[MassHistPres] Sustainability vs. Demolitions

[RafaelRobertDelfin]

During my historical commission's meeting last Tuesday, we discussed the
possibility of extending the demolition delay by-law in our town of Dighton
from 6 months to 12-18 months. A question was brought up during the
discussion: In towns that have demolition delay by-law of over six months,
how successful have these towns been as far as preserving historical
structures? I would appreciate any response.

Thank you.

Rafa Delfin
Vice-Chair, Dighton Historical Commission

On Mon, May 1, 2023 at 1:03 PM Jack LeMenager via MassHistPres <
masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

> *Correction*: I mischaracterized the nature of Winchester’s effort. The
> Winchester Historical Commission is in the very preliminary exploratory
> phase of looking into this topic. It is not a joint effort with the
> Director of Sustainability. I’ve only spoken with him about it and he has
> expressed interest.
>
> Sorry for any confusion.
>
> Jack LeMenager
> Winchester Historical Commission, Chair
>
> On Apr 28, 2023, at 11:52 AM, Jack LeMenager <jlemen11 at icloud.com> wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
> Jack LeMenager
> 781.454.7611
> jlemen11 at icloud.com
>
>
>
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-- 
Rafa Delfin
774-766-2928
rafadello at gmail.com
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