Following the will of voters as expressed at last fall’s Town Meeting and Town Election, the Select Board confirmed its intent to sell Bromfield House as a residence at its Jan. 4 meeting. The board set a timeline of about a year for putting the house on the market, in part to allow the Historical Commission time to extend the Harvard Common Historic District to include the property. Meanwhile, the property may provide housing for refugees from Afghanistan.
Town Administrator Tim Bragan said any change to the historic district would have to wait until Fall Town Meeting. Spring Town Meeting, he said, will focus on budget and financial matters.
When the Historical Commission discussed the issue the following evening, Jan. 5, member Pam Marston reported the Select Board’s discussion. Marston is preparing the map revisions and a supporting study for the Massachusetts Historical Commission, which must approve any changes to the historic district. A public hearing is also required.
Commission Chair George Triantaris suggested this might be the time to fix some other features of the map, which he described as “bizarre.” For example, the map does not follow property lines. Instead, it often bisects house lots and—in at least two cases—the houses themselves. He noted it was also an opportunity to clarify “the dreaded school stuff” by redrawing the map to leave all school property outside the district. During construction of the new elementary school, there was debate over whether an annotation on the map, which said “School buildings excluded,” applied to all schools or only the Bromfield School. “Maybe this is the chance to straighten this out,” Triantaris said.
