[MassHistPres] Churches in LHDs

[Eric Dray]

There is ample case law supporting the constitutionality of regulating
religious buildings in historic districts.  The lawyer needs to do his
homework.

Attached is a National Trust summary of cases.

Eric Dray Consulting
Historic Preservation Planning
258A Bradford Street
Provincetown, MA 02657
w: 508.487.4449
c:  508.566.3797
f:   508.487.7354
e:  ericdray at gis.net
 
  

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Sam Bird
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 12:28 PM
To: slater at alum.rpi.edu
Cc: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Churches in LHDs

In would seem this would quickly extend to other areas - are churches to be
exempt from zoning, building codes, accessibility provisions, to name a few?
Can you find some other task to occupy this  
attorney's time? Seriously, I think the logical view   (I am not an  
attorney) is that there is a public interest in the issues of land use
management, building life safety and historic preservation among other
things, and that these layers of public interest can be placed over churches
(and have been for decades) without impinging upon their religious freedoms.
Then again, in things legal, logic is a heavily discounted commodity....

Sam Bird AIA
Concord

On Oct 22, 2009, at 11:36 AM, <slater at alum.rpi.edu> wrote:

> Our city attorney is floating a theory that it is may not be legal to 
> include churches in local historic districts because this would be a 
> violation of the separation of church & state, in particular because 
> any encumbrance would be considered a "taking" under the 5th 
> amendment, particularly since the building would not be permitted to 
> be demolished.
>
> Can anyone speak to that? That seems like a very dangerous path to go 
> down.
>
> Ralph Slate
> Springfield, MA
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