[MassHistPres] S1428/H4331 Historic Commissions

[Russel Feldman]

Dear Local Historic Commissioners and Preservation Advocates,
I have been somewhat dismayed at the recent emails about Senate Bill 1428 and its House companion H4331.  This bill was drafted after several years of work by preservation professionals (including myself) for the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  Our intent was to provide a toolkit of best practices for local historic commissions and historic district commissions that have been successfully employed by preservationists around the country.  We are not attempting any end-run around existing regulations.
The AIA commissioned a survey of historic commissions' experience in states around the country.  We met with representatives of Preservation Massachusetts, the MHC, several directors of local historic commissions, and practicing professionals.  This bill is a result of that.  It is not an attempt to create loopholes or supplant any existing tools employed by our local historic commissions.
We want to be sure that everyone concerned with preservation is fully informed about what this bill would do - and what it wouldn't do.

  *
It does not supersede any existing LHC authority.
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It does not mandate any action by any municipality or its historic commissions.
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It does not restrict local district commissions' authority to prevent demolition.

I attach here some material that can assist anyone interested in evaluating the proposal.  This file includes:

  1.
AIA MA's letter to the chairs of the Joint Legislative Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government in support of the proposal.
  2.
AIA MA's memo providing a section-by-section summary of what the bill contains.
  3.
A one-page briefing paper on the bill.
  4.
The bill itself.  S1428 (included here) is identical to H4331.
  5.
A redlined version of the bill, which includes the proposal's specific changes to all existing statutes.

If anyone has trouble downloading the attachment, please let me know at rfeldman at tbaarchitects.com.  I can send it to you directly.  If anyone is interested, I can also send a slide deck summarizing the best practices survey mentioned above.

We're pleased to see so much interest in the bill, and would welcome an opportunity to review it with those who wish to do so.  Much of this language is arcane - I urge anyone who is concerned about this bill's impact to read the material carefully.  We think we've crossed the T's and dotted the I's but mistakes can happen.  We would be particularly interested in learning of any unintended consequences described in some of the recent emails.  If you see a problem with the bill's specific language, please let me know so we can amend the proposal to avoid doing so.

If there's sufficient interest, AIA MA could schedule a virtual meeting to brief attendees on the bill and discuss concerns and additional ideas.  If you'd like to participate, please contact AIA MA's Executive Director John Nunnari at jnunnari at architects.org so he can schedule the meeting.

Thanks for your consideration,
Russel Feldman


Russel Feldman, AIA | Principal Emeritus | TBA Architects, Inc.


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