[MassHistPres] historic commissions + burial grounds

[Chris Skelly]

Just to be clear, under MGL Chapter 40C, a regulated structure in a local
historic district is a "combination of materials other than a building,
including a sign, fence, wall, terrace, walk or driveway."

Are you hoping to convince your town counsel and/or your commission members
that LHDCs around the state would consider these burial markers as
structures?  It might be useful to hear from your town counsel on whether it
would be useful for him/her to hear the broad range of structures LHDCs
review - whether they are part of a burial ground or not.  Chris.

Christopher C. Skelly
Director of Local Government Programs
Massachusetts Historical Commission

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Roseanne Saalfield
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 10:10 AM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] historic commissions + burial grounds

The town of Harvard's Historic Commission is seeking to craft a by-law
change (for ATM 2012 in April) which would allow our commission oversight
over the actions of Cemetery Commissioners in our two historic burial
grounds. (Our action is prompted by the hotly disputed decision of the
Cemetery Commission (CC) to chemically strip hundreds of years of paint from
the hundreds of rare cast iron markers in our Shaker Burial Ground and to
re-apply paint by powder coating. Sparing you the ugly and probably very
boring details we have locked horns with CC since the spring when we
discovered they had begun this 'restoration' project in earnest. Town
Counsel, to our surprise and disappointment, judges the markers not
structures and so says Historic has no jurisdiction in this decision. 

Our next best effort to protect the markers - and require CC to include a
review by Historic in their restoration plan - is a by law change. A small
minority of our commissioners would like to see proof that other towns'
historic commissions are so involved.

To that end, I'm seeking to learn the scope of your historic commission's
review of historic cemeteries and burial grounds and, if possible, the
wording of your enabling legislation.

Thank  you
Roseanne Saalfield
Chair, Harvard Historic Commission
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