[MassHistPres] 1857 House in Historic District Slated for Demolition

[jack mac donald]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Luck! Here in Bourne several historic houses were torn down after our
Demo Delay bylaw was in effect.  I got the same runaround from town hall
such as they were "preapproved."  It was a joke.  Call a reporter at the
very least and tell the story so that 2-300 years of built history in the
landfill won't be in vain.  Yeah, now I'm the local "loose cannon" who
created headaches for town hall.  So be it.  The bottom line is preservation
when and where possible.  Lost opportunities and decisions made by those
with little to no experience with preservation is a loss for our
communities.

Jack Mac Donald
Osprey Design Inc
Restoration and Remodeling
508 317-8469   




-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Mark Voigt
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 12:37 PM
To: 'Suzanne W Pelton'; MassHistPres MA
Cc: LHC at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] 1857 House in Historic District Slated for
Demolition

Sounds like the typical shenanigans that occur when those in the "decider"
role don't get what they want so they do nefarious things like this.  It
seems clear there is an open meeting law breach, at the very least, and
maybe ethics as well.  As for substance, lets assume the owner of the house
wanted to fix it up.  Now the Town is saying no?  The building inspector
should provide the basis (reasons) for his decision and appropriate remedies
of the same.  To have one - the condemnation - without any knowledge of what
can be done to rectify is patently illegal.  By identifying the problems,
then fixing them - a re-inspection could be done and move this toward a
renovation.  Clearly by not giving the proper reasons for why and how it is
unsafe they are trying to use a veil which masks their bad behavior.

More questions for the whole process need to be posed and you need advocates
to help.  Have you tried PreservatiON MASS?  Their circuit riders might be
able to assist and maybe some legal counsel as well.  MHC, National Trust
office in Boston are a few other places to look for help.

Good Luck


Mark W. Voigt, AICP, Administrator
Nantucket Historic District Commission
Town Annex Building
37 Washington Street
Nantucket, MA 02554
(508) 228-7231           Fax(508) 325-7572
Celebrating 50 years of Preserving History


-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Suzanne W Pelton
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:43 AM
To: MassHistPres MA
Cc: LHC at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] 1857 House in Historic District Slated for
Demolition

I hope someone has a last minute effort to suggest for this unexpected
development:

A month ago the Lenox HDC denied a permit for demolition for an 1857 house
in the Historic District and we breathed a sign of relief. Now, all of a
sudden today, chairs of the HDC and HC were advised of a "workshop"
(off-camera, no minutes) the Select Board held last night before their
regularly scheduled meeting, to "discuss" the house. The owner refuses to
make repairs. An independent engineer reported the house was unsafe and it
has been boarded up. Now the building inspector says the house must be
demolished--probably within 24 hours. I've been given til a brief respite to
see if there is anything we are missing to prevent its demolition. Lenox
does not have a Minimum Maintenance Ordinance or a Demolition Delay Bylaw
but it seems we're also not to be given any time to see if anyone would like
to dismantle or move the house.

When I asked how it was unsafe, I was told no one could live in it.
Agreed but that's not the issue, I said. When I asked if it was in danger of
falling on anyone, all I got was "it's unsafe."

Any ideas you can give us will be most welcome.

Suzanne Pelton
Lenox Historical Commission

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