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Dennis commission discusses refining demolition-delay bylaw; debate over class exemptions
Summary
Commissioners reviewed the town's demolition-delay bylaw (75-year benchmark), described it as procedural and under-specified in definitions, and debated whether an exemption for common post‑war 'cookie-cutter' houses could reduce workload — but they agreed any exemption must be carefully defined and coordinated with the building department.
At its June 1 meeting the Dennis Historical Commission reviewed the demolition-delay bylaw text and debated whether the commission can create exemptions for broad classes of properties to reduce review workload.
Chair Diane Rochelle reminded commissioners that under the bylaw 75 years is the benchmark for "significance" (75 years = 1951) and that the current procedures assume the commission has already made a determination of significance before processing an application. "It's heavy on procedure and light on definition," a committee member said, summarizing the group's concern.
Members discussed the practical difficulty of reviewing large numbers of similar post‑war houses — described during the meeting as "cookie-cutter" development — and whether the commission could define a class of properties to exempt from individual review. Several commissioners cautioned that such exemptions would require careful written characteristics and coordination with the building department and historic-district reviewers so the town does not abdicate required determinations.
The commission agreed to continue research on defining classes (for example, developments built en masse by the same developer in a single plan), and to invite planning/building staff and preservation specialists to a future meeting for input. Chair Rochelle suggested bringing architect or preservation staff (Maria, currently unavailable) to the July meeting to refine definitions and implementation steps.
No bylaw change was adopted at the June 1 meeting; commissioners directed staff to prepare background research and examples from other towns for discussion at the July 6 meeting.
