[MassHistPres] Court cases

[Ralph Slate]

  I was a little surprised to hear our city attorney recommending that 
we accept an unpalatable settlement in a court case where a property 
owner appealed the SHC's denial of a front yard fence on an empty lot. 
Our attorney said that the judge in the case basically said that he 
didn't think there was anything wrong with the fence, so he felt we 
would lose the case.

I was under the impression that appeals to decisions did not trade the 
opinions of historical commissions with the opinions of judges, that 
historical commissions could set their own standards as long as they 
were consistent with the statute. Yet here, we had a judge basically 
saying that he thought the front yard fence was OK even though the SHC 
has explicit guidelines that say that front yard fences are not 
permissible (and this was an eight-foot high front yard fence).

Does anyone have any perspective on this?

Thanks,

Ralph Slate
Springfield Historical Commission