Demolition delay bylaw article dismissed

Town Meeting members on Wednesday ended the Annual Town Meeting by delaying a decision on the controversial demolition delay bylaw until September.

Article 21, which sought to amend the towns demolition delay bylaw, was dismissed due to the fact that so many Town Meeting members proposed changes or amendments to the article, Board of Selectmen Chairman Mark Paolillo said. The article will be debated at a fall Town Meeting session in September, he said.

Its a mess, Paolillo said while arguing the article should be dismissed. We would be here forever debating this article.

The article, co-sponsored by the Historic District Commission (HDC) and the Planning Board, sought to offer demolition protection to more than 200 Belmont properties. In its original form, the bylaw proposed demolition delay periods of six months for residential buildings and 12 months for commercial buildings.

But so many competing motions and amendments were filed that the Selectmen and Town Moderator Mike Widmer recommended dismissal.

I think that would have been totally, monumentally unfair to [Town Meeting members] to vote on the article, Widmer said.

Both the HDC and Planning Board suggested recommended voting against dismissal and then discussing the issue at a Town Meeting session on June 12 or June 19. Representatives from both committees argued that passing some form of a demolition delay bylaw would offer interim protection against the demolition of historic buildings, and that the involved parties could debate the issue and change the article at a later date.

Michael Smith, co-chairman of the HDC, said he was disappointed by the way debate about the article played out.

Belmont has a record of historic preservation that is better than this, he said.

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Demolition delay bylaw article dismissed