A Bangor homeowner is trying to overturn a notice of violation the city issued him for replacing his slate roof with asphalt tiles after multiple city boards told him not to.
Steven Farren replaced the aging slate roof on his home in the Broadway Historic District several weeks ago with a type of asphalt that looks like state but is cheaper, and has more contractors who can install it.
That defied the city’s repeated denials of Farren’s request to replace his slate roof with asphalt. The city issued him a notice of violation earlier this month that orders Farren to “fix the violation” within 30 days.
Instead, Farren submitted an application on Monday to appeal the city’s violation notice.
It’s the latest development in a stalemate between Farren and Bangor officials regarding the preservation of the city’s historic homes and the costs required for homeowners to do so. How the city responds could also send a message to other residents who are interested in purchasing or altering a home in a historic area.
The city’s legal department is reviewing the application, David Warren, a spokesperson for the city, said. The city will then schedule a Board of Appeals meeting to consider Farren’s application, but no date has been set yet.
Whenever that meeting happens, Farren said he hopes the appeals board members “go by facts and not opinions, as they did not last time, and be unbiased, as they were not last time.”
If the Board of Appeals rules against Farren, he believes he would be required to remove his new asphalt roof and have it replaced with “a $260,000 slate one.”
If he refuses, Farren said the city would be able to sue him. But, Farren argues the city would also have to “come after the 23 other properties in the Broadway and Whitney Park Historic Districts” that, at some point, had their slate roofs replaced with asphalt, seemingly without the city’s knowledge or consent.
With his appeal application, Farren included two letters. One was from Farren’s insurance company warning him that his homeowners insurance will not be renewed if he doesn’t replace his roof by June 3.
“This roof is in poor condition and requires that the entire roof be replaced as soon as possible,” the letter dated Jan. 22, 2025, from National General Insurance said. “The current condition of the roof can result in future losses.”
The second letter, dated Feb. 10, 2025, is from Massachusetts-based New England Infrastructure Inc. outlining the results of a roof inspection on Farren’s home that took place on Jan. 17, 2025.
That inspection found numerous slate shingles on the home were “cracked, flaking, lifting, shifted and missing,” leading to signs of rot underneath and water and ice buildup, causing further decay.
A New England Infrastructure Inc. engineer tried to remove slate shingles for closer inspection, but the pieces splintered or split. The contractor estimated that less than five percent of the slate tiles were salvageable, the letter states.
Because of this evidence, Hugh Derry, a principal at New England Infrastructure Inc., recommended that Farren have his roof entirely replaced, either with new slate or asphalt shingles.
Installing a new slate roof would be “economically adverse,” Derry said, as it costs roughly four times more than asphalt. He estimated putting a new slate roof on Farren’s home would cost between $240,000 and $260,000.
Additionally, Farren would likely need to wait until next year to have the work done, due to the limited number of contractors who perform that work, Derry wrote in his letter.
On Nov. 14, 2024, Farren asked the city’s Historic Preservation Commission if he could replace the aging slate roof on his home with a type of asphalt that looks like slate, but he was denied.
Liam Riordan, Historic Preservation Commission member, said during the meeting that the group’s role is to ensure any changes to homes in Bangor’s historic neighborhoods “preserve or enhance” the appearance of the building. Removing a slate roof and replacing it with asphalt, in his opinion, does not preserve or enhance the home.
Additionally, materials on historic homes should be repaired whenever possible rather than replaced, Riordan said. If an element must be replaced, the commission said it should be replaced with the same materials.
After the commission told Farren no, he took the matter to the Bangor Board of Appeals on Jan. 2, where he was again denied.
Farren needed to get permission from the city to make changes that could alter the building’s exterior appearance because his home is in the Broadway Historic District, according to city code.
The home was built in 1880 and Farren bought the property in 2017, according to city property records. The value of Farren’s home is currently assessed at nearly $472,000.
Farren believes his slate roof was installed after the Great Fire of 1911 — which his home survived — making it more than 100 years old and past the 75 to 100 years slate roofs usually last, he said to the Board of Appeals.
