taking a different approach to unapproved window
replacement; when someone installs white vinyl windows (and we catch
them), we are exploring the concept of allowing the change under a
remediation agreement -- not technically approving the change, but,
depending on the circumstance, not ordering an expensive immediate
restoration. We explore things like painting the windows a dark color
(which makes them look less like vinyl), installing exterior grids, or
putting storm windows over them.

I hope these guidelines are helpful to people in some way, please feel
free to ask me any questions you have. 

Ralph Slate
Springfield, MA