[MassHistPres] Historic District Assistance Request

[annelusk at gmail.com]

Dear All,

  If we did an overlay of the LHDs in Brookline with income levels, the overlay would show upper-middle and upper income. https://www.brooklinema.gov/907/Local-Historic-Districts

Thanks,

Anne

 

Anne Lusk, Ph.D. 

18 Hart Street, Brookline, MA 02445 

Boston University Metropolitan College Lecturer – Urban Agriculture

617-879-4887 h

617-872-9201 c

 <https://sites.bu.edu/anne-lusk/> https://sites.bu.edu/anne-lusk/

 

From: Dennis De Witt <dennis.j.dewitt at gmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 4:26 PM
To: MHC MHC listserve <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Cc: annelusk at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Historic District Assistance Request

 

I would suggest a somewhat different perspective.  

 

First, in Brookline for the most part, successful LHD's have been highly correlated with strong coherent neighborhoods and/or strong neighborhood associations.

 

Second, in Brookline, LHD efforts have gotten nowhere in the town’s most "economically comfortable” areas, unless there has been a serious threat, such as encroachment by an institution or development.  They also have not been successful in the town’s most modest areas, as much as some of those areas very much deserve protection.  I don’t know about elsewhere, but least here, generally LHDs have been created in areas whose housing stock has attracted folks who value homes and neighborhoods with character and who fall economically somewhere more in the middle (or upper middle).

 

Lastly, in my experience if neighborhood support falls significantly short of the 80% rule of thumb the opposition will not be passive — after all, it does need a ⅔ vote to pass — and, justifiably, the effort simply never gets to Town Meeting.  

 

Over four decades Brookline created seven neighborhood LHDs, so we must have done something right.  But there have been more than that many failed neighborhood explorations of possible LHDs or NCDs (a lower bar) that never got near coming to Town Meeting for one or more of the reasons above, 

 

Dennis De Witt

Brookline

 

On May 8, 2024, at 2:20 PM, <annelusk at gmail.com <mailto:annelusk at gmail.com> > <annelusk at gmail.com <mailto:annelusk at gmail.com> > wrote:

 

I wanted to mention that achieving the 80% approval is easier for a new LHD if the property owners are wealthy and well educated.  I believe the 80% should be adjusted on a case-by-case basis so that we could also preserve modest historic homes.  The amount of education for local buy in by property owners with more modest homes is an overwhelming task for any volunteer. 

Anne 

 

Anne Lusk, Ph.D. 

18 Hart Street, Brookline, MA 02445 

Boston University Metropolitan College Lecturer – Urban Agriculture

617-879-4887 h

617-872-9201 c

 <https://sites.bu.edu/anne-lusk/> https://sites.bu.edu/anne-lusk/

 

From: MassHistPres < <mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> On Behalf Of Dennis De Witt via MassHistPres
Sent: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 10:19 AM
To: MHC MHC listserve < <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Historic District Assistance Request

 

The easy part is paint color — just exclude it from review, as 40c allows.  Brookline did so after its 1st LHD and eliminated at least that obstacle in creating all the LHDs that followed.

 

Be aware that 40c does not trump 40b — but it does provide a negotiating chip of one is threatened.

 

Work from the bottom up, with the neighborhood, not from the top down.  The property owner residents should drive the process and take it to town meeting with the commission.  For better or worse Brookline town meeting’s longstanding general rule of thumb is that if about 80% of the property owners sign a petition asking for it, the district normally passes town meeting.  (That said, we lost an LHD extension with 100% owner buy in, including a developer who had proposed two demolitions, because pro-housing advocates got one vote more than ⅓.)

 

Dennis De Witt

Brookline






On May 7, 2024, at 9:43 PM, cdw via MassHistPres < <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

 

Hello,

 

The town of Upton Massachusetts currently has a state and federally listed Historic District. However, our current Historic District does not have any real protections besides a demolition delay bylaw. 

 

In the 1990s, Upton attempted to pass a Historic District bylaw but it was not voted into law by the residents of Upton because they were concerned that the Historical Commission would enforce design standards on individual homes which would prevent residents from adding porches, painting their house the color that they want, and generally restricting freedoms of their properties. 

 

With the popularity of 40B complexes and business overlay districts, there seems to be a new threat to our community and the very real possibility that our town may lose very special historic homes in our Historic District. With that being said, the Historical Commission would like to re-introduce the Historic District bylaw. 

 

I was wondering if anyone on the listserv might be able to provide advice and/or guidance about how they successfully introduced a Historic District bylaw into their towns, perhaps share the verbiage that you used for the bylaw and also share any pitfalls that might be avoided.  Thanks so much for your help and assistance!

 

Sincerely,

Craig

 

 

 

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