[MassHistPres] Zoning changes with in an Historic District adoptedwithout prior review by Commission

[Ralph Slate]

Hi Nancy, local historic districts would take precedence over zoning. Any construction or change has to be appropriate for the district, and it is not a reasonable argument to say that a property must be changed in an inappropriate way to make any legal use economically possible.  It is not a hardship to be prevented from changing the use of  your property, even if that use is permissible under zoning.

Ralph Slate
Springfield, MA



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	  Original Message  	


From: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Sent: April 25, 2025 8:05 AM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Zoning changes with in an Historic District adoptedwithout prior review by Commission


Hello to all,

During Covid our small town of Norton changed the previous zoning requirements within the Historic  District and never notified the HDC about the initiative. 100 town’s people attended the meeting in the football stadium and voted this new zoning, VCC, Village Core Center, in. The major difference is the VCC zoning is allowing commercial/retail buildings to be built on the ground level and residential space above with a max height of 4 stories. The concept of VCC is to help modify the town center into a shopping  destination that is walkable and more “village-like”. For perspective, there is no “downtown “ in Norton. The center is a beautiful Common surrounded by historic houses, church and Wheatons Presidents house which is outstanding. As you drive away from the center then a CVS and Ace pops up.

The main point of my message is if any other Historic District Commissions have experienced a similar situation where zoning bylaws were changed within a Historic District  but without review or consent from the Commission?  Thanks

Best,

Nancy
Nancy Robbins Federici
C. (508) 958-5165

We hire smart people not to tell them what to do but for them to tell us.
                                 Steve Jobs
                       





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