[MassHistPres] hardship demolition application
Tucker, Jonathan
TuckerJ at amherstma.gov
Tue Dec 15 16:32:50 EST 2009
I'm having a hard time figuring out how your Select Board could have
asked Town Meeting to appropriate funds to purchase property without an
appraisal, or how Town Meeting would agree to authorize funding without
having an accurate sense of what the property was actually going to
cost.
It appears the Select Board did this on the fly and did not consult with
town counsel. It is my understanding that a municipality cannot pay
more for a property than its appraised value, except under unusual
circumstances, and that there are requirements about how recent the
appraisal must be. To spend those appropriated funds without an
appraisal could create a serious problem, especially if the purchase
price is greater than what an appraisal would indicate.
Here's the applicable MGL reference indicating the requirement for an
appraisal, among other things:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/30b-16.htm
See also Chapter 8 of the following link to a 30B summary by the
Inspector General's office:
http://www.mass.gov/ig/publ/30bmanl.pdf
And, yes, an appraisal would most certainly be a public document.
Jonathan Tucker
Planning Director
Amherst Planning Department
4 Boltwood Avenue, Town Hall
Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 259-3040
tuckerj at amherstma.gov
-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of
wwheelwright at juno.com
Sent: Sunday, December 13, 2009 4:22 PM
To: hlacortiglia at comcast.net
Cc: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] hardship demolition application
Town Meeting 2008 voted to purchase for 495K and to close on Feb.1,
2010.
No mention of "appraised value". The assessed value is currently land
286K and house 84K for a total of 370K. Subtract the house and the total
is 202K. So if you mean "assessed value" I will try to learn more about
the legal point you raise. If you mean "appraised value" would it be a
public document that we could request?
Susie Wheelwright
On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:03:44 -0500 Harry LaCortiglia
<hlacortiglia at comcast.net> writes:
> May I ask, where did the money come from to purchase the property?
>
> If a town meeting vote authorized the purchase of the parcel but
> that
> purchase has not yet been finalized and recorded then you need to
> examine the language of that Town Meeting warrant article.
>
> If, at the time of the closing, the town will be in the position of
>
> purchasing a parcel with a lesser value (because the value of the
> demolished building is no longer part of the overall sale) than the
>
> value of the parcel that was voted on at town meeting, then ten
> taxpayers should be able to halt the sale itself.
>
> The question needs to be asked, if the Town meeting voters
> appropriated
> the money with the understanding that the property would be sans
> existing building and if so, what the appraised value of the
> purchase
> would be without that building. My understanding is that
> municipalities
> cannot purchase parcels for greater than their appraised value.
>
> H. LaCortiglia
>
> Chris Skelly wrote:
> > Of course, they can't vote to continue if they don't have a
> quorum.
> >
> > Also, MGL Chapter 40C requires a decision within 60 days. It
> isn't possible
> > to just continue indefinitely. If the applicant has not agreed to
> the
> > further time in writing, the commission has to make a
> determination within
> > 60 days of the filing of the application. If the commission shall
> fail to
> > make a determination within such period of time the commission
> shall
> > thereupon issue a certificate of hardship.
> >
> > Interestingly, they can't issue any certificate (including a
> certificate of
> > hardship) if they don't have a satisfactory number of appointed
> members on
> > the commission to take a vote. If the commission can't issue a
> certificate
> > and MGL Chapter 40C requires a certificate before receiving a
> building
> (demolition) permit, the question really is - how does the applicant
> obtain
> > a building (demolition) permit after all this. Chris.
> >
> > 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 D. Mauch
> > Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 12:17 PM
> > To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> > Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] MassHistPres Digest, Vol 46, Issue 16
> >
> > I would post a meeting to be held by December 15th and then vote
> to
> > "continue it," indefinitely citing the need for further
> information
> > regarding the particular agenda item. That way you've complied
> with
> > the clock, but reset the thresholds. Contact the Ethics
> Commission
> > and let them know of the matter immediately and request their
> > intervention.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Dec 10, 2009, at 12:00 PM, masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu
> wrote:
> >
> >
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> >>
> >> 1. hardship demolition application (wwheelwright at juno.com)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Message: 1
> >> Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:13:29 -0500
> >> From: wwheelwright at juno.com
> >> Subject: [MassHistPres] hardship demolition application
> >> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> >> Message-ID: <20091210.001329.1028.11.wwheelwright at juno.com>
> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >>
> >>
> >> To Chris Skelly and members of the listserve,
> >>
> >> The Board of Selectmen and the present owner of the property
> jointly
> >> filed a hardship application with the Sherborn Historic District
> >> Commission on December 1 to demolish the Richard Smart House and
> Barn,
> >> which abut the Town Offices in the Local Historic District, and
> which
> >> will be purchased by the Town on or before Feb 1, 2010. The Dec 1
>
> >> filing
> >> starts the clock ticking for the HDC, requiring a meeting which
> must
> >> be
> >> held by Dec 15 to decide if the application requires review, a
> public
> >> hearing by Dec 29, and a determination by the HDC by Feb 27. If
> the
> >> choice of this very difficult time of year to require meetings
> and
> >> encourage public participation seems intentional on the part of
> the
> >> Selectmen, keep reading. There is more to this story.
> >>
> >> The Selectmen have tried every way they could to ensure that the
> HDC
> >> will
> >> allow the buildings to be demolished. Following an unsuccessful
>
> >> attempt
> >> at Town Meeting last Spring to have the property removed from
> the
> >> district, the Selectmen failed to re-appoint members, one of them
> the
> >> chairman, after the Commission indicated that it would be
> unlikely to
> >> permit demolition. Since June 15 all appointments to the
> Commission
> >> have
> >> been held up, except for one new member handpicked by Selectmen
> to
> >> represent them as abuttors-to-be, a move ruled to be legal by
> Town
> >> Counsel. Strangely another abuttor, who is on the HDC but was not
> up
> >> for
> >> reappointment, has been told he cannot participate or vote. Yet
>
> >> another
> >> member resigned citing the pressure from the Selectmen and has
> not
> >> been
> >> replaced. So, having gutted and demoralized the HDC and then
> filed the
> >> application to coincide with the holidays, no quorum will be the
>
> >> outcome
> >> for the review by Dec 15, the first deadline. Do any of you know
> if
> >> that
> >> means a default for the HDC on Dec. 15 and an automatic hardship
> >> certificate?
> >>
> >> In the event of a Dec 15 default , does anyone know of possible
> pro
> >> bono
> >> legal assistance for the HDC to help with immediate further steps
>
> >> such as
> >> an injunction to prevent immediate tear down? The Selectmen
> control
> >> access to Town Counsel.
> >>
> >> The Sherborn Historical Commission thanks you in advance for your
> good
> >> information and suggestions.
> >>
> >> Susie Wheelwright
> >> Sherborn Historical Commission
> >> ____________________________________________________________
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