Sudbury HDC pushes back on draft preservation plan's district-expansion language

SUDBURY — July 13, 2022 — Sudbury Historic Districts Commission challenges consultant's draft preservation plan over district expansion. In a two-hour working session, consultant Peter Benton walked the commission through draft recommendations including a town-wide thematic National Register nomination focused on agriculture, an Indigenous Cultural Landscape Study, a Route 20 corridor study and a town-wide historic resource overlay. Members Christopher Hagger and Taryn Trexler rejected Benton's statement that no clear desire exists for expanding districts, naming Goodman's Hill, Church Street and Concord Road parcels as candidates. Hagger pressed for design guidelines to address "the future impacts of climate change on historic properties and fabrics," and cited Frost Farm's condemnation as evidence the commission needs its own structural-engineer budget. Anuraj Shah objected to the "design guidelines" framing, saying "sometimes preservation is not really that good looking." Benton targets August 31 for plan completion; the federal-funding drop-dead is September 30.