Historic District Commission submits amended Article 12.16 to Planning Board ahead of June 11 hearing

The Historic District Commission sent a marked-up draft of Article 12.16 to the Planning Board for its public hearing on June 11, Chair Scott Stevens said. The draft incorporates suggested edits from the town attorney and a minor wording tweak the commission adopted.

The changes focus on who is eligible for certificates of appropriateness and the requirement that applicants provide a maintenance plan consistent with the commission's standards, Stevens said. "These have to do with who is eligible and under what and what the requirement is, which is a maintenance plan consistent with our standards," he said.

Commission members said most of the town attorney's suggestions were accepted and that the commission reorganized some text (moving provisions rather than changing substantive language) to make the ordinance clearer. The version submitted to the Planning Board shows deletions and additions in strikeout and italicized text to help reviewers follow edits.

Stevens said he cannot attend the Planning Board hearing and asked that commissioners John Cavino and Kari L Prey represent the commission. The commission discussed next steps: if the Planning Board acts to recommend changes, the amendment will go to the Select Board, which will hold its own public hearing before choosing how to act.

Stevens and other members said the submission is not a major reconstruction of the ordinance but a targeted clarification. "So this is the second public hearing of a slightly tweaked version; broad concepts being the same," he said.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the ordinance at this meeting; members only approved the version to forward to the Planning Board and designated representatives to attend the June 11 hearing. The commission approved the minutes for its May 5, 2026 meeting and later adjourned at 5:52 p.m.