[MassHistPres] How is demolition defined in your city/town?

[Zehner, Michael]

Wellesley defines as:

“Demolition” or “Demolish(ed)”: With respect to a Building regardless of whether another Building is constructed within the original footprint of such Building, the (i) pulling down, razing or destruction of the entire Building or (ii) the removal or envelopment of 50% or more of the existing exterior structure of the Building as determined in Section D(2), provided that, any non-structural changes to the siding or roofing of a Building shall not constitute a Demolition for purposes of this Article.

For partial demolitions (i.e. less than 100%) we’ve developed a practice to review plans similar to the attached. If the area affected is less than 50%, we sign off and they are entitled to the issuance of a building permit, if the area affected is greater than 50% than it requires processing under the Bylaw, determining of eligibility based on age, and then potentially a preservation determination.

Michael D. Zehner, AICP, LEED Green Assoc.
Planning Director

Town of Wellesley - Planning Department
525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482
Phone: 781.431.1019 x2234 - Email: mzehner at wellesleyma.gov<mailto:mzehner at wellesleyma.gov>

Like us on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Town-of-Wellesley-Planning-Department/892548640791695>! Follow us on Twitter<https://twitter.com/WellesleyPlan>!

When responding, please be advised, the Town of Wellesley and the Secretary of State have determined that email could be considered a public record.

From: MassHistPres [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of David Temple
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2018 11:05 PM
To: Masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: [MassHistPres] How is demolition defined in your city/town?

On the Medfield Historical Commission, when we consider demolition applications, our mantra has always been, "when in doubt, err on the side of preservation." So we hold hearings on all demolition applications.  This occasionally leads to situations like last night's, where we held hearings on proposals to demolish part of the roofs of three houses (built between 1962 and 1965) so the owners could expand upwards.  The hearings lasted a total of about 10 minutes, and we released all three for partial demolition.

The eighth state building code defined demolition as "the removal or dismantling of existing construction in whole or in part."  That suggested we were doing the right thing by requiring demo permits in cases like the above...even though common sense suggests there's nothing historic there.

Though it seems strange to me, I've been told demolition is no longer defined in the state building code. I looked but couldn't find a definition of demolition in the ninth, which was effective 10/20/2017.

I'd like to know how you define demolition in your city or town, where you draw the line when it comes to requiring a demo application, and any other thoughts you have on this subject.

In your reply, please include my original message.

David F. Temple
President, Medfield Historical Society
Co-chair, Medfield Historical Commission
300 South Street
Medfield, MA 02052
H-508-359-2915
M-508-613-6606

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20180625/dea2e9f9/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 4 Fletcher Road.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 626734 bytes
Desc: 4 Fletcher Road.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20180625/dea2e9f9/attachment-0001.pdf>