Brookline Property Owner Facing Lawsuit From Town

BROOKLINE, MA — The town has taken legal action against a local property owner, accusing her of violating historic district bylaws.

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, Jan. 29 with the Norfolk County Superior Court accusing Pamela Bardhi of violating historic district regulations through the installation of windows at her property on 179 Babcock St. The nearly century-old building is located in Brookline’s Graffam-McKay district, which is governed by the town’s Historic District By-Law. The bylaw requires exterior changes to properties to be approved by the Brookline Preservation Commission before they can be carried out. According to the lawsuit, Bardhi replaced five front windows of the property without the proper permission in 2021. The preservation committee reportedly refused to retroactively approve the new windows in January 2022. Following that verdict, Bardhi submitted an application proposing the installation of cheaper windows similar to those at a neighboring property, but that request was also denied.

In September 2022, the preservation commission issued a Certificate of Appropriateness, which required Bardhi to replace the windows by installing single-pane, true-divided light wood windows. According to the lawsuit, that request had still not been completed by March 2025. The town then claims that it spent the next two months unsuccessfully trying to get in contact with Bardhi, which ultimately resulted in a hearing on May 13 in which the preservation committee formally declared Bardhi and her property in violation of the historic district by-laws. Bardhi reportedly did not attend the hearing.

The town is seeking an outcome where Bardhi is officially recognized as being in violation through her actions, she replaces the windows with ones in compliance with the town’s law, retroactive enforcement of fines for the time in which the property was in violation, and an authorization for the building commissioner to enforce any actions necessary to obtain and sustain said compliance for the property.

Bardhi is a real estate developer who purchased the property in 2020. She plans to take retaliatory actions against Brookline according to a report from Brookline News.

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