[MassHistPres] HPC delegation of responsibilities to Staff

Sat Apr 19 07:40:16 EDT 2014

40c allows commissions to draft rules and regulations addressing administrative issues such as this.  Your by-law should also do so, directly or by reference to 40c.

In Brookline, it is normally staff, in consultation with the chair if in doubt, who determine visibility.  Vegetation and fences are ignored. 

Brookline routinely gives staff final review of unresolved details once the general design has been approved and small projects and/or ones where there is general consensus on the general approach are sometimes reviewed and approved by a subcommittee.  It is more efficient and user friendly than waiting a month.

Dennis De Witt

On Apr 18, 2014, at 2:09 PM, Blever3043 <blever3043 at aol.com> wrote:

> 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
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> 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)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 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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> ------------------------------
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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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