Letter to the Editor: Regarding a demolition request before the Local Historic District Commission
To the Editor,
On April 21, 2026, an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the demolition of the house located at 4 Tannery Lane, South Dartmouth was heard by the Russell Mills Historic District Commission (“RMHDC”) in an open meeting. The property was formerly owned by Ray and Priscilla Davoll and sold, through their estate, on March 13, 2025 to the Massachusetts Design Art & Technology Institute, Inc.(“DATMA”), a non-profit corporation for $725,000.00.
The application, however, was not brought by DATMA, it was brought by the Buzzard’s Bay Coalition (“BBC”) and its President, Mark Rasmussen. Brought to light during the hearing, was that DATMA was apparently a straw buyer for the BBC in a somewhat convoluted plan to acquire tax payer monies through the Town of Dartmouth’s Community Preservation Committee (“CPC”).The CPC has voted to appropriate $525,000 for the plan to create a public park on this site, and were heading to the Town Meeting in June for the rubber stamp.
Mr. Rasmussen gave a perfunctory presentation most likely relying on, as his cover letter detailed, a “close partnership with the Dartmouth Select Board and Conservation Commission and . . . (being) strongly supported by Davoll’s General Store.” Once the hurdle of obtaining the Certificate of Approriateness was passed, the BBC would purchase the property from DATMA using those CPC tax payer funds. Mr. Rasmussen testified that DATMA and BBC were “partners” in that once conservation money was acquired, DATMA and BBC would execute an already drawn up Purchase and Sale Agreement in favor of the BBC. The reason for all the machinations? According to Mr. Rasmussen, a conservation group cannot get conservation funds from the town, but DATMA could.
So how does the demolition of the little house on Tannery Lane fit in? Well, there can’t be a dwelling on conservation land, according to Mr. Rasmussen. They wanted to change it into conservation land and “(t)he purpose of this request (was) to create a public riverfront park on the site. . . . walking paths and benches will allow for picnics and fishing along its . . . riverbank.” The BBC even “reached out to the Davoll’s Estate . . . . (and) (t)hey agreed to this vision.” The problem is, no one reached out to the RMHDC. By statute, the RMHDC rules on everything in the district that people want to alter, rebuild, restore, remove or demolish. After reading Mr. Rasmussen’s letter into the record, Chairman Mike Woyciechouski indicated that the Historic District Commission should have been the first place to begin this process, not the last.
Nor did anyone reach out to residents of the district and abutters to the property in question. Since the Davoll Estate sold the property in March of 2025, until this hearing on April 21, 2026, not a single abutter had knowledge of this plan, not a single abutter’s door was ever knocked on to ask how they felt about the idea of a public park. Once notified of the hearing, however, residents of the RMHD came out in force. In total, six Russell Mills residents, including four abutters, and three people from outside the district testified.
Of the Russell Mills residents, the people most affected by this plan, all spoke against the plan; some very passionately opposed. Many sited that there is already a park, Dartmouth Playground, a 3 minute walk down the road and that at night it lends itself to drinking, pot smoking and kids driving recklessly in the parking lot. Many were concerned about increased traffic in an area already heavily trafficked because of Davoll’s General Store, Parson’s (Daffodil) Preserve and the existing park. Issues of trash, noise, parking, bathroom facilities and maintenance were all brought up. Many argued fervently against the Davoll house being demolished and many would rather have a family living there.
Of the non-Russell Mills residents, one did not want the house demolished, nor the property changed to a public park and cited concerns over the amount of land in Dartmouth eliminated from the tax rolls, thereby burdening the rest of the Dartmouth residents with higher taxes to make up the difference. One who lived far outside the village was “strongly in favor” citing that BBC is “a worthy cause.” And one who “thinks we should let it get demolished,” Melissa Haskell, is not only the Town Moderator for Dartmouth, but testified that she also sits on the Board of Directors for, wait for it, the BBC. State Ethics Commission violation? Most likely, especially in light of the fact that one of the RMHDC members, whose wife sits on the board for DATMA, was told by the State Ethics Commission that he could not even attend the hearing on the 21st, let alone participate.
Prior to a roll call vote, Vice-Chair Janet Stanton offered for the record that the RMHD was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and that 4 Tannery Lane is an historically significant site and cultural landscape based on the standard National Register criteria that establishes historic significance. In the end, the people spoke and the RMHDC listened. The Certificate of Appropriateness was denied by a vote of 4 to 1.
Janet A. M. Stanton
Vice-Chair Russell Mills Historic District Commission
