Historic Districts Commission directs consultants to slim design-guidelines draft

SUDBURY — February 24, 2026 — Sudbury Historic Districts Commission sends consultants back to slim down draft guidelines and write district-by-district profiles. At a Feb. 24 remote workshop, Chair Anuraj Shah, Vice Chair Taryn Trexler, member Christopher Hagger and associate Shervin Hawley pressed Heritage Strategies principals Peter Benton and Elizabeth Watson to cut a 20-plus-page "Design Principles for Historic Preservation" draft to a two-page front section with checklists and decision trees, keeping the full text as a standalone web resource. Trexler said incomplete applications should be caught early — "the checklist was there. You've only completed two out of the 10 items." Shah previewed a future project to renegotiate the boundaries of the town's five local historic districts, citing roughly 400 inventoried historic structures townwide but only a fraction protected, and recent losses including Stone Tavern Farm on Route 20. Benton agreed to add guidance on Massachusetts single-property historic districts.