The city’s historic preservation commission may have made history at its Feb. 24 meeting.
The commission that a decade ago was notorious for telling property owners in the historic district what they’re not allowed to do actually prompted enthusiastic applause from a larger-than-usual audience.
The topic? Painted fence posts. Again.
Yes, once again, the city’s Historic Architectural Review Commission (HARC) tackled the topic of fence pickets. The commission was seeking to allow homeowners to paint a few wooden fence posts in colors that are not specifically permitted under the historic preservation guidelines, which recommend wooden fence pickets be unpainted or white in the historic district.
Because Key West’s Old Town area is a designated historic district, boasting one of the largest collections of historic wooden buildings in the country, homeowners there are bound by preservation guidelines.
The HARC board, whose members are each appointed by a city commissioner, has been trying since November to amend the regulations so homeowners in the historic district can paint six or seven of their fence pickets the colors of the rainbow. But so far, the HARC commissioners have been getting pushback from the city’s legal staff, which continued at the Feb. 24 meeting.
Assistant city attorney Ryan Goodman told the HARC commissioners that city staff “strongly recommends” against making any changes to the guidelines.
“Any amendment carries a degree of legal risk,” Goodman told the commission. “This may be the beginning of a slippery slope, so we strongly recommend taking no action.”
That wasn’t the line that drew applause from the audience. It’s what HARC commissioner Bryan Green said next, and the direction the full commission gave to the lawyer that was met with enthusiastic support.
Green proposed a change to the guidelines, stating, “In an effort to allow for freedom of expression, six 4-foot-tall pickets of different colors may be permitted in the historic district.”
The change would not be “content specific,” meaning it would not pertain solely to the rainbow colors, but would allow six pickets painted in any solid colors.
“I do not believe the world would end if we were to do this,” said Green, who is gay. “I do believe my community would be terrifically pleased that the city has accepted the gay community as a fundamental and integral part of the community, the same way Bahama Village is.” He had pointed to earlier exceptions made to the historic guidelines that allow buildings in Bahama Village to be painted in brighter Caribbean colors to reflect the cultural heritage of the neighborhood.
The rest of the HARC board informally supported Green’s proposed amendment and asked city staff to draft an amendment for next month’s meeting.
The rainbow fence trend began last summer, after state officials forced Key West and other cities to remove rainbow-painted and other colored crosswalks, or lose state transportation funding.
After the city commission voted not to stand up to the state’s crosswalk removal mandate, several homeowners began painting seven or so pickets of their fences in rainbow colors. The rainbow renaissance appeared on fences from Bahama Village to Flagler Avenue.
Then the complaints started — and the lawyers grew concerned, as the rainbow colors are not specifically allowed under the historic guidelines.
“I’m all for preservation, but it’s not about freezing a city in time. Key West’s history of inclusion is worth preserving as much as the architecture,” resident Nicole Sohn said at the December HARC meeting.
