[MassHistPres] Historical Commission designated seats

[Alisa Struthers]

Here in the very small town of Townsend I too found those requirement's unreachable, we are fortunate to have town citizens interested in membership and form our Historic District Commission, most all have sat for many years.AlisaTownsend HDC


-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Slate <slater at alum.rpi.edu>
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Wed, Nov 3, 2021 9:52 am
Subject: [MassHistPres] Historical Commission designated seats

  Many communities have LHD ordinances that specify that some of the HDC seats should be chosen from lists of two persons submitted by various external agencies - for example, a local historical society (defaulting to SPNEA/Historic New England), the local American Institute of Architects chapter, or the local Board of Realtors. Or, in Springfield, the Springfield Preservation Trust, a non-profit whose mission is historic preservation.
 
 Many communities also have LHD ordinances that specify the appointment of alternate members, who fill in to vote when a regular member is not able to do so, either because of absence or recusal. 
 
 Would it be permissible for a city or town to hold the designated seats open, and appoint alternate members instead, so that the city/town would have more control over who is appointed? In other words, prevent those local bodies from being able to submit their two names by just leaving seats open, but retaining quorum by using alternates instead?
 
 Before anyone reacts negatively toward me, I'm not asking this question because it is something I want to do. I'm curious if anyone has dealt with this before, particularly given the considerable power that a HDC has over development in a community, something that an administration might want to be able to influence. And perhaps to give people a heads' up, if they are writing ordinance to add alternate members to their commission.
 
 Thanks,
 
 Ralph Slate
 Springfield, MA
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