Beaufort County is home to the state’s oldest town, Bath. It’s a beautiful little town, a historic treasure propped between two creeks.

Recently, the town has been considering adopting standards in the historic district that would determine what people can do with their property, how they can do it and what they can do it with, that would keep that property in keeping with the town’s historic atmosphere.

The town council and administration should be commended for asking for the historic district residents’ opinions on the matter before paying to have guidelines drawn up and laying them on home and business owners. A council that listens to their constituents and actively solicits their thoughts on issues that affect them — in this case, by sending a letter to all the residents in the historic district — is one that has the town’s best interests at heart.

Bath takes pride in their place on the National Historic Register and having a hard and fast set of standards to guide all property owners for additions, renovations and new construction would go a long way to preserve that placement. But adhering to strict guidelines like those of the Secretary of Interior’s standards for the treatment of historic properties is only really possible for those who have expendable income.

For many homeowners, replacing leaded glass windows with tasteful “six over six,” vinyl double-hung windows rather than reproductions of the originals is not only less expensive, it makes sense energy-wise. For many homeowners, putting up hardy plank or vinyl siding in keeping with a historic style is much more feasible than trying to keep wood in good shape.

If every home in Bath’s historic district is considered a historic place, then every home and business owner would have to comply with the same standards. Some would say that’s the price of living in a historic district. But the if that’s the price of living in the historic district, then many families, especially young families that can bring new life to even North Carolina’s oldest town, will be priced right out, and that would be an unfortunate outcome of good intentions.