MARION — According to Historic Preservation Planner Eric Dray, Marion is “the most historic, intact village on the South Coast,” and the Marion Historic District Study Committee hopes to maintain the village by establishing an official historic district in town.

“The reason this committee came into place was that … some things were changed in ways that were not necessarily in the character of the town,” said Historic District Study Committee member Will Tifft during a presentation on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

According to Massachusetts General Law 40C, if established, a historic committee would have a hand in regulating external modifications to buildings that fall within the historic district. No such regulatory committee currently exists in Marion. 

The first step, said Tifft, was to review the possible borders of the historic district. The Committee hired Dray, a historic preservation planning consultant, to help determine the boundaries of the proposed historic district.

“We started with the village,” said Tifft. “And it’s not absolute … everything here can be changed, including saying ‘no.’”

Next, the Committee surveyed 205 property owners who fall within the proposed boundaries of the historic district.

“[The survey] guided us to think about what might be acceptable — and I emphasize the might — for people who live in that area,” said Tifft.

With an “off the chart” 39% response rate, said Tifft, 91% of property owners surveyed said they think Marion Village is historically significant and that they value historic architecture. A slightly lower 89% said that Marion’s historic character should be preserved.

The survey asked if residents would support a historic district that would review any new construction, demolition, additions or renovations. Forty-two percent of those surveyed said they would support this district, 30% of respondents wanted to know more.

The survey also proposed a more lenient historic district that would only review new construction, demolition and major additions, leaving renovations and minor changes to the discretion of the homeowner. The option had a higher positive response with 52% of respondents in support and 22% wanting more information.

According to Dray, the Committee is currently pursuing the more lenient version of the historic district that would only regulate demolitions, additions and new construction.

Now, said Dray, the Committee must prepare a preliminary report that includes a proposed bylaw and justification for the district’s boundaries, hold more public hearings and finally submit a proposal to be put on the Marion Town Meeting agenda where it would require a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

According to Dray, the proposed historic district could be on the agenda at Spring Town Meeting.