[MassHistPres] Input from fire chief on demolition delay

[Andrew Shveda]

In Worcester we have a specific clause in the Demo Delay bylaw that handles
this very case. I have included the two relevant subsections of the bylaw,
the second (l) is the one of note, (c) is included because of its reference
in (l).

*(c) No person shall demolish any designated historic building without the
approval of the Commission as herein provided. The Director shall not issue
any permit for the demolition of any designated historic building unless
the applicant for any such permit presents evidence of the approval of the
Commission as provided herein. The provisions of this subsection (c) shall
not apply to the demolition of any designated historic building, which has
been approved in a Final Environmental Impact Report issued by the
Secretary of Environmental Affairs under the Massachusetts Environmental
Protection Act G.L. c.30, §61 - §62H.*

*(l) The provisions of subsection (c) of this section shall not apply if
such building is the subject of an emergency order issued under authority
of G.L. c. 143, §§ 6-9, or § 124 of the state building code, or an
Executive Order Concerning Demolition Procedures, as issued and revised
from time to time by the City Manager. The provisions of subsection (c) of
this section shall also not apply whenever, in the opinion of the director,
the condition of any designated historic building requires immediate
emergency action to abate a threat to the health or safety of the public.*

In the 7 years I served on the WHC we saw about 3 or 4 cases where the
Building Official had condemned the property thus stepping above our
authority to impose a delay due to imminent danger to the health, safety,
and welfare of the public. We did not see any cases where the City Manager
had stepped in and issued an Executive Order though. I'm glad we did not.

We did have applicants attempt to use the FD "Do Not Enter" signage as
justification for demolition several times but we never accepted it. There
was always confusion as to what the signage meant; applicants claimed it
meant the building was condemned which is technically correct but only with
respect to fire fighting.

A point of note is the City is currently working on revising the ordinance
where we will be going to an age based listing rather than using the MACRIS
list which has been done since the WHC formation in the late 70's. I do not
see this portion of the ordinance changing though.


Andrew Shveda AIA, NCARB
Chair, Worcester Historical Commission, 2011-2018
Worcester, MA


On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 12:00 PM <masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

> Send MassHistPres mailing list submissions to
>         masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>         http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>         masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
>         masshistpres-owner at cs.umb.edu
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of MassHistPres digest..."
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Input from fire chief on demolition delay (cvwtc at aol.com)
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: cvwtc at aol.com
> To: urbanosally at gmail.com, masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2019 22:09:31 +0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Input from fire chief on demolition delay
> When Mayor Kim Driscoll of Salem, MA was looking to have the vacant St.
> Joseph's Church demolished, she had someone from the police department
> comment during the Section 106 hearing.  While the officer did not
> specifically state the structure should be torn down, he made the case that
> having an empty building in that neighborhood would cause many problems and
> attract a criminal element.  I believe the possibility of arson was
> suggested too.
>
> Matthew Pujo
> Beverly, MA
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sally milne <urbanosally at gmail.com>
> To: MassHistPres MA <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Sent: Fri, Mar 8, 2019 2:45 pm
> Subject: [MassHistPres] Input from fire chief on demolition delay
>
> Hello everyone,
>     We  have encountered an issue I find perplexing and so I turn to you
> all.
> In Harwich we have a Historic building for which the demolition delay is
> invoked. Having attended a number of demo hearings I notice the lawyers
> always object to personal opinion of the HDHC and keep them on point as to
> their guidelines for the hearings. However recently the fire chief and to a
> lesser degree the police department have made statements that the building
> under the demolition delay should be demolished as it is unstable. I
> understand the need for the fire department to red x the building so that
> firemen won’t enter and be hurt while putting out a fire, that would be in
> the realm of the fire chief. I do not think it is in his realm to deem the
> building be demolished. That would seem to be an engineering assessment
> along with the HDHC.
>     Has anyone experienced this? I think it could be a detrimental
> practice and wonder how to handle it.
>
> I thank you for your time and consideration.
> Sally Urbano
> Individual
> Harwich,ma
> _______________________________________________
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres
> _______________________________________________
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20190311/f9dae2e6/attachment.html>