[MassHistPres] LHD Study Fee Levied by City?

[annelusk at gmail.com]

Willa and All,

  Those us who live in the Whiskey Point neighborhood of Brookline would not be considered poor, but we are not as wealthy as the homeowners in LHD neighborhoods in Brookline. I was qualified to write the LHD study report for Hart’s Content and did it for free. The Brookline Preservation Commission did not accept our request to be considered in the initial step for an LHD (send our study report to the Massachusetts Preservation Commission for consideration) because we could not achieve the 80%-of-resident’s-approval that is able to be met in the wealthy neighborhoods in Brookline. This bar was set by the others in Brookline and is not universal in Massachusetts.  Thus, there are other barriers for income than being able to pay someone to write the LHD study report.   The result is the original lower income neighborhoods will not be designated as LHDs and may likely be tear downs because the land has more value than the historic smaller homes.  I am also having trouble having Hart’s Content cottages listed on the National Register while homes of the wealthy in Brookline are on the NR. 

https://www.brooklinema.gov/DocumentCenter/View/25192/Draft-SR_Harts-Content?bidId=

Anne

 

 

From: MassHistPres <masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu> On Behalf Of Willa Bandler via MassHistPres
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2025 10:08 PM
To: Dennis De Witt <dennis.j.dewitt at gmail.com>
Cc: listserve MHC MHC <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] LHD Study Fee Levied by City?

 

Whether it’s imposed or chosen matters, but if you impose a fee—regardless of those details and regardless of whether the fee covers the consultant fee—you are ensuring that poorer, more diverse neighborhoods won’t be preserved, even if the fee seems nominal to you. Which isn’t an issue in Brookline, since, as you imply, no one poor can afford to own anything in Brookline already. Which is a different problem I guess….

 

Willa Bandler

Walpole 





On Jun 19, 2025, at 11:14 AM, Dennis De Witt via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> > wrote:

Hi Erica

 

Let me start by saying I know Brookline is not Springfield — so take this for whatever you think it is worth.  

 

Brookline has had a general policy, not hard-wired in ordinance, that proponents of an LHD need to create, fund, or substantially contribute to the generation of a study report.  This has been true of the creation of six of the last seven of Brookline’s nine LHD’s — plus two efforts that failed.  It is consistent with a) Town Meeting’s expectation that ±80% of the proposed LHD’s residents should have signed onto the neighborhood’s petition process (with few exceptions Brookline’s LHD’s arise from a grass roots process) and b) the fact that there is no staff time budgeted for drafting study reports.  Especially, allowing for inflation over the years, $1,500 seems a nominal sum that would not begin to pay for a preservation professional drafting a report for even a small LHD.   I recall an estimate of ±$10,000 being quoted in a recent case.  In the event a qualified resident and other volunteers researched and drafted it with staff review. 

 

All that said, if an LHD is imposed on the residents, that would be a different story.

 

Dennis De Witt

Brookline





On Jun 18, 2025, at 7:48 PM, Erica Swallow via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu <mailto:masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> > wrote:

 

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



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