PLYMOUTH — Property owners in the historic district will be subject to new fees on applications for demolition delays, but the Select Board voted against placing other fees on applications to the Historic District Commission.
Before the June 2 vote to establish a $100 fee on applications to demolish certain buildings in the historic district, the nine-member Historic District Commission charged no fees for its services, which includes reviewing permits for changes to buildings in the historic district. The revenue from the fee will go into the general fund.
The Select Board rejected a proposition by the Historic District Commission to impose a $50 fee on certificates of appropriateness and an additional $100 fee on demolition delays for “historically significant” buildings.
“We understand that the town is always looking for new potential sources of revenue,” said Michael Tubin, chair of the Historic District Commission. “This… would at least produce some revenue to reimburse the mailing costs and the legal advertisements, but not too burdensome where it's becoming an additional financial hardship for folks.”
Tubin said the Commission examined similar fees in other Massachusetts communities and characterized the proposed fees as a “middle ground” of other fee prices. If the Commission had charged all three proposed fees this year, it would have generated $5,900.
But Select Board members felt that all three fees would be excessive and proposed voting on other fees at town meeting, which would allow the revenue from them to go into a revolving fund for the Historic District Commission. Devoting the revenue to the Commission’s costs would more specifically serve the historic district and justify the fees, members said.
“These businesses in the downtown, they're being asked to pay more than the businesses outside of the historical district,” Select Board Member Bill Keohan said.
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