[MassHistPres] demolition and 'partial demolition'

[Dennis De Witt]

There was a time when the SBC included a separate permit for “Demolition” which was defined as razing and removing a building down to a specified number of feet below grade.  It was Brookline’s  experience that that was almost never used.  Thus Brookline’s bylaw does not reference an SBC definition of "partial demolition.”  Rather, the by-law includes this specific definition, relating to a “building permit."

g. j. "Demolition Permit" - a building permit issued by the Building Commissioner allowing the total or partial demolition of a building pursuant to an Application.
There are also these related definitions of “demolition" in the bylaw (plus an expansion of the definition relating to interior demolitions in the Commission’s rules & regs — as permitted under the rule making provision of the by law.)

h. "Demolition" – (a) the act of pulling down, destroying, removing or razing a Building or a significant portion thereof, by removing one side of the building, or removing the roof, or removing 25% of the structure; (ii) moving a Building from its site with no permitted new location for said Building; (iii) in the case of a Building within Section 5.3.5(b), substantially gutting (as defined by the Preservation Commission per section 5.3.14) an interior space that has generally been open to the public and is integral to the historic character of the building; (iv) in the case of a building within Section 5.3.5(b), the systematic removal, effacement, or destruction of the exterior architectural elements which define or contribute to the historic character of the Building, or (v) commencing any of the foregoing work.  "Demolition" as used herein shall be deemed to include Demolition by Neglect.

i. “Demolition by Neglect” - a process of ongoing damage to the fabric, viability and/or functionability of a building leading towards and/or causing its eventual demolition due to decay and/or structural failure and/or severe degradation over a period of time as a result of a general lack of maintenance, and/or failure to secure the building from pests or vandals, and/or failure to take reasonable measures to prevent the ingress of water, snow, ice, and wind through the roof, walls, or apertures.

Hope this is useful. 

Dennis De Witt
Brookline

> On Dec 29, 2018, at 8:07 AM, Daniel Bibel <dbibel at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> The bylaws in the Town of Medfield (and those in a number of other Massachusetts' cities and towns) refer to 'demolition and partial demolition' as defined in the State Building Code ("SBC"). 
> 
> We have been informed by the current Building Commissioner in Medfield that the current edition of the SBC no longer has a definition for 'partial demolition.'  As a result, his attitude is that he will only forward to us applications for the total demolition of structures.
> 
> How are other Historical Commissions dealing with this?  A large number of the reviews which we have done over the past dozen years have dealt with major changes to the exteriors of building, but were not total demolitions. I would imagine this would also be true for other Historical Commissions. 
> 
> Daniel Bibel
> co-chair, Medfield Historical Commission
> dbibel at verizon.net
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