The trick with zoning or historic places is that it is already arbitrary in many cases already. The latter board could absolutely have said the structure was "historic" with ZERO indication that the real motive might be something else. "it has unique moldings and must be preserved."
Done.
I'm not saying that would not be an abuse of the 1st, it would be. But it would be impossible to prove, so it would stand up.
As I said, such practice is already common.
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