[MassHistPres] Town owned historic buildings

[Dcolebslade at aol.com]

Historic preservation funds can be used also for rehabilitation which  
follows the Department of the Interior Guidelines.  That can be very  important.
 
Betty Slade
Westport
 
 
In a message dated 4/7/2016 2:28:58 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
dbibel at verizon.net writes:

I  question your town counsel that CPA funds can't be used for  
'maintenance'.  From what I gather from a DOR table, 'preservation' of  historic 
resources is an allowable use.  Perhaps you should reach at to  the Community 
Preservation Coalition for clarification.

Dan  Bibel
CPA Study Committee
Medfield



On 4/7/2016 2:04 PM, Roughan, Michael  wrote:



Marilyn, 
Regarding  the question of ownership and maintenance of historic 
structures, I have  been informed by the Hopkinton town counsel that CPA funds cannot 
be used  for maintenance of historic structures and, in fact, we recently 
discovered  they do not permit use of CPA funds for signage informing the 
public of the  historic nature of the structure either. So within this context, 
our town  administrators are very leery of expanding beyond the two historic 
 structures the town currently owns. In fact this week, a historic home on  
town library property will be demolished and next week a 200+ year braced  
timber frame home once used as a “Toll house” will be demolished (6 month  
demo delay on both). 
While  these events should be construed to mean no more than I need to do a 
better  job as HHC chair, it does emphasize that having a legitimate way to 
pay for  maintenance is critical. One of the two historic structures that 
Hopkinton  does own is an old Train Depot that has been used by volunteer 
groups as an  “event store” and bottle collection facility that generate 
donations that  help justify its existence. The second facility, McFarland Sanger 
house, is  a 280 year old home that has had no significant modifications in 
the last  century. Our town CPC last year allocated $50k of our $100k 
request for  renovation funds, fortunately this year they have agreed to restore 
the full  request so we can hire North Bennett St School / Keefe Tech to 
begin the  restoration work. However, we still don’t have a legitimate use for 
the  facility once it’s restored and may sell it to a private party with a 
deed  restriction. 
If  anyone has recommendations for how to repurpose the McFarland Sanger 
house  or would like more information on the property, please email me and the 
 studies and reports we’ve commissioned to date. 
Hopefully,  going forward, I’ll have a more positive story to  tell. 
 
….Mike 
Michael  Roughan,  AIA,  EDAC, LEED AP 
Chairman  - Hopkinton Historic Commission  
Town  of Hopkinton 
18  Main Street 
Hopkinton,  MA 01748  

D  617.357.7725 M  617.784.6463



 
From:  _masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu_ 
(mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu)   [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu]  On Behalf Of M Fenollosa
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2016  9:51 AM
To: _masshistpres at cs.umb.edu_ (mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu) 
Subject:  Re: [MassHistPres] Town owned historic  buildings

Hi --

there is another  reason why a town owning historic buildings may not be 
such a bad  thing:  to the extent the town is responsible for the preservation 
and  rehabilitation of these buildings, CPA money would likely be available 
to  help, drawing on money from the state (through the state match) and 
possibly  relieving the pressure on the municipal budget for non-CPA eligible 
projects  likes roads and schools--

Marilyn Fenollosa
Lexington HDC, HC and  CPC 
 
On 4/6/2016 4:32 PM, _jworden at swwalaw.com_ (mailto:jworden at swwalaw.com)   
wrote:

Sally, 
Arlington owns several historic buildings, including our library  (1893), 
town hall (1912), plus some old houses, one (ca. 1820) used  as offices, one 
(a mansion, 1799) used for meetings, offices, and rented  out for functions, 
and another (ca. 1830) as a museum.  The  two houses were given to the Town 
so that they would be preserved, and  then the uses were found. 
John Worden, Arlington HDC



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