[MassHistPres] Historic Preservation Restriction Template

[Tucker, Jonathan]

If MassHistoric (you mean MHC?) is indicating that the HPR template you are using is outdated, then it seems to me incumbent upon MHC to provide a sample HPR that is fully up to date, rather than asking each community to thrash around on their own in the dark.

And said sample deed restriction should not only be up to date, but reasonably simple and not too onerous in its restrictions for property owners who have modest hopes of actually living in and using their properties after the restriction is in place.  A very large part of the difficulty Massachusetts communities experience in getting private property owners to preserve their significant historic property is the sense that they are signing their lives away as a result of MHC's longstanding preserve-everything-at-all-costs approach to deed restrictions.  There really needs to be a better balance.

In many if not most cases, the only thing that really preserves an historic structure--particularly but not only older, larger historic homes--is the ability to have a viable economic use for the property.  It's been a very long time since we had a monied class upon whom we could rely as a significant demographic that gave a rat's patootie about historic preservation.  We need ways to make preservation viable for people whose wallets are thin and whose pockets do not go down to their pants cuffs.  Innovative, flexible historic preservation deed restrictions need to be part of that solution.     

Jonathan Tucker
Planning Director
Amherst Planning Department
4 Boltwood Avenue, Town Hall
Amherst, MA  01002
(413) 259-3040
tuckerj at amherstma.gov     



-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Sarah LaValley
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 11:02 AM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Historic Preservation Restriction Template

Good morning preservationists:

Does anyone have a recent HPR template?  We are working on a few of these, and MassHistoric indicated that the model document we are using is outdated.  We've had problems digging up anything more recent.

Thanks very much-
Sarah

Sarah I. LaValley
Conservation, Preservation and Land Use Planner
City of Northampton
Office of Planning and Development
210 Main Street, Room 11
Northampton MA, 01060
Ph: 413.587.1263


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