St. Paul’s Heritage Preservation Commission oversees changes to historic structures within the city’s nine historic districts, helping to preserve old homes from demolition and recklessness.

Some critics, however, say the 12-member board can sometimes go too far, inadvertently increasing construction costs and delaying housing improvements at a time when housing is already too expensive.

Ray Meyer, 79, is one of those critics, even though the retired 3M engineer sat on the commission for 2½ years in the early 2000s.

“It was a terrible experience for me,” said Meyer, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars restoring his five-level Queen Anne Victorian off Dale Street with historically sensitive precision. “I felt uncomfortable with the way they treated people.”

With the commission now contemplating a series of broad changes to the ordinance that created it in 1976, Meyer — an award-winning preservationist — said he believes the amendments move in the wrong direction.

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Shortly after 5 p.m. on a Thursday last November, in a basement meeting room of the Ramsey County Courthouse, Meyer and the commission faced off over history — and herringbone.

Meetings of the Heritage Preservation Commission don’t usually draw sparks, but Nov. 16 was a different story.

Meyer, who has owned his 1890s-era duplex for 20 years, sought permission to replace the broken, uneven concrete along the front 90 feet of his driveway with stamped concrete, tinted red and patterned like herringbone, a rough approximation of brick.

He had already received approval to install the pattern in the building’s rear yard, and he hoped to extend it to the Portland Avenue sidewalk, at a total cost to him of $60,000.

Meyer, who said he had returned to City Hall seven or eight times to negotiate his driveway plans, dug up parts of his yard to prove there was precedent for a brick pattern.

“They said find brick in my yard, and I did it,” he said Wednesday. He even took photos around his neighborhood. “I said here are 15 addresses in the area that have brick driveways.”

At the meeting, the commission discussed the herringbone pattern at length, and — after hearing testimony from multiple residents of the Historic Hill Heritage Preservation District in favor of Meyer’s proposal — voted 11-0 to deny his request.

PRESERVATIONIST FIGHTS PRESERVATION COMMISSION

Before the vote was done, however, commission members called for security to remove Meyer, who had expressed repeated frustration with the commission’s findings.

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Hastings bar owner: $7K state fine for alleged mask violation is ‘outrageous’ “Stamped concrete on one side, brick pavers on the other, has no historic basis at the property,” said HPC staff member George Cause prior to the vote, according to the official meeting minutes. “It could create a false sense of history, and does not meet the Secretary of the Interior’s standards, or the Historic Hill guidelines. … We don’t feel like it would visually look like a brick paver.”

Meyer then told the commission that over the course of two decades and hundreds of thousands of dollars, he had painstakingly restored and replaced his home’s front columns, porch and deck using expensive woods, and replaced a rusted chain-link fence with a Victorian-style gate, among other exterior improvements.

In 2002, his preservation work, he said, won a joint award from the St. Paul chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Heritage Preservation Commission itself. He felt the commission lacked evidence of what type of material was used on his driveway in 1890.

Multiple neighbors backed him up, as did his sister, who lives in the duplex. Meyer had a supportive petition with 23 signatures from neighboring residents.

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“Those of us who have chosen to live in a historic district certainly want it to remain historic,” said Portland Avenue resident Jason Patalonis. “Most of us who live in the neighborhood are trying to preserve that integrity. But at the same (time), it is 2017, and we don’t have the Ford Foundation funding (improvements) to our houses.”

Commissioners were unmoved.

“I’m somewhat concerned about the tinting process,” said Commissioner Stuart MacDonald. “Our experience has always been that it’s a relatively fugitive color, that it changes over time. And it changes in an irregular bottle fashion, so I think it looks less like what you’re trying to achieve at the beginning.”

Commissioner William Lightner agreed. “I think we do, as a commission, want to recognize the homeowner’s great work to preserve their house … but I think as a body here our job is to apply the National Secretary of the Interior standards.”

Said Meyer, interrupting: “Your job is to do the right thing on a practical basis.”

“You need to not interrupt,” said Lightner, who was then interrupted again.

“Well, you need to get the facts,” Meyer said.

“Order, you’re out of order, sir!” said Michael Justin, chair of the Heritage Preservation Commission, calling the hearing to order with his gavel.

The to-and-fro continued, even as Meyer stood up to leave. “You don’t want facts, thank you, thank you,” said Meyer, who, according to the meeting minutes, had left the audience and was standing between the two rows of commissioners.

“Can we call security?” said commission Secretary Robert Ferguson.

“You betcha!” said Meyer.

The meeting minutes show a staff member then left the room to get courthouse security.

Justin then called for a vote, and Meyer’s proposal was denied 11-0. Related Articles St. Paul district reports enrollment drop as pandemic moves school online

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As of last week, the front half of Meyer’s cracked driveway remains untouched, and he isn’t sure exactly what he’ll do with his 90 feet of broken history.

Justin, the commission chairman, declined to comment directly on the commission’s decision involving Meyer, instead referring a reporter to a transcript of the November meeting.

Under Chapter 73 of city ordinances, heritage preservation sites are defined as any “areas, places, buildings, structures, lands, districts or other objects which have been duly designated heritage preservation sites.”

In an apparent effort to clarify its jurisdiction over driveways, the commission will hold a public hearing May 24 on a proposed ordinance amendment that, among many other things, would add authority over “landscapes” to its list of regulatory powers.