[MassHistPres] question on demo delay expiration times

[Dennis De Witt]

Charles makes a good point.  This sort of situation can be addressed by rulemaking -- and sometimes it is better done so that way.

For many years the Brookline Preservation Commission operated without a set of Rules & Regs. -- at least none that I could find.  When we were enhancing our demo delay law to include a provision to cover certain public interiors and demolition by neglect we were told by the town's Advisory Committee (which vets all Town Meeting articles) not to incorporate several complex sets of criteria into the by-law.  That became a trigger for a set of Rules & Regs that eventually ran to about 15 pp. -- not including LHD design guidelines which are incorporated by reference -- once we had taken into account all applicable issues and statutes. No trip back to town meeting was needed for any of it.

Naturally Town Counsel and the Building inspector were consulted.  

One of the items covered was the expiration of a lifted demo delay.  Here, FYI, is the adopted language -- for better or worse, allowing more time than Cambridge.  The few obvious cases where this has been an issue have involved spans of more than three years
Section 7.  Required reapplication

If no Demolition Permit is issued within three years of the Commission’s determination of Significance and of the termination of any court action preventing the issuance of said permit, whichever period shall be longer, or if a Demolition Permit is issued but the building is not demolished before the expiration of said permit, including any extensions allowed by the Building Commissioner, then any subsequent Application for the demolition of the building shall be processed in accordance with sections 5.3.3. through 5.3.12 inclusive, without reference to any prior determination with respect to Significance.  Upon a showing by the applicant that due to the complex nature of the development project and despite the applicant’s significant efforts he or she has been unable to permit, design and/or finance a project within three years, the Preservation Commission may extend the time for a Demolition Permit for a reasonable time to accommodate such a project.

Dennis De Witt



On May 3, 2012, at 1:26 PM, Sullivan, Charles M. wrote:

> In Cambridge, building and demolition permits are considered to be valid for six months. The CHC held a public hearing and adopted a policy that our various permissions would also be valid for six months, with one six-month extension allowed at the discretion of the chair. I would follow the advice of your town counsel with regard to the present case, and at some future time adopt an explicit policy to govern this kind of situation.
> 
> Charles Sullivan
> __________________________________
> Charles M. Sullivan, Executive Director
> Cambridge Historical Commission
> 831 Massachusetts Avenue
> Cambridge, Mass.  02139
> 617 349-4684 (direct line)
> 617 349-3116 (fax)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Marisa Morra
> Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 9:34 AM
> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> Subject: [MassHistPres] question on demo delay expiration times
> 
> 
> I am the Co-Chair of the Weston Historic Commission
> 
> We have an issue before us that we have discussed many times, but have never actually had a case until now. We have a c.1912 house in a NR historic area that waited out a 6 month demolition delay (our maximum) 8 years ago, but never did anything to the house.  Now they want to tear it down and build new, and do no think that they need to come back in to the Historic Commission for review again.  
> 
> Our building inspector/ building permit administrator has said that a demo delay application is part of the demolition/building permit and therefore has a 2 year expiration date, like an actual demo permit. This is not EXPLICITLY  written on our demolition delay application, but is explicitly written on the demolition permit application.
> 
> Town counsel has said there is nothing in the bylaws that says we cannot bring them in again.
> 
> 
> Can we bring them in and go thorough the same process again without explicitly sating that on our own application? This would meant they have to go through initial determination, then [3-4 weeks later ]Public hearing, then we could  impose a 6 month demolition delay from the public hearing date. 
> 
> Does anyone have a similar situation? 
> 
> Does anyone know of a legal case that corresponds to this?
> 
> thank you
> Marisa Morra
> Co-Chair, WHC
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