[MassHistPres] Demolition Delay

Fri Jun 24 14:38:51 EDT 2011

I recently asked our local building inspector about historic demolition done in the name of safety - whether a structural engineer might offer input, for example.  He told me that state law leaves demolition for safety entirely in the hands of the local building inspector.  

However:

1. I have never checked the state laws to be sure.

2. We have never had a serious dispute over this issue in Medfield, so push has never come to shove.

Has anyone in this group ever checked the state laws relating to demolition in the name of safety?

In your reply, please include my original message. AOL users please note!

David Temple 
David F. Temple, Inc. 
300 South Street 
Medfield, MA 02052 
508-359-2915 

--- On Fri, 6/24/11, Rhayw12345 at aol.com <Rhayw12345 at aol.com> wrote:

From: Rhayw12345 at aol.com <Rhayw12345 at aol.com>
Subject: [MassHistPres] Demolition Delay
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Date: Friday, June 24, 2011, 12:45 PM

Hi Folks,

I am in need of some advice in regards to a situation the Medford 
Historical Commission is facing in regards to a property currently under 
demolition delay. I want to find out if other Historical Commissions faced a 
similar situation and how they handled it.

We received an application from a homeowner who owns a circa 1860 
Italianate dwelling with a large 25'X25' carriage barn in the Second Empire 
style. The applicant wishes to tear down the carriage barn to put up a 
prefabricated dwelling. As the structure is older than 1900, we had review. We 
researched the structure, prepared a MHC form B and determined that demolition 
would be significant. A six month demolition delay has been imposed on the 
structure.

Since the imposure, the commission laid out a set of clear progress steps 
the homeowner would need to take in order to determine there is no viable 
alternative to demolition. We began by asking why they could not keep the 
structure on site, and ruled that out based on evidence submitted by the owner. 
We then asked them to list the building for sale to move on a site, such as 
this. The owner chose craigslist for two weeks with no response. We again asked 
them to list it here, but since asking the following situation arose:

The homeowners, in an attempt to push for demolition, hired a private 
engineer to prepare a report which notes significant deficiencies in the 
structure. This report, filed to the building department, has triggered their 
review. Also, while this occurred, the homeowners learned that since their house 
had been subdivided (their own doing), the parcel with the carriage house is no 
longer is insured. They have since indicated they will now allow nobody to 
move the structure, nor document it (I know I just posted something here, we are 
still pushing as that is ludicrous to not even try) because they are now liable 
for anything that occurs. With both of these factors, the building department 
feels the building should most likely come down, and will probably order the 
homeowner to do so at some point. The homeowners have completely ceased all 
attempts to look for mitigation to demolition and have dug in that now, 
demolition is the only answer.

Have historical commissions faced a similar situation with homeowners who 
have done such things? How do you handle the insurance issue? How about the 
building department? They are citing the state building code (as our bylaw only 
allows for demo if there is no alternative, and that's nothing a fence can't 
cure). Also, what do commission's do if homeowners cease trying to work with 
their board? I understand a homeowner is well within their rights to wait it 
out. I am sure some of you would be interested on it here (unfortunately, I feel 
bad as I cannot really disclose too much information here) plus this is a broad 
network, so I sure it could reach out to someone in the business of taking old 
things.

As far as I read our demolition bylaw, a historical commission can really 
only be concerned with mitigation efforts. Any activity or concern for the 
building from a safety level will only be handled from the building department. 
As the burden falls on the homeowner to satisify the Commission, we have more 
than been helpful thus far and to see the conversations cease is unfortunate. At 
this time, I believe, they are asking us to lift the demolition delay, 
which would be against everything we just worked the past three months for to 
save (and were not even a month into our demolition delay just FYI).

I would be interested in hearing responses. I am sure others would be 
interested as well, but if not, you can always reply to me off list, but I am 
sure this will be a good topic! We are having a meeting on Monday, so the more 
information I can gather before 7PM then, would be awesome!

Thanks!
Ryan

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

******************************
For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.
MassHistPres mailing list
MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
********************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/private/masshistpres/attachments/20110624/f71d31ca/attachment.htm>