Letter: Local Historical Commission Obligated to Consider State Guidance

The following letter was sent to the Amherst Historical Commission on August 24, 2024.

The Jones Library’s Historic Preservation Restriction Agreement with the town obligates the Historical Commission to “administer, manage, and enforce” its terms, requiring you to determine whether any demolition, addition, or alteration of the exterior of the Jones Library violates any of the Standards and Guidelines of the Secretary of the Interior.

This Agreement does not permit you to exercise your subjective opinion about the proposed project and it does not include consideration of any political, logistical, or financial consequences.

You are legally obligated to judge the demolition/expansion plan only within the context of the Standards and Guidelines of the Secretary of the Interior. You must make that determination fairly and objectively.

To make clear that you have met your contractual obligation, you must review and discuss the proposed plan with reference to each of the ten Standards and Guidelines and enter into the record your collective conclusion as to each Standard. This record must include the rationale for any conclusion that differs from those stated by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. 

This is the only way to show that you have fulfilled your legal obligations under the Preservation Restriction Agreement without being unduly influenced by extraneous factors.  

Anita Sarro

Anita Sarro is a nurse and retired healthcare attorney and longtime resident of Amherst.