[MassHistPres] LHD administration

[slater at alum.rpi.edu]

Springfield has 8 districts (2 are single-parcel districts) and has a
single historical commission that administers all of them. 

Pros of having a single commission is that it can be consistent across
all districts, and that you don't have to find a separate set of 7
volunteers to administer each district. There is also no competition
between HDCs since there is just one (no feeling that one district is
more important than another - my understanding is that in a neighboring
town, they have a HDC that is separate from a HC, and the existing HDC
is not happy about the creation of a new district because they feel
their early 19th century district is more important and historical than
the proposed early 20th century district). 

Cons is that with a merged historical commission, the focus of the
commission is largely on administering the districts rather than on
general historical functions (awareness, etc). Also, the meetings have
the potential to be long and tiresome depending on how many proposals
for changes you get. 

Ralph Slate
Springfield, MA


<-----Original Message----->Good morning:
> 
>North Reading is in the process of establishing a second historic
district. How
>do towns with more than one LHD administer these areas? Are there
separate
>commissions for each district or is their one commission that
administers both
>areas?
> 
>Happy DiFranza, chairman
>North Reading Historic District Study Committee 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20110622/ff770015/attachment.htm>