[MassHistPres] Stockbridge has a demolition delay law with real teeth

[Jonell Day Kenagy]

Thank you, Edward.
.... a sensible document/plan (with teeth.)
Jonell Kenagy
City of Longview HPC, Longview, WA
FrancIs Wyman House, Burlington, MA

On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 16:04 <edandrews at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I want to call to the attention of the Massachusetts historic building
> preservation community the very effective demolition delay law that
> Stockbridge has had in place since 2011.  If an historic building owner
> wants to demolish the building, this town’s by-law requires the owner to
> put the building up for sale at market price for one year before the town
> will consider permitting its demolition.  If the building cannot be sold at
> its appraised value, only then the town will consider a demolition permit.
>
>
>
> *This is a demolition delay with real teeth that has preserved at least
> eleven historic Stockbridge buildings since 2011 that would otherwise have
> been demolished without this law’s protection.  *
>
>
>
> The heart of this by bylaw is as follows,
>
>
>
> Before demolition may be considered, the building owner must carry out
> “…for at least twelve (12) months bona fide and reasonable efforts to
> locate a purchaser willing and reasonably able to preserve, rehabilitate or
> restore the subject Building and that such efforts have been unsuccessful.
> The term “Continuing, bona fide and reasonable efforts to locate a
> purchaser “shall mean retaining a licensed broker to market the property in
> the usual manner over substantially all of the 12-month period, obtaining
> an appraisal from a reputable appraiser and providing evidence of good
> faith negotiations with potential buyers of the property. These efforts to
> sell the property shall be deemed unsuccessful only upon a finding that
> either there were no offers to purchase the property, that no offer from a
> willing and reasonably able buyer was for at least the reasonable appraised
> value of the property, or that no agreement to sell the property pursuant
> to an offer of at least the reasonable appraised value of the property
> could be reached despite good faith efforts to do so.
>
>
>
> The entire bylaw may be viewed in Article XXII in the Stockbridge Town
> By-laws at https://townofstockbridge.com/by-laws/
>
>
>
> I believe that this demolition delay law should be used as  model by other
> Massachusetts towns.
>
>
>
> Edward Andrews
>
> Shaker Farm
>
> Richmond
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>
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