[MassHistPres] Historic District Commissions -- Review always before Inspectional Services

[Richard Smith]

>From Mass General Laws, Chapter 40c, Section 6:

 

Section 6. Except as the ordinance or by-law may otherwise provide in accordance with section eight or said section eight or nine, no building or structure within an historic district shall be constructed or altered in any way that affects exterior architectural features unless the commission shall first have issued a certificate of appropriateness, a certificate of non-applicability or a certificate of hardship with respect to such construction or alteration.

 

Richard Smith

Swampscott Historical Commission

 

From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> On Behalf Of Garrett Laws via MassHistPres
Sent: Friday, August 9, 2024 12:34 PM
To: Daniel Byer <DByer at mendonma.gov>
Cc: Stacy Spies <stacyspies at gmail.com>; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Historic District Commissions -- Review always before Inspectional Services

 

Stacy,

 

No, not all historic commissions function the same way. Newton, Cambridge and Brookline (who I have the most experience with) are incredibly thorough and on the ball. Newton and Brookline Historic commissions that are tied directly to inspectional services, Charlie Sullivan can let us know if Cambridge is the same as I haven't done a project in the city in a few years. The permit process is a little involved but is appropriately thorough. A very small repair in Brookline recently (resoldering a copper joint on a mansard shelf) required a detailed description of the work to be done and the location of said work, once approved we were able to apply for a permit. A similar process was necessary to have the permit signed off on, stated work approved by historics and then inspection services was able to sign off on the permit. 

 

I've worked in some towns that issued permits prior to even knowing that a property was historic, and a number that have signed off on permits prior to knowing whether historic work was done to the standards of the historic commission. I hope this is changing rapidly as nearly all permitting is done online and it seems to me that it wouldn't be all that hard to have a system similar to the ones Newton and Brookline have that simply won't allow a permit to be issued without historics being involved.

 

Many Thanks,
Garrett Laws

 

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On Fri, Aug 9, 2024 at 12:12 PM Daniel Byer via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> > wrote:

Maybe check with counsel?  For larger projects that need planning board site plan review or conservation hearings, we were told that the town cannot require an applicant to get those approvals in a specific order.  But we could continue hearings and wait to close them until other items addressed.  

 

In terms of building permits, in Mendon the HDC is part of the review process before a building permit is issued.  In our by-law it states “no building permit……shall be issued by the Town…until a certificate as required under this bylaw has been issued by the commission”  So our approval happens first.   Pretty sure we used the model language from the state to create our by-law so this may be standard language. 

 

 

~Dan Byer

 

 

Dan Byer

(he/him/his)

Historic Commission - Chair

Historic District Commission - Vice Chair

 

20 Main St.

Mendon, MA 01756

 

Office: 508-458-6707

Cell: 774-481-1321

Fax: 508-478-8241

 <http://mendonma.gov/> mendonma.gov 

 

 

 

From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu <mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> > On Behalf Of Stacy Spies via MassHistPres
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2024 1:35 PM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> 
Subject: [MassHistPres] Historic District Commissions -- Review always before Inspectional Services

 

Are the order of operations for review by historic district commissions the same for all towns?  Does the HDC always come before permitting/inspectional services/planning board? Is this codified in state law?   

Here in Hopkinton, our HDC reviews the project before permitting, but I realized yesterday that I don't know if the process is standardized.  

 

Stacy Spies, Chair, Hopkinton HCHDC


 

-- 

Stacy Spies, Historic Preservation Consultant

 <http://stacyspies.com> www.stacyspies.com

 

 

 


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