A Bangor commission approved a historic home owner’s request to replace his failing slate roof with asphalt after previously denying a similar request from another home owner almost a year ago.
The Historic Preservation Commission voted on Sept. 11 to allow Steven Thomason to remove the existing slate roof on his house on West Broadway and replace it with asphalt shingles that look like slate. The new roof is due to be installed by the end of the month.
Historic Preservation Members largely agreed in the meeting that the imitation slate doesn’t look quite like the real thing and removing the original roof will change the historic character of the home. But, they also said that concessions must be made to ensure homeowners can afford to maintain their properties, especially when there are so few tradespeople in the region that work with slate.
“It’s a financial hardship to ask someone with a $600,000 home to put on an $800,000 roof,” commission member Nathaniel King said. “I’d be more resistant to it if the entire neighborhood was nothing but slate roofs and we had plenty of craftsmen who could do that work, but we don’t.”
Thomason’s request echoes that of another Bangor homeowner whose similar request launched a nearly year-long stalemate with the city. The commission’s latest decision raises questions about the standards it uses for approving such requests, as the other historic homeowner continues to seek a resolution.
Thomason’s home, built in 1910, sits in the city’s Whitney Park Historic District, which requires him to get permission from the Historic Preservation Commission before making changes that could alter the external appearance of his property.
Thomason bought the house in 2020 for slightly less than $315,000, according to city property records. At the time, he was told he’d spend $300 to $500 every few years to maintain the roof. In reality, he has spent roughly $13,000 on roof repairs in the last three years, Thomason said.
Those repairs were all made by Robert Ruddy, who ran Mariaville-based Acadian Shores Slate Roofing and recently retired, Thomason said. When other Maine roofing companies either didn’t return his calls, don’t work on slate or have years-long waitlists, Thomason said he was forced to seek alternatives.
Thomason’s application included a letter from Ryan Cheek, a roofing advisor at Home Roofing Solutions in Etna, describing how Thomason’s roof, which is more than 120 years old, “has reached advanced deterioration.”
“My inspection found fractured and missing shingles, loose and unstable tiles, and compromised underlayment and flashing,” Cheek said. “The roof can no longer be reliably repaired, and a full replacement is required to protect the home and occupants.”
Cheek also estimated that a new slate roof would cost anywhere from $250,000 to more than $500,000, and he doesn’t know of any in-state contractors who could perform that work. That’s far more expensive than the fake slate roof, which will cost Thomason slightly more than $40,000, according to his application.
The other homes surrounding Thomason’s have either partially or entirely asphalt roofs, though it’s uncertain when those were replaced, according to Thomason.
The commission’s decision on Thomason’s roof came nearly a year after the group denied a similar request made by a resident who owns a home in Bangor’s Broadway Historic District. The city’s Board of Appeals upheld the Historic Preservation Commission’s ruling a few months later.
That homeowner, Steven Farren, replaced his aging slate roof with asphalt tiles that look like slate this past spring, bucking repeated denials from the city. The city then issued Farren a notice that ordered him to fix the violation.
Farren has since applied for retroactive permission from the Historic Preservation Commission for his new roof with new evidence of why he needed to replace it, but poor member attendance at meetings has stalled that decision by several months. The group is scheduled to consider Farren’s request next month.
Farren believes the commission approving Thomason’s new roof should set a precedent for all other historic homeowners, including himself, who want to replace their aging slate roofs with asphalt in order to preserve the building.
“If someone wants to drastically change their home, I agree that they should go before a board,” Farren said. “But, save the people who live in these homes the headache of asking for the same thing their neighbor had approved a year ago.”
Attempts to reach commission chairperson Edmund Chernesky were unsuccessful.
While Farren believes the commission approving Thomason’s roof means they should approve all similar requests moving forward, Tara Kelly, executive director of Maine Preservation, a statewide historic preservation nonprofit, argued it’s not that simple.
Local historic preservation commissions have to consider requests on a case-by-case basis using the information presented to them in each application, Kelly said. One difference between two applications could make the difference between approval and rejection.
“Historic commissions are typically evaluating the information provided to them, so there could be persuasive arguments or illustrative plans that differ from one application to another,” Kelly said.
A group’s previous decisions can be factors in future rulings, but it’s one of many factors they should take into consideration when deciding on an application. Other variables could include how visible a proposed change would be from the street or what the building is surrounded by, Kelly said.
While Thomason said the commission should still consider each application they receive carefully, he hopes the group giving him permission to replace his roof signals a shifting sentiment among the group about how to best maintain the city’s beautiful historic homes.
Thomason said he hopes to live in the home for the rest of his life, but needs to be able to maintain it — and afford that work —- in order to do so. If he can’t keep the home liveable and safe for his family, he’ll have to sell it and place the burden on someone else.
“We want these homes to remain intact and beautiful, but if we don’t have the contractors needed to maintain them, something needs to be done,” Thomason said.
