The city’s Historic Preservation Commission appears stuck between a rock and, er, the siding these days …

And that’s an unenviable position.

At a public hearing this week, commission members heard arguments for the use of vinyl siding in historic districts, with one of the strongest being economics. Painting historic homes — particularly those with wooden siding — is expensive. So expensive, in fact, that many homeowners prefer to live with peeling paint and unattractive exteriors rather than spend thousands of dollars to have houses painted.

It’s a legitimate concern.

But also a concern is the historic integrity of the properties. National agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, discourage the use of vinyl siding, for good reason.

It does violate the historic integrity of a property and, more important, if installed incorrectly it can cause serious, and often undetected, damage to the original structure.

So what to do?

Commission members face public pressure to develop some sort of &uot;policy&uot; regarding vinyl siding usage.

We hope they won’t do that.

So far, the commission has faced the issue on a case-by-case basis … granting exceptions to the ordinance which prohibits siding only after weighing each case on the merits of the home, the homeowner and the plans at hand.

We believe that’s the best approach, even if it does allow for inconsistencies, and would encourage the commissioners to stick with it.

Even if that approach does leave them in an uncomfortable spot …