[MassHistPres] HPC delegation of responsibilities to Staff

Fri Apr 18 14:09:18 EDT 2014

When I was at the City of Newton I thought a lot about the legalities of a staff approval as the local historic district ordinance did not include any provision for it.  40C does allow municipalities to make changes to their local district ordinances / bylaws that are not inconsistent with 40C, so one idea was simply to amend the local ordinance to allow for a staff approval in certain circumstances.  Also the district commissions had an informal policy about allowing staff to sign off on replacements in kind / not visible changes for certificates of non-applicability.  The aggravation felt by property owners waiting weeks for a meeting to get an approval for something not visible simply isn't reasonable, so we gave staff approvals regardless of the statute and ordinance and because we had support from the commissions. We also used the insubstantial change approval provision (with notice to abutters) occasionally so someone didn't have to wait until the next monthly meeting for a minor change that was visible.  

My advice would be to amend your ordinance and have your counsel look at 40C section 3 and section 8b
as a means of doing that.  As more and more districts get created in MA I expect this issue will come up again.  

Brian Lever
Epsilon Associates

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-request <masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu>
To: masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Fri, Apr 18, 2014 12:00 pm
Subject: MassHistPres Digest, Vol 98, Issue 10

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Today's Topics:

   1. HPC delegation of responsibilities to Staff (Amie Hayes)
   2. Re: Guidelines for applicants To Historical committees for
      approval Historical Preservation Funds (Burks, Sarah)

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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 11:19:53 -0400
From: "Amie Hayes" <ahayes at somervillema.gov>
Subject: [MassHistPres] HPC delegation of responsibilities to Staff
To: <MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID:
	<739BFDCF2A4AE74C86EF620E743D007B0A837692 at exchange.somerville.ma.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

How do other municipalities delegate responsibilities of the HPC? 

Our recent legal interpretation of Ch40C states that the HPC must make
the determination if a feature is not visible from a public way, not
Staff. Additionally, the statute does not use language that enables the
HPC to delegate any responsibilities to Staff other that issuing
Certificates for in-kind repairs, even if a list of materials has been
identified by the HPC. 

Amie Hayes

Planner

Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development

City of Somerville

93 Highland Avenue

Somerville, MA 02143

P: 617-625-6600 x2534

F: 617-625-0722

ahayes at somervillema.gov

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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 09:57:43 -0400
From: "Burks, Sarah" <sburks at cambridgema.gov>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Guidelines for applicants To Historical
	committees for approval Historical Preservation Funds
To: George Boyd <gboyd at nyc.rr.com>, "masshistpres at cs.umb.edu"
	<masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID: <600EBD94B0166D4BADC1083702EC47C408A8335FBF at Mordac.City>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

You might want to ask instead/additionally if any town Community Preservation 
Committees (CPCs) have issued guidelines. A member of the town's Historical 
Commission is required to serve on the CPC.  I have heard that some towns have 
passed five year CPA plans. Check www.communitypreservation.org.  

_______________________________________
Sarah L. Burks, Preservation Planner
Cambridge Historical Commission
831 Massachusetts Ave., 2nd Fl.
Cambridge, MA  02139
ph 617-349-4687; fax 617-349-3116; TTY 617-349-6112
http://www2.cambridgema.gov/Historic/

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] 
On Behalf Of George Boyd
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 12:02 PM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Guidelines for applicants To Historical committees for 
approval Historical Preservation Funds

Do any town historical committees provide guidelines to applicants who wish to 
apply to a  town's historical committee for recommendation of approval  of their 
application for Community Preservation funds for renovation etc of historical 
structures or historical projects.
If so could you forward a copy to me?

George Boyd
Vice Chair
Brewster Historical Committee
Brewster, Mass 02631
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