Milton Village put forward as first local historic district

The Local Historic District Study Committee’s choice of Milton Village as the town’s first recognized district will have to wait a while longer before coming before voters.

Chair Larry Lawfer told the Select Board on March 7 that the committee has worked long and in conjunction with the Planning Board to choose an area of town to begin the local delegation process.

“We do have many historical sites here,” said Lawfer, adding that the choice of Milton Village came after an “exhaustive study.”

He said many of the sites are under federal and state protections, but this will be the first local district.

Lawfer said the committee’s work is nearly finished and the seven-member committee is expected to approve the measure within a couple of weeks. 

He said the group’s choice for designation then goes to the state for a 60-day period of review.

The committee will also need to contact every property owner in the proposed area and hold public meetings on the plan.

Lawfer said the committee has “absolutely no intention” of saying that every property in the local district will have to use the same color choices.

“We want to protect the Milton lifestyle,“ he said. “We still want to think about 100 years from now and what we want to save.”

The district will require approval from a  two-thirds majority of voters, Lawfer said.

He said the committee also has a survey that residents can fill out at: https://www.townofmilton.org/local-historic-district-study-committee/pages/historic-district-study-survey.