[MassHistPres] MassHistPres Digest, Vol 82, Issue 7

[aubrey theall]

Sorry, meant demo permit.  Town Counsel opined that once the demo delay is elapsed HistComm has no further role or say in the matter.  It’s treated by the building inspector at that point the same as a non historic building.

Again, our bylaw language does differ somewhat.

Aubrey Theall


Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 14, 2024, at 4:08 PM, Robert Mahowald <robert at townisp.com> wrote:

 Thanks Audrey. Since the law seems to be worded pretty clearly, I’m very curious what argument your legal counsel made, to state that the law basically should not be followed by Groton’s Planning board or building department? What was the rationale?

When you state below “building permit“ do you mean “demolition permit?” I think that’s the relevant part I’m asking about.

Thanks for any feedback.
Robert
Sent from my iPhone - blame Siri

Robert Mahowald
Mobile: 978-971-1801

On Oct 14, 2024, at 2:22 PM, aubrey theall via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

We are going through this real time in Groton and have been advised by Town Counsel that at the end of the demo delay the building permit must be issued unless there is a reason (not related to historic preservation) that the Building Inspector otherwise would not.  The wording of our bylaw is somewhat different but the same in a general sense.

Aubrey Theall
Groton Historical Commission


Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 14, 2024, at 12:00 PM, masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu wrote:

Send MassHistPres mailing list submissions to
  masshistpres at cs.umb.edu

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
  https://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
  masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu

You can reach the person managing the list at
  masshistpres-owner at cs.umb.edu

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of MassHistPres digest..."


Today's Topics:

 1. Dartmouth HC: Question about Demo By-law (robert at townisp.com)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2024 10:08:32 -0400
From: <robert at townisp.com>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: [MassHistPres] Dartmouth HC: Question about Demo By-law
Message-ID: <021a01db1cb0$38a1a0e0$a9e4e2a0$@townisp.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

DHC demo by-law (and, I believe, boilerplate language for many communities
within Mass) reads:



"Upon a determination by the Commission that any building which is the
subject of an application is a preferably preserved building, no building
permit for new construction or alterations on the premises shall be issued
for a period of up to six (6) months from the date of that determination
unless a shorter period is agreed to by a majority vote of the Commission.
No permit for demolition of a building determined to be a preferably
preserved building shall be granted until all plans for future use and
development of the site have been filed with the Building Commissioner and
have found to comply with all laws pertaining to the issuance of a building
permit or if for a parking lot, a certificate of occupancy for that site."



Dartmouth has a 6-month demo delay period, and (before my time) we at DHC
worked with a (willing) homeowner of an early 1700's farmhouse to get a demo
delay, to do 3D imaging, and some other interesting work with the help of
some architectural historians at URI and Roger Williams. The 6 months came
and went, and the demo permit is in front of the Dartmouth Building
Department.



The homeowner states that they do not have plans in hand for subsequent use
of the site. They will likely build a new home, but they do not wish to have
their hands forced (I am paraphrasing) by needing to have developed plans
ready to go, prior to demolition.



The by-law as written seems to allow DHC (or any town's historical
commission) to force action on the part of their Building Department - to
force them to deny issuance of a demo permit. I met with the Dartmouth
Building Department and they stated that if a demo application is found
acceptable for non-historical reasons (ie, no other reason than the DHC
bylaw), they were bound by state law to issue a demo permit - ie, they could
not act as the enforcer of the DHC by-law.

Have others encountered this situation? How was it resolved? We have
another, much larger site which has completed its 6-month delay, and we want
to make sure we don't set a poor precedent.  Thanks for any guidance!

Robert Mahowald

Chair, DHC

robert at townisp.com <mailto:robert at townisp.com>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20241012/c540482d/attachment-0001.html>

------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

_______________________________________________
MassHistPres mailing list
MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
https://mailman.cs.umb.edu/listinfo/masshistpres


------------------------------

End of MassHistPres Digest, Vol 82, Issue 7
*******************************************
_______________________________________________
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/20241014/9b094499/attachment-0001.html>