Resident urges consistent application of Historic Preservation Ordinance after new City Hall sign

Jim Dahlmeyer, a Loveland resident, read a letter on behalf of a neighbor urging the Loveland City Council to apply the city’s Historic Preservation and Planning District guidelines and Ordinance 13-28 consistently to projects that begin with the city itself.

Dahlmeyer said the city recently installed an internally lit digital display in front of City Hall that, he said, is “the antithesis of historic.” He told the council the sign is bright, modern and visually dominant and — in his reading of the ordinance and design-review guidelines — should have been reviewed by the Historic Preservation and Planning Commission the same way a privately owned property would be reviewed.

He quoted Ordinance 13-28, saying its purpose is to “preserve, protect, and perpetuate places, buildings, and structures having special historical community or aesthetic interest or value” and to “safeguard the heritage of the city.” Dahlmeyer argued that the sign and other recent projects located in the historic district have not gone to the commission for review and that the city should model the same respect for the process it expects of private property owners.

When asked whether the letter he read had an author, Dahlmeyer said the letter came from Sherry Hamlin. Dahlmeyer said his remarks were not intended to oppose modernization, but rather to call for consistent application of design-review requirements.

No formal action was taken by the council in response to the comments during the meeting. Dahlmeyer’s remarks were made during the public-comment portion of the agenda.