Chapter 40C

Section 1. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Historic Districts Act.

Section 10. The commission shall have the following additional powers, functions and duties:—(a) If the commission determines that the construction or alteration for which an application for a certificate of appropriateness has been filed will be appropriate for or compatible wit…

Section 11. Meetings of a commission shall be held at the call of the chairman and shall be called at the request of two members of the commission and in such other manner as the commission shall determine in its rules. A majority of the members of a commission shall constitute a…

Section 12. A city or town may provide in its ordinance or by-law or in any amendment thereof, for a review procedure whereby any person aggrieved by a determination of the commission may, within twenty days after the filing of the notice of such determination with the city or to…

Section 12A. Any person aggrieved by a determination of the commission, or by the finding of a person or persons making a review, if the provisions of section twelve are included in a local ordinance or by-law, may, within twenty days after the filing of the notice of such determ…

Section 13. The superior court sitting in equity for the county in which the city or town is situated shall have jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this chapter and any ordinance or by-law enacted hereunder and the determinations, rulings and regulations issued pursuant th…

Section 14. If the city council or town meeting so votes a commission established hereunder shall have the powers and duties of an historical commission as provided in section eight D of chapter forty and, in this event, a commission may be entitled an historical commission.

Section 15. All ordinance or by-laws creating an historic district adopted by a city or town under authority of this chapter and under authority of any special law, unless the special law shall otherwise provide, amendments thereto, maps of historic districts created thereunder, …

Section 16. A city or town in which there is located an historic district established under a special law may, upon recommendation of the historic district commission having jurisdiction over such district, accept the provisions of this chapter with respect to such district by a …

Section 17. The provisions of this chapter shall be deemed to be severable. If any of its provisions shall be held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

Section 2. The purpose of this chapter is to promote the educational, cultural, economic and general welfare of the public through the preservation and protection of the distinctive characteristics of buildings and places significant in the history of the commonwealth and its cit…

Section 3. A city or town may, by ordinance or by-law adopted by two-thirds vote of the city council in a city or by a two-thirds vote of a town meeting in a town, establish historic districts subject to the following provisions:— Prior to the establishment of any historic distri…

Section 4. An historic district study committee may be established in any city or town by vote of the city council or board of selectmen for the purpose of making an investigation of the desirability of establishing an historic district or districts therein. The study committee s…

Section 5. As used in this chapter the word ''altered'' includes the words ''rebuilt'', ''reconstructed'', ''restored'', ''removed'' and ''demolished'' and the phrase ''changed in exterior color''; the word ''building'' means a combination of materials forming a shelter for perso…

Section 6. Except as the ordinance or by-law may otherwise provide in accordance with section eight or said section eight or nine, no building or structure within an historic district shall be constructed or altered in any way that affects exterior architectural features unless t…

Section 7. In passing upon matters before it the commission shall consider, among other things, the historic and architectural value and significance of the site, building or structure, the general design, arrangement, texture, material and color of the features involved, and the…

Section 8. (a) Any city or town may provide in the ordinance or by-law establishing a district or in any amendment thereof that the authority of the commission shall not extend to the review of one or more of the following categories of buildings or structures or exterior archite…

Section 9. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the ordinary maintenance, repair or replacement of any exterior architectural feature within an historic district which does not involve a change in design, material, color or the outward appearance thereof, nor to …