|
Chapter 405 of the Acts of 1954
| |
An Act providing that certain Town Meeting votes shall be
subject to a Referendum in the Town of Marblehead.
| |
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
| |
Section 1. A vote passed at any town meeting held in the
town of Marblehead authorizing the expenditure of fifty thousand dollars or
more as a special appropriation, or establishing a new board or office or
abolishing an old board or office or merging two or more boards or offices,
or fixing the term of office of town officers, where such term is optional,
or increasing or reducing the number of members of a board, or adopting a
new By-Law, or amending an existing By-Law, shall not be operative until after
the expiration of five days, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, from the dissolution
of the meeting, nor, if a petition for referendum thereon has been filed,
until the question of the ratification of such vote has been determined in
the manner herein provided. If, within said five days, a petition, signed
by not less than three hundred registered voters of the town, containing their
names and addresses as they appear on the list of registered voters, is filed
with the selectmen asking that the question or questions involved in such
a vote be submitted to the registered voters of the town at large, then the
selectmen, after the expiration of five days, shall forthwith call a special
meeting for the sole purpose of presenting to the registered voters at large
the question or questions so involved. The polls shall be opened at two o'clock
in the afternoon and shall be closed not earlier than eight o'clock in the
evening, and all votes upon any questions so submitted shall be taken by ballot,
and the check list shall be used in the several precinct meetings in the same
manner as in the election of town officers. The questions so submitted shall
be determined by a majority vote of the registered voters of the town voting
thereon, but no action of a town meeting shall be reversed unless at least
twenty per cent of the registered voters shall so vote. Each question so submitted
shall be in the form of the following question, which shall be placed upon
the official ballot: - "Shall the town vote to approve the action of the town
meeting whereby it was voted (brief description of the substance of the vote)?"
If such petition is not filed within said period of five days, the vote of
the Town meeting shall become operative and effective upon the expiration
of said period.
| |
Section 2. This act shall be submitted to the voters of
the town of Marblehead for acceptance at the next annual town meeting in the
form of the following question, which shall be placed upon the official ballot
used for the election of town officers: - "Shall an act passed by the general
court in the year nineteen hundred and fifty-four, entitled 'An Act providing
that certain town meeting votes shall be subject to a referendum in the Town
of Marblehead', be accepted?" - If a majority of the voters voting on said
question vote in the affirmative, then this act shall take full effect, but
not otherwise.
| |
March 1955 Ballot
2020 Yes
547 No
1493 Blanks
|
Approved May 11, 1954
|
|
Chapter 101 of the Acts of 1965
| |
An Act Establishing an Old and Historic Districts Commission
for the Town of Marblehead
| |
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
| |
Section 1. This act shall be designated and may be known
as the Old and Historic Marblehead Districts Act.
| |
Section 2. The purpose of this act is to promote the educational,
cultural, economic and general welfare of the public through the preservation
and protection of historic buildings, places and districts of historic interest
in the town of Marblehead, through the maintenance of such districts as landmarks
in the history of architecture and as a tangible reminder of the early days
of the commonwealth and said town, through the development of appropriate
settings for said buildings, places and districts, and through the benefits
resulting to the economy of the commonwealth and said town through the promotion
of such historic associations.
| |
Section 3. The Town of Marblehead by vote at a town meeting
may by By-Law establish historic districts in the Town of Marblehead. Prior
to the establishment or change in any such By-Law or district the planning
board of said town shall hold a public hearing thereon after due notice given
and file a report on recommendations to town meeting; provided, that such
By-Law or district may be established or changed if twenty days shall have
elapsed after such hearing without the submission of such report.
| |
Section 4. After the effective date of this act and the
establishment of an historic district, an Old and Historic Marblehead Districts
Commission hereinafter called the commission, consisting of not less than
three nor more than five members, shall be established. Each member shall
be a resident of the town of Marblehead and shall reside in an historic district
established under this act. Such members shall be appointed by the board of
selectmen for a term of one year. Any member of the commission so appointed
may be removed by the board of selectmen at its pleasure. A vacancy occurring
otherwise than by expiration of a term shall be filled for the unexpired term
in the manner provided in section eleven of chapter forty-one of the General
Laws. Said commission shall elect annually a chairman and a secretary from
its own number. The commission shall have, in addition to the powers, authority
and duties granted to it by this act, the powers, authority and duties as
provided by said By-Law.
| |
Section 5. (a) It shall be the function and the duty of
the commission to pass upon the appropriateness of the exterior architectural
features of buildings, and structures hereafter to be erected, reconstructed,
altered or restored in said districts wherever such exterior features are
subject to public view from a public street or way. All plans, elevations
and other information deemed necessary by the commission to determine the
appropriateness of the exterior features to be passed upon shall be made available
to the commission by the applicant. It shall also be the duty of the commission
to pass upon the removal of any building within said districts as set forth
in section six, and the erection or display of occupational or other signs
as set forth under section seven.
| |
|
(b)
|
The town, in establishing said By-Law, may, in addition to the purposes
set forth in section two, consider among other things the historical and architectural
value and significance, architectural style, the general design, arrangement,
texture and material of the buildings or structures to be regulated within
a district and the relation of such factors to similar features of buildings
and structures in the immediate surroundings within said district.
| |
|
(c)
|
The commission shall not consider detailed designs, relative size of
buildings in plan, interior arrangement or building features not subject to
public view. Said By-Law may provide that the commission shall not consider
ordinary maintenance and repair to buildings and structures, building permits
issued prior to the notice of public hearing given by the planning board as
provided in section three, fences, stone or brick walls, arbors, trellises,
terraces, patios, flagpoles, chimneys, screens, storm doors, windows, color,
sheds and temporary buildings as may be defined by said By-Law, and other
exclusions as the Town may determine.
