Public hearings scheduled on revised demolition delay bylaw

The Concord Historical Commission (CHC) takes seriously its charge of identifying and protecting Concords historic resources and has spent the last four years studying how Concord can better protect its architectural heritage.

The Commission has become increasingly concerned with the impact of demolition on this heritage, and is planning to put forward a revised Demolition Delay Bylaw for the 2014 Annual Town Meeting which members believe will address this problem. Many surrounding communities have adopted more comprehensive Demolition Delay Bylaws, and the revisions now proposed for the Concord Bylaw are intended to provide the same protections which other communities are giving to their important cultural resources.

The proposed revisions to the Bylaw will allow the CHC to determine if a proposed demolition will impact an historically significant structure and if so, provides a period of time where the demolition can be delayed so that alternatives to demolition can be explored or the historic structure documented. One of the proposed changes to the current bylaw will require any structure proposed for demolition that is older than 75 years to be subject to review to determine whether the structure is historically significant. It also changes the period of delay from the present six months to one year in cases where the structure is determined to be historically significant. General household maintenance such as painting, replacing gutters, altering doors or windows, etc., will not be affected by these proposed changes.

The CHC has scheduled two public hearings in the next few weeks to discuss the proposed changes and answer any questions on its potential effects. The first public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 23, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Public Hearing Room of the Town House, 22 Monument Square, and the second public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Harvey Wheeler Community Center Auditorium, 1276 Main St., West Concord.

CCTV will also be taping the Town House public hearing for rebroadcast the week of Oct. 28. A copy of the revised Draft Demolition Delay Bylaw is available online at http://www.concordma.gov/Pages/ConcordMA_HistComm/index and copies may also be picked up in the Planning Division Offices at 141 Keyes Road.

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Public hearings scheduled on revised demolition delay bylaw