[MassHistPres] Court cases

[Dennis De Witt]

I could imagine a judge and many home owners thinking "guidelines that say that front yard fences are not permissible" [if the ban is really that absolute] is unreasonable and doesn't serve the legitimate purposes of 40c. 

Brookline's guidelines allow 42" wood fences that are not solid.  Other than very rare crankiness at the commission level (which can happen about anything) that has never caused a problem.  And the Commission has never been sued re the application of any of its guidelines.

Dennis De Witt




On Sep 4, 2010, at 12:05 PM, Ralph Slate wrote:

> 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
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