AMHERST — Since Amherst created two local historic districts over the past decade, a commission has existed to ensure buildings near the Emily Dickinson Museum and on properties north of the University of Massachusetts maintain a certain level of appearance.
But members of the Local Historic District Commission are beginning discussions that could lead to a bylaw amendment that would give an extra layer of protection to homes and other structures within the districts.
The idea, Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Taub said at a meeting in November, is to determine whether planners, with approval from Town Council, should add a section to the existing bylaw that would mandate minimum maintenance for properties.
The amendment would combat what’s known as demolition by neglect, with Taub saying it would provide another means to protect buildings before developers and property owners end up before the commission with demolition plans or extensive renovations that could alter the character of these neighborhoods.
Taub said such an amendment is especially important in the North Prospect-Lincoln-Sunset Local Historic District, where many property owners have the means to do upkeep of the homes, but choose not to as they rent to college students.
“You can frankly pick out the houses that are not owner occupied,” Taub said.
“We’ll see if we feel if this is something we want to have as another tool in our toolkit,” Taub added.
Unlike the Dickinson district, including 39 properties on Main Street, Triangle Street and Lessey Street, some of which are owned by Amherst College, the second district, created in 2017, has more than 200 properties and many are rented to college students.
Planner Ben Breger said the commission would look to work with the Town Council on the amendment. The template language could come from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
The Amherst commission also would likely have public meetings to solicit feedback from residents before moving forward with any changes.
Breger said the bylaw could be seen as adding another layer to existing health, safety and building codes.
Some communities have minimum maintenance rules written into general building codes, but they can also be a subsection of a demolition delay bylaw that would apply townwide. Having it just for the local historic districts could be seen as a pilot, Breger said.
Commission member Karin Winter questioned what standards would have to be set, such as whether chipping and peeling paint could be determined to be a significant problem for a property.
Taub said Edgartown just added a maintenance section to its local historic district bylaw.
Lowell also has maintenance language in a bylaw for a district, which is mostly in a commercial section of the city and designed to protect buildings from collapsing into canals, Breger said.