NORWAY — Voters will be asked to approve a historic building demolition delay ordinance at the annual town meeting Monday.

Action on the 43-article warrant begins at 7 p.m. June 16 in the Forum at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris.

While a demolition delay ordinance cannot prevent demolitions indefinitely, preservationists say it does afford a town or group time to find alternative ways to preserve a historic building or simply to document the building in photographs and other means before it is razed.

“Norway Downtown’s take on this would be to keep our Main Street interesting and to honor significant historic buildings, which lend to the unique nature of our downtown,” Andrea Burns, president of Norway Downtown, said.

Burns said the proposal has been a longtime goal of the organization’s Design Committee.

“When you think back in time, both the Norway Opera House and the Gingerbread House were demolition possibilities,” Burns said. “This ordinance would put a process in place to carefully consider our actions.”

In 2008, for example, C’s Inc., a real estate holding company affiliated with Sun Media Group, publishers of the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat, agreed to delay demolition of the Gingerbread House if someone could move it. Friends of the Gingerbread House, who later formed the nonprofit Norway Landmarks Preservation Society, banded together to save it. In 2011, the house was moved and restoration efforts continue today.

Town Manager David Holt, who put the ordinance together, said he used the demolition delay ordinance from Bar Harbor as the guide for Norway’s law.

“We thought Bar Harbor was simpler and shorter and thought it fit Norway better,” he said.

As proposed, the ordinance establishes two processes for the demolition of a building or structure classified as historic. The first allows for immediate demolition with the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness, while the second allows for delayed demolition if a certificate of appropriateness if not issued.

Under the proposal,  the owner of a historic building that is to be partially or fully removed would ask for a review by the Review Board. The board, which will be appointed by selectmen, may approve a certificate of appropriateness for the property’s demolition if the owner provides evidence the structure is unsafe and poses an immediate threat to the public. If a certificate of appropriateness is approved, the applicant may immediately apply to the code enforcement officer for a demolition permit.

If the board fails to approve the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness permitting the demolition, the applicant may proceed under the delayed demolition procedures which would delay the permit issuance by four months.

The ordinance states its objective is to preserve historic buildings that are important to the education, culture, traditions, and the economic values of the town and to allow the town, interested persons, historical societies or organizations the opportunity to acquire or to arrange for the preservation of such buildings.

The board may at any time during a stay approve a certificate of appropriateness in accordance with Maine laws on dangerous buildings). At that time, a demolition permit will be issued without further delay.

The ordinance requires the building be posted and that notice of demolition be sent to the Maine State Historic Preservation Office and the Norway Historical Society. The notice to demolish also has to be advertised in a newspaper of general local circulation at least three times prior to demolition under certain timelines.

The Maine Historic Preservation Commission says demolition delay regulations can be implemented as a stand-alone ordinance or as a bylaw in an existing historic preservation or zoning ordinance. The commission states that the regulation “can be a very effective tool in helping to protect historically significant resources in the community.”

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