Milton historic commission approves town hall roof project

The Milton Historic Preservation Commission, by a unanimous vote, approved the Town of Milton’s application to replace the existing town hall cedar shake roof shingles with asphalt shingles. 

Project Manager Tom Quass said the project should be under contract by the end of the month. He said a start and finish date will depend on the contract.

The approval at the commission’s Sept. 10 meeting came after the matter was tabled in June because the commission wanted to see samples of what would be used. 

While the original roof material at town hall is unclear, Quass estimated that around the late 1990s or early 2000s, asphalt shingles were replaced with cedar shake shingles. Now, the town is seeking to go back to using asphalt shingles, as the cedar shingles are showing age. The roof itself is in decent shape, as town hall was renovated in 2009. Quass said putting on new cedar shake shingles would be cost prohibitive, in addition to not being the building’s original shingles. 

While the commission originally had questions about showing favoritism to the town in allowing the style of shingles to be changed, there was also no evidence the building had wooden shingles at any point.