[MassHistPres] Questions about individual commissioner conversations with potential COA applicants

[Judy Neiswander]

The Dedham HDC offers the following assistance to COA applicants on the
town's website:

The HDC strongly encourages applicants to meet with its representatives to
review their project prior to submitting an Application for a Certificate
of Appropriateness. The Commission will gladly offer advice to those
property owners who are considering making alterations to their historic
properties.


In practice, what happens is that an individual commissioner may be
contacted by a potential applicant, often a friend or neighbor, who asks
for assistance with preparation of the COA application. When asked about
appropriate materials, design, etc., the commissioner may offer in good
faith an interpretation of the guidelines that they believe will be
acceptable to the commission as a whole. When the completed application,
based upon this advice, comes before the commission it can sometimes be
rejected when the majority of members disagree with the interpretation,
causing conflict within the commission and delays for the applicant. Have
other commissions found ways of handling these requests for individual,
pre-application consultation in a more standardized fashion? Is the
consultation always offered by the commissioner with the most architectural
expertise? Are the results of the commission's decision always sent in
written form or are they sometimes shared in private conversations? Are
there legal issues involved in these types of communications?

Many thanks,

Judy Neiswander
Commissioner
Dedham Historic Districts Commission/Historical Commission
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