[MassHistPres] Authority of Historical Commission/HDC under Chapter 40C

[Dcolebslade at aol.com]

An applicant, a lawyer, applied for a certificate of appropriateness for an 
 addition to a very small building sited very close to the Main Road.  She  
also wanted to put clad windows and artificial materials on the new  
addition.  The commission believed it was not an appropriate addition and  did not 
approve of  the artificial materials.  The published  guidelines so state.  
The applicant had two preliminary reviews where it  was clearly stated that 
the size of addition she was contemplating was not  appropriate.
 
At the first preliminary review before presenting her plans she noted she  
was a lawyer, that the courts did not favor historical commissions/HDCs and 
so  on.  She suggested that if the historical commission/HDC did not approve 
 her plans she could take the commission to court.  However she did come  
back with a smaller addition in the second preliminary and then a different, 
but  similar size addition for the public hearing.  Her application has been 
 denied.
 
Her argument was that the legislature had added the lines of Article 7,  
19-22, to curtail or limit the authority of the historical  commission in 
their considerations which are described in Article 7,  lines 1-18.  She argued 
her plans were not incongruous because there were  so many different 
"styles" in the historic district and that in the  past, former commissions had  
allowed larger additions behind  buildings. She seemed to be stating that the 
word "incongruous" outweighs  "appropriateness".  
 
I would very much appreciate hearing from the MHC and from you your  
opinions on if, and if so, how much, the authority of the Historical  
Commission/HDCs can be interpreted to be "limited" by Article 7, 19-22.  
 
Thank you,
 
Betty Slade
Westport
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