[MassHistPres] Authority of Historic District Commissions vs Town By-laws

[Chris Milford]

Hi Nancy,
MGL 40C specifically states "the commission may in appropriate cases impose dimensional and set-back requirements in addition to those required by applicable ordinance or by-law." (MGL 40C Section 7<https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleVII/Chapter40C/Section7>).  However, although 40C is a State law, it is adopted (or not) by local jurisdictions as part of their by-laws, so I don't think it would uniformly overrule other by-laws.
Chris Milford
Natick Historic District Commission



________________________________
From: MassHistPres on behalf of Nancy Robbins via MassHistPres
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2025 7:48 PM
To: MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Authority of Historic District Commissions vs Town By-laws

Since the HDC is an appointed Commission and used the guideline that are provided by the State Powers that Be, would it be safe to say that the Commission's ruling, as dictated by the guidelines,  would overrule town by-laws that exist for that area?

Thank you,

Nancy Federici
Norton Historic District Commission, Co-chair

Nancy Robbins Federici
42 Mansfield Avenue
Norton, MA  02766
(c) 508-958-5165
nancyrobbins2 at yahoo.com<mailto:nancyrobbins2 at yahoo.com>

Take the road less traveled,
It's often less crowded!
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