District’s Size Among Issues Eyed
Lexington’s Architecture Review Board is beginning discussions around potentially expanding the Board’s purview in the city’s residential historic conservation districts, as well as the possibility of expanding those districts and establishing a viewshed for the city.
These topics arose in part from the Board’s discussions during its review of the Historic Preservation chapter of the city’s comprehensive plan earlier this year.
During its meeting on Oct. 1, the Board got input from architectural historian Aubrey Von Lindern with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources about each of the three topics it is considering: adding language to the city’s ordinances to give the ARB some oversight over home additions in the historic residential districts, expanding the size of the districts to include more homes, and establishing a viewshed outside of the historic districts to help maintain a consistent look to Lexington.
Currently, the ARB only has oversight over the construction of new buildings and demolition of existing buildings within the historic residential districts. Additions to existing structures are not subject to the same oversight, which is something the Board would like to amend.
Doing so would require amending the ordinance, which requires public hearings be held by both the Lexington Planning Commission and City Council.
During the continued discussion in the Board’s Oct. 15 meeting, members expressed a desire to not expand the ARB’s oversight in those districts beyond the inclusion of additions to existing buildings and don’t intend to adopt the stricter oversight standards it has for the downtown historic district for buildings in the residential districts. The only intent is to close what members of the Board describe as a “loophole” to get around ARB review. -The consideration of expanding the residential historic districts is “not an arbitrary decision,” Board member Caroline Alexander said during the Oct. 15 meeting.
She noted that the current districts – which currently include many residences in the southwest part of Lexington between Nelson Street and Jordan Street, and in the area to the north and east of Henry Street – were created 50 years ago and that there are now more buildings in the city that have contributed to its history than when they were created. Additionally, expanding the historic district could mean that additional homeowners within the city could qualify for tax credits through the Department of Historic Resources.
There isn’t currently a plan on which areas of the city could be included in any potential expansion of the district. At the Oct. 15 meeting, members of the Board agreed to walk through areas surrounding the existing historic residential districts to come up with potential areas for expansion to be discussed at the Board’s next meeting on Nov. 5. -The main reason for potentially establishing a viewshed for the city is to help ensure that new construction in areas adjacent to the historic districts don’t drastically conflict with the historic architecture within the districts.
One area that the Board did discuss as a potential area where a viewshed could be established was along Nelson Street between the historic districts and the city’s entrance corridor where exterior designs are reviewed by the ARB and Planning Commission, respectively.
That area would include the city-owned property on Spotswood Drive, as well as General’s Retreat, which has submitted site plans for a potential renovation project that would replace the existing residential units with four larger buildings. In a 2019 application to the city for a setback adjustment under the city’s Planned Unit Development ordinance (which later became the Planned Development-Mixed Use ordinance), the owners included preliminary design sketches that show a more modern exterior for the buildings, three of which would be built adjacent to Nelson Street.
During the discussion on Oct. 1, ARB Vice Chair Michael Perry referred to the proposed redevelopment of General’s Retreat “one of the biggest threats to the overall character [of the city],” and felt Lexington residents could potentially be supportive of a viewshed “if people knew what was planned for that site and the threat that is out there.”
The site plans for the redesign of General’s Retreat were approved by the city in 2021 and were valid for five years per Lexington’s ordinances.
Earlier this year, Lexington city planner Arne Glaeser approved a one-year extension for the site plan, though no work has begun at the site yet. Neither Lexington’s city ordinances nor the Virginia State Code limit the number of times a developer can apply for extensions for an already approved site plan. -Implementation for any of these ideas, if they happen at all, will come at the end of a long process with many steps and chances for public feedback. For all three proposals, Von Lindern had the same advice for the Board: make sure residents are on board before getting too far into the process.
“The first thing we’re going to want to do is know that there’s public buy-in,” she said. “We don’t want to get to the end, to go through this whole process and [then] have a bunch of angry folks come out and say ‘We don’t like this. What are we doing here?’” The ARB will continue its discussion of these potential changes at its next meeting. Members have also requested that Glaeser reach out to the city manager about scheduling a work session with City Council to get feedback on these ideas.
