Do you live in Portsmouth? Do you have a few choice words about the Historic District Commission? So do I.

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Did you also know that there are no clear guidelines to help historic district homeowners as they plan improvements to their homes? The most recent is as old as I am… dated 1977. Tonight at Portsmouth City Hall, at 7pm, the city council will hold a public hearing to address the allocation of funds to create an updated design guide to help explain to homeowners what the Historic District Commission is looking for when you want to update windows, change the style of your front door, or (in my case) change the material used on the roof.

It can be expensive to appear in front of the commission. It cost me nearly $170 to hear that I could not put a metal roof on my 180 year old barn. Would a design guide have helped? I’m not sure either way, but what about the woman who wanted to replace old, single-pane windows with more energy efficient windows. She was also denied because she did not have the answers to the commission’s questions. She didn’t have a guide, which would have explained the difference between a casement and a replacement window, what material should be and how the trim should look.

A design guide is nothing more than instructions for maintaining a look & feel that reflects a brand’s image. In this case, the brand is historic Portsmouth, NH. It is an expensive proposition to learn your lesson at the hearing. And that’s just what Portsmouth homeowners are up against when they spend their time dreaming up improvements to their homes; improvements that will make their space more useful, more energy efficient, more livable.

During the recent election, one city councilor who will be seated this evening told me, “The design guide is not ready for prime-time.” As though work has been done to create such a guide and all was required now was approval to accept. That’s not where we stand.

Portsmouth’s historic district property owners deserve to have the same resources available to communities across the country – a current and updated design guide that clearly explains each and every point that will fall under the scrutiny of the city’s Historic District Commission. A resource that is readily available AHEAD of submitting their application and paying the exceptional fees associated with the process.

Should the Portsmouth City Council vote down this initiative, it should be so noted, in order for city residents and property owners to direct their complaints and frustrations appropriately, on those councillors who have continually delayed action.

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Dan Freund is a tax-paying, Portsmouth resident.
In the Fall of 2013, he applied to replace an asphalt roof with a metal roof, and was denied. Color, shape, even the durability of modern coatings were given as cause for denial. The fee to apply was $50. The unexpected fees for postage, notification, and an ad in the local newspaper amounted to $114.67, and notice of additional charge above the application fee was not readily given ahead of receiving the bill. It cost nearly $165 to be DENIED. While unclear whether or not a design guide would have resulted in a more favorable outcome, it certainly would have helped in the planning stages.