| |
|
(d)
|
In the event that vacant land exists or should occur through catastrophe,
and that such land is an integral part of a district, the commission shall
have the right to pass upon all plans for construction, and such plans shall
be submitted to the commission for its approval before a building permit may
be issued.
| |
|
(e)
|
In case of disapproval the commission shall state its reasons therefor
in writing, and it may make recommendations to the applicant with respect
to historic significance, appropriateness of design, arrangement, texture,
material and the like, as set forth in said By-Law, of the building or structure
involved.
| |
|
(f)
|
Upon approval of the plans the commission shall cause a certificate
of appropriateness, dated and signed by the chairman, to be issued to the
applicant or affixed to the plans.
| |
Section 6. In any historic district no building or structure
shall hereafter be erected, reconstructed, altered or restored within said
district unless and until an application for a certificate of appropriateness
shall have been approved by the commission or issued as hereinafter provided.
The building inspector shall not issue a building permit for work in any historic
district until such certificate of appropriateness has been procured.
| |
Section 7. The erection or display of an occupational or
other sign in a size in excess of size established by the By-Law, or the erection
or display of more than one such sign on any lot, building or structure located
within a district shall be approved in advance by the commission. Evidence
of such approval shall be a certificate of appropriateness issued by the commission.
| |
Section 8. Within ten days after the filing of an application
for a certificate of appropriateness, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays
excluded, the commission shall determine the estates deemed by it to be materially
affected by such application, and unless a public hearing on such application
is waived in writing by all persons entitled to notice thereof, shall forthwith
cause its secretary to give, by mail, postage prepaid, to the applicant, to
the owners of all such estates as they appear on the then most recent real
estate tax list, and to the planning board, reasonable notice of a public
hearing before the commission on such application.
| |
As soon as convenient after such public hearing or the waiver
thereof, but in all events within sixty days after the filing of the application
for the certificate of appropriateness, or within such further time as the
applicant may in writing allow, the commission shall determine whether the
proposed construction, reconstruction or alteration of the exterior architectural
feature involved will be appropriate to the preservation of the historic district
for the purposes of this act, and whether, notwithstanding that it may be
inappropriate, owing to conditions especially affecting the building or structure
involved, but not affecting the historical district generally, failure to
issue a certificate of appropriateness will involve a substantial hardship,
financial or otherwise, to the applicant, and such certificate may be issued
without substantial detriment to the public welfare and without substantial
derogation from the intent and purposes of this act.
| |
If the commission determines that the proposed construction,
reconstruction or alteration involved will be appropriate or, although inappropriate,
owing to conditions as aforesaid, failure to issue a certificate of appropriateness
will involve substantial hardship to the applicant and the issuance thereof
may be made without substantial detriment or derogation as aforesaid, or if
the commission fails to make a determination within the time prescribed, the
secretary of the commission shall forthwith issue to the applicant a certificate
of appropriateness. If the commission determines that a certificate of appropriateness
should not issue, the commission shall spread upon its records the reasons
for such determination, and may include recommendations respecting the proposed
construction, reconstruction or alteration. The secretary of the commission
shall forthwith notify the applicant of such determination, transmitting to
him an attested copy of the reasons and recommendations, if any, spread upon
the records of the commission. (5-2-77, Art. 7)
| |
Section 9. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent
the construction, reconstruction, alteration or demolition of a public building
or structure; nor shall anything in this act be construed to prevent the construction,
reconstruction, alteration or demolition of any such feature which the building
inspector shall certify is required by the public safety because of an unsafe
or dangerous condition.
| |
Section 10. Appeals may be taken to the board of appeals,
being the board of selectmen, by any person aggrieved by a ruling of the commission.
The board of appeals shall hear and act upon such appeals within a reasonable
time. The concurring vote of all except one member of the board of appeals
shall be necessary to reverse any decision of the commission.
| |
Section 11. Any applicant aggrieved by a determination of
the board of appeals may, within twenty days after the making of such decision,
appeal to the superior court sitting in equity for the county of Essex at
Salem. The court shall hear all pertinent evidence, and shall annul the determination
of the board if it finds the decision of the board to be unwarranted by the
evidence, or to be insufficient in law to warrant the determination of the
board, or make such other decree as justice and equity may require. The remedies
provided by this section shall be exclusive; but the parties shall have all
rights of appeal and exception as in other cases in equity. The commission
shall not have the right of appeal to the superior court from a decision if
the Board of Appeals.
| |
Section 12. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in
equity to enforce the provisions of this act, any By-Law established and the
rulings issued under its provisions, and may restrain by injunction violations
thereof.
| |
Section 13. This act shall take effect upon its acceptance
by the Town of Marblehead.
| |
|
|
Approved March 3, 1965.
| |
Accepted at Town Meeting, March 14, 1967. Art. 45.
|
|
Chapter 111 of the Acts of 1990
| |
An Act authorizing the Town of Marblehead to develop and
maintain a water system backflow prevention program.
| |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
| |
Notwithstanding the provisions of section one hundred and
sixty A of chapter one hundred and eleven of the General Laws to the contrary,
the Town of Marblehead, acting through its water and sewer commission, is
hereby authorized to develop and maintain a water system backflow prevention
program, and to adopt rules and regulations and set fees therefor, in conformity
with the provisions of said section one hundred and sixty A.
| |
Approved May 6, 1991
|
|
