What is the Demo Delay Ordinance? Why does it need to be updated?

4/20/2021

In 1986 Salem was on the cutting edge when city leaders implemented a six-month demolition delay ordinance. This means that when applying for a demolition permit for a building older than 50 years and owner has to wait six-months before they can demolish the building. Or they can apply for a waiver of this delay period through the Salem Historical Commission who can determine (after weighing all the factors) if the building can be torn down sooner.

Theoretically this six-month time period can be used to examine preservation options for a historic building, or to develop actions that mitigate the loss of a historic building. However, in today's construction world six-months of waiting is not a sufficient incentive for an owner to work with the Salem Historical Commission on alternatives. Six months is about the same amount of time it takes to get all the other necessary approvals and so an owner can request a waiver of demolition delay and while they wait out the time clock they can visit the other boards in the city (Planning, Zoning etc) and proceed as planned.

As Salem's desirability continues to rise, we anticipate an increase in “tear-down” real estate, which we are already seeing in the Willows, North Salem, and other Salem neighborhoods.

Salem needs to increase the Demo Delay time period to 12 months (or even 18) and apply the requirement to partial demolition.

This will encourage preservation rather than replacement.
This will protect small “starter” homes and neighborhoods and maintain housing diversity in the city.
This will protect land values from increasing faster than home values and creating a “tear-down” real-estate market.
This will keep old-growth and hand-crafted materials out of landfills. In addition, preservation jobs hire local craftspeople, keeping money in the community. Replacement pays someone far away to ship newly-manufactured materials here.
This will maintain the scale, massing and style of neighborhoods that have been functioning for centuries.
This will put us on equal footing with nearby communities, including Beverly, Danvers, Peabody, Ispwich and Newburyport, which have a 12-month demo-delay time period.

Strengthening the Demolition Delay Ordinance will bring clarity

Changes to the demolition delay ordinance will benefit everyone.

This will help applicants know what to expect when applying for a demolition permit.
This will define what qualifies as a demolition and what buildings are important to preserve.
This will guide the Salem Historical Commission in how to use the demolition delay time period to find opportunities to preserve, rehabilitate or reuse the threatened building.
This will encourage applicants to work with the Salem Historical Commission to achieve a mutually beneficial development plan that respects the historic context while allowing a project to move forward.

You can read our full list of recommendations for an updated Demolition Delay Ordinance here:

hsi_ddo_recommendations_april_2021.pdf
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You can read the City's draft ordinance here (draft as it appears on the SHC website on 4/20/2021):

demo_delay_ordinance_-_final_draft_revised_4-14-21.pdf
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You can read our letter to the Salem Historical Commission, April 20, 2021 here:

hsi_-_shc_demo_delay_ordinance_april_2021_f.pdf
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You can read our letter to the City Council, April, 22, 2021 here:

hsi_-_city_council_demo_delay_ordinance_april_2021.pdf
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3 Comments

Gordon R. Harris link

7/23/2021 06:18:54 am

At last year's town meeting, Ipswich voters agreed overwhelmingly to extend our Demolition Review/Delay bylaw from 12 to 18 months. In the same article we changed the look back period from a rolling date of 75 years to a fixed date of 1915, and made minor adjustments to the wording that allowed the Chair of the Historical Commission and our liaison in the Planning Office to make a preliminary determination whether a proposed demolition would fall under any of the standards by which a demolition might be delayed. Our reason for the change was (1) developers outright stated that they expected to wait out the 12 months and demolish a building regardless; and (2) our 75 year look back was now taking up our time reviewing requests to demolish dilapidated platform frame outbuildings constructed as late as 1945. Originally the Chair and vice chair of the Historical Commission (including myself) proposed a 1900 date so that it would be inline with the 1900 date in our Architectural Preservation District Bylaw. There were others on the Commission who felt that we should review any demolition request o matter how old the building is. The Commission settled on the 1915 compromise, and the voters at Town Meeting accepted extending the demolition delay to 18 months, because they agree that buildings built before the 20th Century should be preserved, and fixing the date to 1915 returns the bylaw to its intended purpose when it was first adopted in 1987. https://historicipswich.org/2020/10/10/demolition-review-warrant-article/

Iris Smith link

2/6/2023 10:02:38 pm

Thank you for noting that a building owner must wait six months after applying for a demolition permit for a structure that is more than 50 years old. My mother wants to demolish the structure and construct a new one. I'll advise her to get demolition permission before beginning the process.

Ozzy Ghani link

7/7/2023 04:27:17 pm

I appreciate your clarification regarding the requirement for a building owner to wait six months after applying for a demolition permit, specifically for structures that are over 50 years old. My mother is considering demolishing the existing structure and replacing it with a new one. Based on this information, I will strongly advise her to obtain the necessary demolition permission before initiating the process.

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