[MassHistPres] Demo Delay By-Law - remedies

[Garrett Laws]

Tony,
Thanks for the clarification on the time frame of the fine.

Do you think there is a better approach?

- Approval of "demolition" by allowing a salvage company to dismantle a
property?
- Some other creative way to keep part of history while allowing life to ebb
and flow as normal?

Garrett

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:15 PM, Tony Willoughby <tonyw at pobox.com> wrote:

>
> The two years is in reference to the building permit moratorium, not the
> $300/day.  The fine goes on forever, which can add up to quite a bit.  :-)
>
> Mendon recently passed a similar bylaw.  We are a pretty conservative town,
> many people have very strong opinions about "property owner's rights".
>
> The Town Meeting was contentious.  There were two attempts to amend (read:
> castrate) it.  One was to reduce the delay from 6 to 3 months. The other was
> to eliminate the $300/day fine.  Both amendments were rejected.  In the end
> it passed by a relatively slim margin.
>
>
> http://mendonma.net/depts/media/HistoricalCommission/Demolition%20Delay%20Bylaw/Passed%20by%20Town%20Meeting%20(May%201%202009).pdf
>
>
>
>
> Garrett Laws wrote:
>
>> No offense intended to anyone involved with the initial drafting of the
>> first demo-delay bylaw that is the template for everyone else...$300 is
>> never going to act as potenial deterant to demolishing a whole building
>> never mind removing a component of a historic structure that truly shows the
>> character that the building as that would show any layman that it has
>> historic fabric. It costs nearly the same amount of money to cut a knife for
>> running molding...
>>
>> $ 300 a day for 2 years is ~ $ 220,000 which is a number that a commercial
>> project could easily wrap into part of their "cost of doing business". At
>> the potential cost of my company losing business...maybe there should a
>> percentage fine assessed  against the value of the property?
>>
>> I'm not trying to slam the intent of getting a bylaw up and running in
>> Wareham, just point out that there may be a need to have a different
>> financial incentive to retain or not remove without permission a structure
>> that may be historic.
>>
>> Can of worms fully opened???
>>
>> Garrett
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Robin Ragle-Davis <
>> robin at rrinteractive.com <mailto:robin at rrinteractive.com>> wrote:
>>
>>    We are working on a draft of a demo delay by-law in Wareham.
>>
>>    I would like to get some input into the various versions of the
>>    Enforcement and Remedies section.
>>
>>    Our goal is two-fold. First to draft a by-law that will be accepted
>>    by Town Meeting and second to have a remedies section that works
>>    well as a deterrent but is also realistic.
>>
>>    The Sample demo-delay text is as follows:
>>
>>    "Any owner of a building subject to this bylaw that demolished the
>>    building without first obtaining a demolition permit in accordance
>>    with the provisions of this bylaw shall be subject to a fine of not
>>    more than Three Hundred Dollars.  Each day the violation exists
>>    shall constitute a separate offense until a faithful restoration of
>>    the demolished building is completed or unless otherwise agreed to
>>    by the Commission.
>>    If a building subject to this bylaw is demolished without first
>>    obtaining a demolition permit, no building permit shall be issued
>>    for a period of two years from the date of the demolition on the
>>    subject parcel of land or any adjoining parcels of land under common
>>    ownership and control unless the building permit is for the faithful
>>    restoration referred to above or unless otherwise agreed to by the
>>    Commission."
>>
>>    Robin Ragle-Davis, Chair
>>
>>    Wareham Historical Commission
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Cheers,
>> Garrett
>>
>> Garrett Laws, Manager
>> The Copper & Slate Company
>> Fine Roofing and Exterior Finish Carpentry
>> 238A Calvary Street
>> Waltham, MA 02453
>> Ph: (781) 893-1916
>> Fax: (781) 893-2041
>>
>> Copperandslate at Gmail.com or
>> GLaws at hbuilders.net <mailto:GLaws at hbuilders.net>
>>
>>
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>
> --
> Tony Willoughby tonyw at pobox.com
>
> "My career is about as promising as a Civil War leg wound."
> -Warren Zevon
>



-- 
Cheers,
Garrett

Garrett Laws, Manager
The Copper & Slate Company
Fine Roofing and Exterior Finish Carpentry
238A Calvary Street
Waltham, MA 02453
Ph: (781) 893-1916
Fax: (781) 893-2041

Copperandslate at Gmail.com or
GLaws at hbuilders.net
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