[MassHistPres] Sustainability vs. Demolitions

[Caleb Estabrooks]

Hello,

In Hanover the Colonel Bailey house at 733 Main St. was disassembled and
moved to another location in Hanover where it is currently being rebuilt.
Hanover has a 12 month delay in our bylaw, we managed to find a developer
interested in preserving the building about 10 months into the imposed
delay. Luckily, the owner who wanted to demolish the building was willing
to give the developer time to arrange for deconstruction and moving. It
was/is quite an effort.

Regards,
Caleb Estabrooks
Vice-Chair, Hanover Historical Commission

On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 1:55 PM RafaelRobertDelfin via MassHistPres <
masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

> 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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