Read all about it

What had me on tenterhooks the other day was a conversation I'd just had with The Citizen's Mandy Bolen -- actually it was one of several interviews -- about our window issue. I've been talking with her for almost a month. She's a fine reporter, and I say that as a guy who's worked in newspapers for most of my life.

So, she said she was doing a Sunday story. With all respect, and knowing that things happen, considering the newspaper business I never count on it until I see it.

Well, it's Sunday, and there it is, Column One, Page One: "Old Town history vs. safety debated." (One-column headlines are seldom elegant, but I'm not complaining; it's accurate.)

I always say, If you're planning to drop-kick a beehive, you might as well do it on the front page of the Sunday paper.

Here's what Ms. Bolen wrote, with apologies to those who already read great swaths of it in my letter to Commissioner Lopez:

By Mandy Bolen
Citizen Staff

John Teets, like many Old Town homeowners, is serving two masters -- his insurance company and Key West city's historic preservation commission.

Metal windows have been deemed safer in hurricanes, but wood-framed windows are historically accurate, and the city's Historic Architectural Review Commission has insisted on them.

Compliance with HARC rules will cost Teets and his partner, Robert Rymer, $3,000 per year in increased insurance premiums, along with about $7,000 to replace the metal windows already installed when the builder complied with wind codes rather than HARC guidelines.

"HARC can't trump fire-safety codes; how can it continue to deny wind-safety requirements?" Teets asked his city commissioner, Clayton Lopez, in an April 13 letter requesting the City Commission order a review of HARC guidelines as they relate to windows.

A public workshop to discuss HARC guidelines takes place Monday evening, and Teets plans to participate. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. at Old City Hall, 510 Greene St.

The HARC commission comprises five members nominated by the mayor and approved by the City Commission. The commissioners do not write the guidelines, but enforce them, as they pertain to the federal government's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Structures.

In the letter, Teets explained to Lopez that a year ago, his builder made a mistake when installing metal- rather than wood-framed windows.

"His mistake? Installing windows that meet tough storm codes, but not HARC guidelines -- not because of their appearance, but because they're made of metal."

Teets has emphasized that he is not opposed to historic preservation guidelines and acknowledges they are essential to communities, but he said Friday that the standards should be based on the appearance of the historic buildings, not on the materials used.

When Teets appealed HARC's decision that would have forced him to replace the metal windows with wood, HARC Commissioner Nils Muench stopped by the Center Street home to inspect the metal-framed windows.

"The lone HARC commissioner who did look found the windows perfectly acceptable in appearance and moved to approve them," Teets wrote to Lopez, who is also is willing to reconsider the guidelines.

"If the homes conform visually to the historic structure, what's the matter with it?" Lopez said last week. "We have to find a middle ground."

Lopez added that his mother served on the city's very first HARC board, but that she stepped down in frustration.

"When you start wanting to regulate what materials can be used just for aesthetic purposes and not for the purpose of saving the building, something has to be done," he said.

City Commissioner Bill Verge also has been following the HARC dilemma, and although he considers himself a "middle of the roader," he said there could be room for more leniency.

"Sometimes the guidelines put people in somewhat impossible positions," Verge said. "If you want to preserve something back to 1885, you might as well take out the bathrooms and put in an outhouse."

Verge praised HARC's preservation work overall, but said it could be time for a "kinder, gentler HARC" in light of conflicting insurance requirements and the specificity of historic guidelines.

Teets on Monday also will highlight the benefits of more modern materials in the face of hurricane-force winds.

"Those of us who live here take hurricanes as seriously as San Franciscans regard earthquakes," he wrote. "We know the question isn't if a big one will hit, but when, and we look to the past to strengthen us for tomorrow."

He pointed out the technological innovations that came about as a result of Hurricane Andrew's deadly winds in 1992.

"Since then, manufacturers have stepped up to offer a wide variety of products that provide structural protection -- including impact-rated windows in pleasing architectural styles," Teets wrote.

"Yet despite this history, and despite increasing warnings of more volatile hurricane seasons to come, Key West's Old Town might as well be trapped in 1892, a century before Andrew. Wind protection required elsewhere in Monroe County is explicitly denied here because of HARC guidelines."

Teets acknowledges that wooden shutters could protect wood-framed windows, but not as surely as impact-resistant windows do it on their own.

"Metal window systems integrate with the rest of the house, so the protective membrane remains intact in high winds," he said.

"They are architecturally unobtrusive, and far from threatening Old Town's historic treasure, they could actually help preserve it in the face of a deadly storm.

"I think it's imperative to protect life and property within Old Town without changing its historic appearance."