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Preservation society and commission to start field surveys for Highlands local historic district expansion
Summary
The commission and Preservation Society agreed to begin field surveys in a concentrated area of the Highlands for a proposed expansion of the city’s Chapter 40C local historic district; the preservation group is budgeted to survey about 50 properties and will seek additional funding as needed.
The Fall River Historical Commission and the Preservation Society of Fall River will begin field survey work this summer for a proposed expansion of the Highlands local historic district under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40C, the commission said July 22.
Commission members discussed survey responses received to date and directed the Preservation Society and consultant to start with a concentrated set of properties where homeowner interest is highest. Preservation Society representative Alex Silva provided a map showing returned homeowner surveys; commissioners and the consultant discussed starting with properties north of the existing 40C area and along Highland Avenue toward Charlton Hospital as a pragmatic first tranche.
Commission staff said the Preservation Society’s contract with the consultant — Public Archaeology Laboratory (PAL) — is budgeted for about 50 form B historic-resource surveys. Commissioners discussed the limited budget and recommended the preservation group use initial survey results to apply for additional Community Preservation Act (CPA) or state CLG planning grants to continue work across the larger target area. One commissioner said the preservation group had been awarded in the “sixty- to seventy-thousand-dollar range” for this phase; staff and the preservation group did not provide a precise award figure in the meeting record.
The commission also approved a separate motion to send homeowner survey mailers to two additional addresses, 721 and 745 Highland Avenue, so those properties would be included in the expansion outreach; that motion passed on a roll-call vote with one abstention. Commissioners emphasized they are not changing the formal target boundary at this time; they are directing where the consultant should begin the field documentation that underpins later neighborhood meetings and a final report for City Council consideration.
Why it matters: field surveys (form B historic-resource reports) and public outreach are required steps in the Chapter 40C local historic district process. Survey results and neighborhood meetings will inform whether a formal district proposal moves forward to City Council and, if so, what the final boundary will be.
