The chairwoman of the Duluth Heritage Preservation Commission tendered her resignation "with great dismay" to Mayor Don Ness on Tuesday, after five years of service, citing what she believed to be a lack of respect by the city of Duluth to preservation standards.
Penny Clark, who served on the commission for five years, including three at the helm, wrote in her resignation letter: "I can no longer work with or for city governmental bodies that do not respect or care about the importance of the City of Duluth's Heritage Preservation Ordinance that DHPC commissioners are asked to uphold." Also, she wrote: "To me, this translates that city officials have little regard for the preservation and protection of Duluth's rich history."
Calling her "a tremendous citizen," Ness said he was disappointed and sorry to hear that Clark was stepping down.
City staff members had recently clashed with the commission over the historical appropriateness of new windows that are to be installed in Duluth's City Hall and the commission's continued authority to approve or deny proposed changes to local landmarks.
Ness said the staff of Duluth's Planning Department has been stretched thin by the labor-intensive task of overhauling the city's Unified Development Chapter, but now that the task is complete, staff members should be able to devote more attention to the commission's activities, improving communication.
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"We value the historic assets we have here in Duluth, and we look forward to working more closely with the DHPC," Ness said.
