Planning Board defers decsiion on demolition ordinance

The Planning Board this week deferred a decision on revising the process for issuing demolition permits designed to protect buildings of historical interest or architectural value.

Last month the City Council asked the Planning Board to review an amendment to the municipal ordinance, which mirrors a Concord ordinance adopted at the recommendation of that city's Heritage Commission. The amendment would require a request to demolish any building more than 75 years old, visible from an adjacent public right-of-way or public property and with a gross floor area of more than 500-square-feet to undergo review by a "demolition review committee" of three people, appointed by the City Council.

If the committee were to find a building to be "potentially historically or architecturally significant," it must hold a public hearing within 12 days. If the committee determines that the building has significance and its loss will be "potentially detrimental to the community, it must meet with the owner or his representative within 10 days to discuss alternatives to demolition, otherwise the demolition can proceed.

Should the owner and the committee fail to agree on an alternative to demolition, the building can be demolished. With the agreement of the owner, the committee shall make a photographic record of the building as well as encourage the owner to salvage its significant architectural features.

Planning Director Shanna Saunders said yesterday that the Planning Board sought more direction and information from the City Council about the intent of the measure, as well as about how it would be administered, before making a decision.

Saunders said that the proposal arose in the wake of the visit by the Smart Growth team from the United States Environmental Protection Agency last year. She said that the team was impressed by the number of historic buildings in the city and was surprised to find that the city had not taken steps to protect those not on the National Register of Historic Places. Recent rumors that the stately Victorian mansion at 1106 Union Avenue, known as the Hathaway House, is slated for demolition, have heightened interest in the measure.