[MassHistPres] tear down in an LHD

[Carol Carlson]

Dennis:
No to your question.   The answer is "no" because we've never been 
tested with an application to demolish a "contributing" house within the 
historic district.  The Purpose of our legislative-approved Acts of 1964 
(similar to 40c) is to "preserve and protect. . ." and a monetary-issue 
demolition would probably be denied, said denial most likely upheld in 
court.

We did, however, allow an important (but empty and dilapidated) house be 
moved to a new location in  Carlisle in order to save the house.   The 
house was sitting in the front yard of an auto dealership, the tenant 
passed away, and we couldn't convince the dealership to renovate it for 
their use.  So we asked them to advertise to buy/remove the house, and 
amazingly someone responded.   Of course a modern showroom is now 
sitting where the old house was, and in hindsight, I'm not sure we'll 
ever be totally comfortable that we let the house go.

You may be hard pressed to find a LHD that has allowed such demolition.  
I hope that's the case.
Carol

Dennis De Witt wrote:
> But Carol, have you ever signed off on such a demolition (with an 
> approved replacement) of a "contributing" house (in NR terms) within 
> an LHD?  
>
> And, if so, how would that have been deemed to be consistent with the 
> purpose of 40c?
>
> Dennis
>
>
> On Oct 13, 2009, at 11:55 PM, Carol Carlson wrote:
>
>> Dennis:
>> We always insist on knowing what will be in it's place before any 
>> approval is given to tear down anything, even a group of trees.  We 
>> ask for plans for the intended site/building/etc and we approve/deny 
>> as we deem best for the LHD, the general and immediate neighborhood, 
>> and the site itself.  Is just the lot going for $835k, or is the 
>> house included?  Sounds like the price needs to come down and the 
>> broker needs to try harder.  Good luck on this one.
>> Carol Carlson
>> Bedford MA HDC
>>
>> Dennis De Witt wrote:
>>> I'd like to know if anyone can cite any example of an LHD Commission 
>>> signing off on the demolition of an intact contributing house
>>>
>>> For what its worth., there no proposal for a replacement on the 
>>> table.  The broker just says it's been on the market for 5 months 
>>> and the lot can only be sold if it's a tear-down.
>>>
>>> Dennis De Witt
>>>
>>> The house is a "mid-century modern", part of a group of four, on a 
>>> 1/2 acre in Brookline and the ask is $835k.  In NR terms it 
>>> certainly is definitely "contributing" -- even if not to everyone's 
>>> taste.  And, obviously there is always the option for 
>>> additions/expansion.
>>>
>>>
>>> ******************************
>>> 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
>>> ********************************
>>>
>> ******************************
>> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact 
>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us 
>> <mailto:Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us> directly.  PLEASE DO NOT 
>> "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.
>> MassHistPres mailing list
>> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu>
>> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
>> ********************************
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ******************************
> 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
> ********************************
>   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20091014/aa651739/attachment.htm>