[MassHistPres] Demo by neglect violation by town

[George Triantaris]

The town cannot ignore its own Bylaw.  Check the wording of your local bylaw - many state that the town is not exempt.  Also check the enforcement provision - most allow the historical commission to enforce the bylaw either in court or through the building inspector.  The town should be held accountable for violations of the bylaw just as an ordinary citizen would be..........

George Triantaris, Chair
Harvard Historical Commission

________________________________
From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> on behalf of masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu <masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2021 12:00 PM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: MassHistPres Digest, Vol 44, Issue 18

Send MassHistPres mailing list submissions to
        masshistpres at cs.umb.edu

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
        https://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. Demo by neglect bylaw violation by the town (Richard McGrath)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2021 22:44:36 -0400
From: Richard McGrath <mastermasonmcgrath at gmail.com>
To: Masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: [MassHistPres] Demo by neglect bylaw violation by the town
Message-ID:
        <CAGQcf8STT-SdcAqr0j0VCVuqCV0JASpp-2sgfKZQHpGg94QO=Q at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Greetings! The town of Lunenburg has a vacant 1929 brick high school that
has been vacant for 10 years, or so, and has been undergoing demolition by
neglect because the town has refused to properly mothball the building.
Demolition by Neglect is a violation of the town bylaw. The Selectboard
says that they can't properly mothball the building because the public has
not authorized them to spend the money to do so.

My questions are, can a town be in violation of its own law? Is there some
way that they can be held accountable? Is there anything that the state can
do? If a town can just disregard its own bylaws and continue on as it
pleases, or as it is dictated to by the public, what is the purpose of
having the law? A citizen cannot disregard the law. How is it that a
selectboard can?

Has anyone had an experience with a situation like this.

Regards,

Richard McGrath, Chair
Lunenburg APDC
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20210825/9b7d6a80/attachment-0001.html>

------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

_______________________________________________
MassHistPres mailing list
MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
https://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres


------------------------------

End of MassHistPres Digest, Vol 44, Issue 18
********************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20210826/1977ded9/attachment.html>