[MassHistPres] LHD Study Fee Levied by City?

[Erica Swallow]

Hi MHC family,

I am writing from Springfield, which is in the process of rewriting its Historic Preservation Ordinance (attached). The Springfield Preservation Trust opposes a key edit, regarding petitioners for Local Historic Districts needing to pay a fee (minimum of $1,500) for the creation of the study to determine historical significance. See § 49-10. F. Report in the attachment.

We would like to understand if:

  1.
Your city or town levies a fee for historic studies on petitioners? (If so, how much is the fee?)
  2.
Is a fee to residents for a public good legal? (Has your town or city ever looked into the legality of such a fee? Especially when the Commission is selecting the consultant writing the report?)

Our perspective is that the creation of local historic districts is the responsibility of the municipality and residents should not have to pay for it. If we had residents pay for the large historic districts which currently exist (i.e. McKnight Historic District, which has 800+ homes), the cost would have been exorbitant for residents, potentially causing access and equity issues, as well.

There are many historic neighborhoods in Springfield (i.e. Atwater Park, Rushville, and more) which are not Local Historic Districts. We can see this ordinance suggestion becoming a nightmare for historic preservation in Springfield. We'd like to understand if any other cities or towns in Massachusetts charge their residents for LHD creation studies, and if so, we will want to learn more about the specifics.

Thank you so much for insights!

Sincerely,
Erica


Erica Swallow

President

Springfield Preservation Trust

[https://signaturehound.com/api/v1/png/email/default/c05b42.png]

president at springfieldpreservation.org

[https://signaturehound.com/api/v1/png/phone/default/c05b42.png]

(413) 314-3383

[https://signaturehound.com/api/v1/png/website/default/c05b42.png]

springfieldpreservation.org<https://springfieldpreservation.org/>

[https://signaturehound.com/api/v1/png/facebook/default/c05b42.png]<https://www.facebook.com/PreserveSpringfield>

[https://signaturehound.com/api/v1/png/instagram/default/c05b42.png]<https://www.instagram.com/springfieldpreservation/>

[https://signaturehound.com/api/v1/png/linkedin/default/c05b42.png]<https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericaswallow/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20250618/85538710/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 4_25_25 SHC DRAFT CH 49.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 208436 bytes
Desc: 4_25_25 SHC DRAFT CH 49.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20250618/85538710/attachment-0001.pdf>