Whitewashed tombs

It’s time to face facts: The historic district in Standish has some problems, and the ordinance, while well-intentioned, should be repealed.

Standish’s historic district is a peculiar one. It is located in Standish Corner, at the intersection of routes 35 and 25, and applies to only six houses. Why only six homesteads? Should six homes even constitute a district?

There are hundreds of homes in Standish that are old and valuable and worth protecting from future development. Why aren’t all the old properties in town protected? Either they should all be listed or none of them should be listed. It is imprudent to list all the structures. It would be an enforcement nightmare. So, the best course of action isn’t to separate six structures and impose a different set of building codes and ordinances for those few properties. The best action is letting the market and the culture take its course, as is the American Way.

One family in town is feeling the effects of the newly imposed historic district. The Higgins family, which has owned a home at the intersection of routes 25 and 35 since the early 1900s, has been sued by the originators and supporters of the historic district, Standish residents Eleanor Dudek and George McNeil.

It is understandable that Dudek and McNeil – both passionate about preserving the character of Standish’s yesteryear – don’t want the old homes to be remodeled, possibly taken over by commercial interests, thereby furthering the loss of Standish history. There are many in town who love Standish’s old structures and don’t want to see them ruined with commercial and residential sprawl. But that sort of sentimentality is not enough to construct of an ordinance around – mainly because it hurts the little guy who happens to own one of the structures designated “historic.”

Dudek’s home abuts the historic district. She lives across from the disputed Higgins home. That may be the reason she is fighting so hard (hard enough at least to pay lawyers’ fees) to preserve the district, so commercial properties don’t bleed into her living space. It’s understandable that she and McNeil are willing to spend their own money trying to enforce a closely held principle and an ordinance that governs historically important structures. They have taken the initiative to protect what they feel is an important part of Standish history. But, ultimately, the ordinance is unjust because it unfairly targets a few structures in town. It needs to address all the historic structures, not just a few.

The idea of a historic district is silly, really, when throughout most of Standish, on every road and in every neighborhood, there are historic homes worth preserving. Again, why target just a few homes?

Standish is not like Boston or Providence where historically significant homes are on every block and sometimes line an entire street. We’ve got Standish Hannaford, Dunkin’ Donuts and a Mobil gas station all closing in on the so-called Historic District. They say you’re judged by the company you keep, and sad to say, but the historic district is in the midst of some very modern and not-all-that-appealing neighbors. Their presence, as a result, lessens the value of the homes in the district significantly.

Some homebuyers are looking for historic homes to purchase. Consider the family that bought the Parson Smith House in Windham on River Road. They sought out a historic home, on a beautiful parcel, set in and around other historic and beautiful properties. But Standish Corner is not appealing for this kind of buyer. Standish Corner is arguably the commercial center of Standish. Plopping a historic district in the middle of a budding commercial zone may not have been the best town planning strategy.

Even if you deny these reasons for why the historic district shouldn’t exist, Standish shouldn’t be in the business of forcing people who have lived in a home their entire lives to now come under a new set of rules, which can have real financial impact. The ordinance has created a financial burdern for the Higgins family. In America, we should never allow government to impose its will over the little, helpless guy. Enforcing the historic district ordinance is sort of like using Eminent Domain. It was government stripping Higgins of his rights as a homeowner.

The historic district is also wrong because it takes and doesn’t give anything in return. There are no benefits for homeowners who happen to live in the district. They have to comply with the ordinance or else be sued, as Dudek and McNeil proved in January. The homeowner who wants to do something with his property can’t because it may go against the ordinance. All this, and there is no property tax break and no grandfathering clause. At the least, current owners should have been exempt from the new rules.

Townspeople also need to remember the personal impact this ordinance and resulting lawsuit is taking. The Higgins family needs to sell the home because they’ve already moved elsewhere. They thought they had a buyer who wanted to purchase the house, move it several hundred yards to get it away from the street and then renovate the home with the building’s historic period in mind. Unfortunately, the buyer got scared because of the Dudek/McNeil lawsuit, which claims the house cannot be moved because it’s in an historic district and, therefore, needs to adhere to certain guidelines that govern the district. The building was only going to be moved 200 feet. Is that somehow going to jeopardize the future of the district?

While that sort of logic is hard to understand, we do understand the net result of the lawsuit: Standish now has a historic building that is not inhabited and is probably being neglected because the owner is no doubt spending all his money on attorney fees.

It’s ironic that an ordinance meant to save history is now adding to its disintegration. But in this litigious society, this irony is definitely not surprising.

While it took several years to realize the mistake of creating a historic district that only targets a few homes, the weight and burden of this new ordinance has now come to light with the Higgins House saga. It’s now time to repeal the ordinance.

-John Balentine, editor