[MassHistPres] preemptive DD applications

[Dennis De Witt]

James

That's an interesting approach.  Has anyone done it anywhere?

Brookline considered some sort of credibility test as you suggest but it was not enthusiastically received by Town Counsel or the Building Inspector.  There was a concern about what sort of standards to apply, their complexity and potential quibbling over details.  

Have you all tried to work out the rule making for such a provision?

Re plans for rebuilding, what do you do if someone says their plan is to just make vacant land?  (Altho not the same sort or situation, Brookline has had at least five houses demolished by neighbors with no intent to rebuild.)

Brookline's R&Rs are too new for the limit to have been tested.  With a total of three years to demolish plus 18 mo. delay for an NR property the issue would take 4.5 years to come up.

 Dennis

On Jul 7, 2010, at 11:42 AM, james hadley wrote:

> This must be in the wind right now. Orleans has gotten two successive applications from the same owner for this kind of "pocketed" demo delay hearing; leading to a 12 month waiting period and then an open and unobstructed path towards demolition. This kind of application subverts the intention of the by-law by precluding any opportunity to move the structure, or to find a prospective owner willing to preserve.
> Our Town Counsel has advised us to revise the by-law as follows:
>  
> In order to have standing to file a Notice of Intent an applicant must have a present intent to demolish a Significant Building within twelve months of the date of the Notice of Intent.
>  
> He further recommends that the NOI include a copy of the demolition plan and the proposed reuse of the property.
>  
> In the nearby town of Chatham the by-law includes the following language:
>  
> All determinations by written finding made by the Historical Commission pursuant to [this by-law] shall expire two years from the date of the written finding if the work authorized has not commenced.
>  
> This insures that if the demolition has not proceeded within 2 years from the date of the Commission's demolition delay decision the applicant must file a new notice of intent.
> I would be curious to know what Brookline's (and others') experience with limiting the life of the decision has been.
>  
> Jim Hadley,
> Orleans Historical Commission 
>  
> From: djd184 at verizon.net
> Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2010 10:48:34 -0400
> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> Subject: [MassHistPres] preemptive DD applications
> 
> Brookline periodically gets "clusters" of applications for "prophylactic" demo applications for houses being put on the market where there is no specific plan to demolish and rebuild but the broker or owner has decided that the house would be more salable with the equivalent of "planning permission" for demo in hand.  Does anyone have a bylaw or regulation more restrictive than the attached with respect to time length or transferability?  When it was drafted town counsel opined that the de facto permission to demolish could not end with transfer of ownership but had to run for some set period.
> 
> Section 7.  Required reapplication
> If no Demolition Permit is issued within three years of the Commission’s determination of Significance and of the termination of any court action preventing the issuance of said permit, whichever period shall be longer, or if a Demolition Permit is issued but the building is not demolished before the expiration of said permit, including any extensions allowed by the Building Commissioner, then any subsequent Application for the demolition of the building shall be processed in accordance with sections 5.3.3. through 5.3.12 inclusive, without reference to any prior determination with respect to Significance.  Upon a showing by the applicant that due to the complex nature of the development project and despite the applicant’s significant efforts he or she has been unable to permit, design and/or finance a project within three years, the Preservation Commission may extend the time for a Demolition Permit for a reasonable time to accommodate such a project.
>  
> Dennis De Witt

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20100707/970a0021/attachment.htm>