Considerations about historical districts
Robert.Judge
Fellow HistComm members:
As you know, our historic district study activity has begun. Jo told me on
11/13 that she got a phone call from one of the 2004 Woodbridge Street
district opponents, presumably in response to the Reminder or Gazette story.
We should get ready to talk with former opponents, answer their questions,
address their concerns, and invite them to participate in the process.
Indeed, I recommend that you contact any opponents you know and invite them
to volunteer to serve on the Historic District Study Committee, the
solicitation for which will be in the November 16 Town Reminder.
Below is some email between Martha Terry, Jeremy King, and I. As we move
forward, let’s all seven of us will keep our ears open for comments and
questions from residents, even before the Study Committee starts it work.
People like Martha and Jeremy will support the effort, but we want to take
every opportunity now to persuade S. Hadley residents who may not yet have
an opinion, that historic districts are good.
As you see below, Jeremy King wisely suggests that we, for instance,
research the effect of historic districts upon property values. The Study
Committee should do so, but I am now curious about the existence of any such
research. The sooner we marshal all the arguments on our side, the sooner
we will no longer have to say, “I don’t know” to someone who asks a question
about historic districts. We could also agree upon a standard answer to
that question, and then all use the same answer. Repetition of the facts
will help us more than answering the same question in different ways.
I am subscribed to the good email list serve at HYPERLINK
http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres, and I recommend
that you do the same. I regularly see interesting posts about historic
districts and demolition delay ordinances.
Chris Skelly: I watched the “Establishing Local Historic Districts” DVD
today. It is well done. How can the S. Hadley HistComm obtain at least
seven and hopefully more copies of the booklet, “Establishing Local Historic
Districts”? Is there research, for instance, upon the effect of historical
districts upon property values? Do you have advice for us at this point?
_____________________________________________
From: Robert.Judge HYPERLINK "mailto:[mailto:Robert...@gmail.com]"
[mailto:Robert...@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 4:05 PM
To: 'Jeremy King'; 'Martha Terry'
Subject: RE: Hist. districts
Martha and Jeremy:
Thanks for your emails today in response to the recent publicity about the
historic district study committee. I have combined your emails, quoted them
below, and then responded to you jointly, below that. - Bob
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Dear Bob,
I read the article in this morning's Republican about the creation
of a historic district study committee. I liked Marilyn Ishler's comment
that it is good to go forward to gather more information. I am very, very
disappointed in Mr. Sheehan's remarks.
What is your take on this?
I caught part of this exchange on the replay of this Select Board
meeting on Channel 15…
Yours truly,
Martha Terry
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeremy King HYPERLINK "mailto:[mailto:jk...@mtholyoke.edu]"
[mailto:jk...@mtholyoke.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:07 PM
To: Robert Judge
Subject: Hist. districts
Bob,
I'm just catching up w/ the press, as you roll out the historic
districts campaign. The DHG article this morning looked thoughtful, but
contained some remarks by at least 2 Select Board members which were less
than positive. An uphill battle? It seems that the CPA would be a key
sweetener -- higher taxes, yes, but also possible funding for beautiful
restorations. And no doubt there are studies out there showing that property
values in historic districts hold up very well indeed.
In any case, pls. let me know how I might help. And do you think
these items, from the Reminder and DHG, belong on the website of the FoC?
Any suggestions you might have for accompanying/surrounding text, etc.,
would be much appreciated.
Jeremy
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Martha:
Mr. Sheehan may believe that a property owner should be free with
his property. The Historical Commission knows well that we are about to
embark upon an educational campaign. The Commission and the new Study
Committee will have to first demonstrate to the residents of the proposed
districts (not yet fully defined) that the benefits of living in a historic
are worth the minor restrictions that the district residents will impose
upon themselves. After we accomplish that, we will have to convince town
meeting to simply allow those residents to live by restrictions upon which
they themselves agree.
Mr. Sheehan expressed concern that a historic district might prevent
someone from, if I recall his comment correctly, adding a deck leading to a
new pool in a back yard. Mr. Constant and Ms. Hamlin expressed concern that
a historic district might propose restrictions upon a home's interior
renovations ("Someone should be able to replace a wall without replacing the
17th century horse-hair that was there."). However, any historic
district restrictions will deal only with the exterior of the house, and
even then, only concerning matters visible from the street, which might
exempt an exterior rear deck.
Jeremy:
Yes, to succeed, the Study Committee should, among its other work,
find the information that shows that, "Property values in historic districts
hold up very well indeed."
Thanks for your offer to help. The clearest way to help would be to
volunteer for the Historic District Study Committee, the solicitation for
which will be in the Town Reminder on Friday, November 16.
I defer to you as to whether the publicity should go onto the
Friends website. If you decide to put it there, I can give you the
"accompanying/surrounding text," which will include primarily information
from the Massachusetts Historical Commission about local historic districts.
So, if you decide to put the information on the website, let me know, and I
will send you that information.
- Bob
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