[MassHistPres] "Protecting Special Places" Workshop Series - First Workshop on May 14!

Thu May 1 12:31:38 EDT 2008

The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor
Commission, Quinebaug-Shetucket Heritage Corridor, Inc. and the
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation recently
announced a series of planning and preservation workshops, "Protecting
Special Places: How to Help Your Community Plan for Its Future."
Workshops are FREE and open to all.

The first workshop, "Local Measures to Protect Historic Resources," will
take place Wednesday, May 14, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at Sutton Town Hall, 4
Uxbridge Road.  Chris Skelly, Director of Local Government Programs at
the Massachusetts Historical Commission, will discuss three strategies
to help protect historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods: Local
Historic Districts, Neighborhood Architectural Conservation Districts
and Demolition Delay bylaws.  These are some of the most effective
preservation tools available - come learn more about them and how they
can help your community preserve its past!

Please RSVP for this workshop by Monday, May 12 by contacting Joanna
Doherty, Blackstone Heritage Corridor (joanna_doherty at nps.gov or
401-762-0250) or Bob Levite, Quinebaug-Shetucket Heritage Corridor
(boblevite at hotmail.com or 508-831-1223 x244).

Directions:

>From the North or South, via Route 146: Take Route 146 to its
intersection with Boston Road (there is a traffic light).  Head west on
Boston Road, toward Sutton Center.  Town Hall will be on your left in
about 1.5 miles.

>From the East, via Central Turnpike: Take the Central Turnpike west
until it crosses Route 146.  In about 1.5 miles, take a right on
Uxbridge Road. Town Hall will be on your left in a little over 1 mile.

>From the West, via Route 20:  Follow Route 20 East into Auburn.
Approximately 1 mile after crossing Route 395, take a right onto Elm
Street.  Follow Elm Street, which becomes Stone Road, for about .8 mile.
Take a left on West Main Street and follow it for almost 2.5 miles.
Take a sharp right onto Sutton Road.  Follow Sutton Road, which becomes
Singletary Avenue, for about 2 miles, at which point Town Hall will be
in front of you.

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 12:00 PM
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Subject: MassHistPres Digest, Vol 27, Issue 1

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Historic District Application Fees (Chris Skelly)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 10:49:23 -0400
From: "Chris Skelly" <Skelly-MHC at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Historic District Application Fees
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID: <020c01c8ab9a$8ccd7ed0$6501a8c0 at Advantage>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Here are the compiled masshistpres application fee responses from over
the past couple of years.  Chris.

