[MassHistPres] NCD Pro & Con?

[John Worden]

With respect to the authority of a municipality to enact a NCD, note that Cambridge, being a city, can enact ordinances without anyone's approval and they stand unless challenged in court & overturned.  Towns, on the other hand, must either pass a by-law, requing approval of the attorney general, or petition the General Court for special legislation.

This distinction is a relic from the long-past, when cities were thought to be sophisticated enough to make their own laws, whereas rural towns, populated by unsophisticated farmers and governed by uncompensated town meetings, needed the oversight of Big Brother.

John Worden
Arlington HDC


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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sullivan, Charles M. 
  To: Dennis De Witt ; MHC MHC listserve 
  Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 12:37 PM
  Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] NCD Pro & Con?


  Here's the Cambridge experience.

  Does anyone have such an arrangement where the LHD commission also acts as an NCD board -- thus having to manage, and not blur together, two sets of rules and design guidelines? The Cambridge Historical Commission (which is both a Ch. 40 historical commission and a Ch. 40C historic district commission) administers the Harvard Square Conservation District (which is an NCD with its own guidelines).

  Can NCDs prevent demolition as absolutely as LHDs? Yes, we think so.

  Are NCDs normally established under general Home Rule powers, not requiring recourse to the state legislature and not requiring a 2/3 vote? Yes.

  Charles Sullivan

  ________________________________ 
  Charles M. Sullivan, Executive Director 
  Cambridge Historical Commission 
  831 Massachusetts Avenue 
  Cambridge, Mass.  02139 
  617 349-4684 voice, 349-3116 fax 


  -----Original Message-----
  From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis De Witt
  Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 3:45 PM
  To: MHC MHC listserve
  Subject: [MassHistPres] NCD Pro & Con?

  The idea of a Neighborhood Conservation District in a late 19th C area to be administered by the 40c Local District Commission has been proposed in Brookline.

  Other than Cambridge, I'm not sure who else on this listserve has NCDs -- or both NCDs and LHDs.  

  Various questions come to mind.

  Does anyone have such an arrangement where the LHD commission also acts as an NCD board -- thus having to manage, and not blur together, two sets of rules and design guidelines?

  By definition, the 40c rules for appointments would have to trump any preference for a NCD members.  With 5 LHDs to be represented there might not be an NCD members.  Does anyone have any experience which speaks to that issue?

  Can NCDs prevent demolition as absolutely as LHDs?

  Are NCDs normally established under general Home Rule powers, not requiring recourse to the state legislature and not requiring a 2/3 vote?

  Any other comments pro or con would be welcomed, especially from any places that have both NCDs and LHDs?

  Dennis De Witt





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