Supporters of St. Paul’s nine historic preservation districts highlight the value of protecting old neighborhoods from demolition for the benefit to residents and visitors alike. John Vaughn, however, feels that low-income areas like Dayton’s Bluff need more flexibility when it comes to preservation rules.

Vaughn, executive director of the East Side Neighborhood Development Co., has worked with Ramsey County and other partners to replace some 600 windows in low-income areas across the city in an effort to reduce childhood exposure to lead paint. The partnership pays up to 75 percent of the window-replacement costs.

Vaughn was surprised to discover children in Dayton’s Bluff had the highest rates of lead poisoning in the state. Large clusters of pre-1950s rental housing, much of it in disrepair, were putting children in the neighborhood at risk, specifically because of old, cracking paint.

Also to his surprise, his window-replacement effort was the most sluggish in the East Side census tracts that had the most lead, including the Dayton’s Bluff Heritage Preservation District.

From language barriers to absenteeism, Vaughn acknowledges there are number of reasons why it might be hard to get a landlord or homeowner to agree to replace their windows. But he worries that in Dayton’s Bluff, the sometimes-lengthy review process before the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission, which oversees building permits within the city’s nine historic districts, poses an added challenge.

Those reviews may soon get even tricker.

City ordinance amendments that will be debated before the HPC on Thursday would add new $500 review fees to proposals that go before the full Heritage Preservation Commission, while expanding the commission’s powers.

St. Paul City Council member Jane Prince, who represents Dayton’s Bluff, isn’t convinced that the Heritage Preservation Commission lacks flexibility or deters home improvements.

Prince said that even in low-income neighborhoods, a historic district can spur positive changes.

Last year, following months of sometimes-tense discussion with community groups, the city helped steer six weathered properties in the Dayton’s Bluff historic district into the hands of nonprofits and private owners, who are converting them into affordable rental housing or moving in themselves. The result has impacted a three-block section of Bates Avenue for the better.

In addition, a historic home tour takes place annually within the district.

“I can guarantee that most of the good stuff that’s been happening in Dayton’s Bluff would not have come to the neighborhood … had we put in a bunch of new housing with no historic references,” Prince said. “Historic preservation, even in my low-income neighborhood, is still a high value. It is about making the neighborhood more attractive, and a place that people want to be. That should be able to be a value for low-income renters, as well as homeowners.”

Vaughn points out that the two window replacements his partnership completed in Dayton’s Bluff last year were delayed by 53 days and three months, respectively, to get through HPC scrutiny, even though a child with lead poisoning lived in one of the homes.

Vaughn, who has lived in three historic homes in Stillwater, says he faces fewer regulations and less scrutiny when he restores his own home properties. The looser rules, ironically, inspire more home repair because they can be done faster and at less expense.

“It has never made sense to me why these old low-market-value homes are subjected to similar standards and costs that mansions and architectural beauties are,” Vaughn said. “It … should be about people, not property. The HPC should just waive the fees and bump us to the head of the line when we have homes where kids are sick. Maybe if they did, we’d be able to do more in Dayton’s Bluff.”

John Loban, a Realtor who fought for historic districts along Summit Avenue in the 1980s, points out that the city benefits from preservation, and should see residents in historic districts as partners, not adversaries.

Loban said he’s still a believer in historic districts — provided they show a little more flexibility.

“In many respects, some of the biggest tourist attractions in the city are in the historic districts,” Loban said. “It brings in tax revenue. And yet the people who maintain those homes are being asked to take on the extra costs, and they’re increasing across the board. It doesn’t seem fair to me that burden goes on the very people the city wants — they’re already spending more than the average person keeping their home up.”