ACTON
Acton's historic district fees are $10 for minor alterations, $15 for
signs, $25 for major alterations (additions, etc.), and $50 for new
construction. In addition, the newspaper bill for the legal ad for a
hearing is sent directly to the applicant, and the commission sends out
the abutter notices, usually by regular mail.The latter policy (using
regular, rather than certified mail) which has been followed since the
districts begain in 1992, was established to ease the burden on both the
applicant and on the commission, which has no paid staff.
ANDOVER
The BallardVale Historic District in Andover charges $70 for a Public
Hearing (cost of advertising) and nothing for a non-public hearing,
ARLINGTON
Arlington also does not charge a fee.  The Commission notifies abutters
and other interested parties and pays for legal notices in the local
paper.The subject of application fees comes up periodically, typically
at the instance of the FinCom.  Our position is that people would be
even less inclined than they are now do go thru appropriate channels if
there were a fee attached to the application - and what about the cases
where unauthorized work is discovered either in the process or after
it's done? So we have, thus far at least, held firm on no fees, and rely
on our small annual appropriation from Town Meeting to cover notices.
BOSTON
Boston differs from the no fee policy. The Boston Landmarks Commission
application fees range from $25 to $250 -- for minor to major
construction.  The schedule of fees can be found in the application for
a certificate of appropriateness at
www.cityofboston.gov/environment/downloads.asp.  The fees go into the
General Fund and the BLC is funded from the General Fund.  The
application fees in no way pay for the costs of BLC operations. However
the BLC finds it important that the number of annual applications, the
amount of construction, and the amount of fees that are regulated
through the Landmarks and historic district commissions can be tracked
by the City of Boston when the budget is under consideration.  There are
no fees currently for demolition delay applications.
BROOKLINE
Brookline charges a fee of $2.00 per thousand of the cost of the work,
or a minimum of $35.00. This is interpreted to be the costs of the work
reviewed, not the entire project, since the applicants already have to
pay a building permit fee.  For in-kind work or work not visible from a
public way, the fee is just $15.00, regardless of the cost of the work
on the building.
CAMBRIDGE
We agree with the Arlington policy - no fees are charged, on the theory
that they would breed resistance and evasion, especially for small
projects that are hard enough to keep track of in our far-flung
conservation districts. In the distant past, part of the Commission's
budget came from the fees that Inspectional Services charges for
building permits, but this arrangement is no longer explicit and now
we're funded from general revenues.
CHATHAM
The Chatham Historic Business District Commission charges $150 for any
application, no matter how complex. So does the Historical Commission.
The fees are fixed by our Director of Community Development.
HARVARD
Harvard doesn't charge an application fee, but we do send the bill for
the legal notice to the applicant.
HINGHAM
The Hingham HDC does not charge a filing fee and does not charge for the
public hearing notice. The commission also notifies abutters.
LOWELL
Lowell Historic Board (MA) is allowed to set and collect application
fees and to disburse all monies collected to further the purposes of its
state legislation (Chapter 566, Acts of 1983; Lowell Historic District
Act). As set by the Board in 1984, the fees were: 
1.Signage - $25 
2. Minor Development (painting, in-kind repairs, masonry cleaning,
lighting, and other items of a minor nature delegated to staff for
approval by the Legislature and Board) - $25 
3. Major Development (everything else like demolition, complete
rehabilitation, new construction, etc. requiring a Public Hearing) was
based on a graduated scale depending upon project cost - under $2,500 -
$25; $2,500-$4,999 - $50; $5,000-$9,999 - $75; $10,000-$99,999 - $100;
$100,000-$249,00 - $125; over $250,000 - $150 
4.  Non profits received a 50% reduction in fee.
In 2002, the Board undertook the first review of its fee structure since
it was created in 1984.  What was found were inequities between those
with higher cost projects paying a lower percentage of fee with less
expensive projects paying a higher percentage of fee.  After this
analysis and comparison with other similar agencies, in early 2003 the
Board voted to adopt the current fee schedule that addressed the
inequities and established fees that were based upon a percentage of a
project's cost.  The current fee schedule is -
1.  Signage - $25
2.  Minor Development - 1/4 of 1% of total project cost (never less than
$25 with a cap of $1,000)
3.  Major Development - 1/2 of 1% of total project cost (never less than
$50 with a cap of $2,000)
4.  Non-profits receive a 50% discount on the fee but the total fee is
never less than the minimums noted.
MARBLEHEAD
Marblehead charges $35 for a public hearing and nothing for a non-public
hearing.
METHUEN
Methuen charges an application fee of $25 and requires applicants to
pull their own abutters' list with the Assessor's office and to provide
us with the list and pre-addressed, stamped envelopes that we will stuff
with the hearing notice.  The hearing notice is then posted in both City
Halls.
SOMERVILLE
Somerville also does not charge a fee.  We notify direct abutters and
anyone else who has filed a request to be notified of proposed work in a
given historic district.  We also post the legal notice on the City's
website and on the City Clerk's Board at City Hall.
WELLESLEY
The Town of Wellesley is considering raising the review fee for
Certificates of Appropriateness for the Local Historic Districts. The
current fee is $25 and barely covers the cost of advertising, let alone
notice to abutters. Could other towns let us know what their fees are? 
WEST TISBURY
Town of West Tisbury for historic district, all applications are free of
charge. We only have 100 properties or so, and we think its enough that
the owners supported the passage of the district knowing they would from
then on go thru a process to get permission to do things that no one
outside of the district would need permission to do. We have no paid
staff, we are all volunteers, so that may make a difference. We have an
annual budget that covers the cost of advertising.
WESTPORT
 WHC charges a $50 filing fee for applications.  This money goes  back
to the Town Government, as we have a small budget to cover our costs --
including the publication of notices in a local newspaper and sending
out  individual direct notices to abutters. We require  the applicant to
provide the names and addresses of abutters and all persons who  are
entitled to direct notices.  The WHC Clerk then double checks the list
of persons to ensure all who are entitled are on the list.  Then the
Clerk handles sending the notices and arranging for publication in a
local newspaper.  Current WHC requires direct notice to be sent  to
property owners within 300 feet of the boundary of the applicant's
property. We are considering changing this to include only those who are
actually abutters (including across the street), as the public notice
system is working well now, and there is a lot of confusion about how to
apply the 300  foot formula. The Westport Point Historic District is
quite small,  less than 100 houses, so our regime does not need major
systems. Westport charges $50 for Certificates except for
Non-Applicability which is free.
YARMOUTH
The Town of Yarmouth, MA, currently charges $25 for Certificates of
Appropriateness, also. The fee doubles if the work in questions was
started/completed before the application was filed.

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 Nancy Yeaw
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 11:44 AM
To: Smiledge, Lynn W; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Historic District Application Fees

The Chatham Historic Business District Commission charges $150 for any 
application, no matter how complex. So does the Historical Commission.
The 
fees are fixed by our Director of Community Development.
Nancy Yeaw
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Smiledge, Lynn W" <LWSmiledge at ci.methuen.ma.us>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 12:17 PM
Subject: [MassHistPres] Historic District Application Fees

> The Methuen Historic District Commission is revisiting its application

> fees and would like to know what other commissions charge.
Specifically, 
> is there a sliding scale of fees that reflects the complexity of a 
> project?
> Thanks.
>
> Lynn Smiledge
> Historic Planner
> Methuen, MA
> ******************************
> 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
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******************************
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