[MassHistPres] Sustainability vs. Demolitions

[cvwtc at aol.com]

You have to be careful of developers pulling their own sustainability tactics which they have done in my hometown.  They'll slap some solar panels on the roof and use energy efficient cooling and heating systems / windows and make the case that what they put up for new construction is ultimately a lot more environmentally friendly than rehabbing an energy inefficient "eyesore" (their words).  A few city officials who are normally gung-ho about environmental issues turned a deaf ear to the preservationist arguments you presented because their minds were either already made up regarding the projects in question or they had other agendas that trumped sustainability...like solving the housing crisis or encouraging transit oriented development.  
 
Matt Pujo
Beverly, MA  
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Jack LeMenager via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
To: MHC MHC Listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Fri, Apr 28, 2023 11:52 am
Subject: [MassHistPres] Sustainability vs. Demolitions

The Winchester Historical Commission is beginning a joint effort with Winchester’s Director of Sustainability to build a case against demolition from the standpoint of sustainability. To save us a lot of effort, I’m wondering if any of you have undertaken such studies.

A few words of explanation, in case this is a new topic for you. The demolition of a historic house — any house actually — results in a massive amount of waste destined for landfills. The subsequent creation of a new house creates demand for a lot of new building materials, further depleting resources: lumber, and the many other materials and products that go into the creation of a new home. In addition, there is the expenditure of energy in collecting, processing, manufacturing, and shipping those products. Conversely, renovating an existing historic home, while still requiring some new materials, is vastly preferable from a sustainability standpoint. 

Our ultimate goal in gathering research data is to create a cogent, persuasive argument against demolition, and then to present it to Winchester Town Meeting in the hope of expanding our Demolition Delay bylaw from a 12-month delay to an 18- or 24-month delay. It is our feeling that the longer delay would discourage developers, many of whom do not now seem troubled by our 12-month delay. 

As a side note, if any of your towns have 18- or 24-month delays, we’d appreciate learning how you successfully argued for the expansion before your Town Meeting. 

Thank you, in advance, for your help.

Jack LeMenager
Winchester Historical Commission, Chair

781.454.7611
jlemen11 at icloud.com



_______________________________________________
MassHistPres mailing list
MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
https://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20230430/5e5cbb4d/attachment.html>