proposals for demolition, new construction
or alterations to buildings within the historic district in
addition to other zoning requirements. Overlay historic
district ordinances enacted by counties, cities and towns
across the Commonwealth share similar characteristics. All define
the historic district’s boundaries and establish a local
review board or preservation commission to review and approve
or deny proposed alterations, new construction or demolition
within the historic district, using a set of design guidelines.
However, Virginia localities define
“historic district” in different ways. Some are
composed of all buildings built before a certain date within
the locality’s boundaries, others may
be single-property districts. Still others—the type most frequently seen in Virginia—include a collection of resources, like certain blocks of a downtown commercial district or a late 19th century residential neighborhood.
be single-property districts. Still others—the type most frequently seen in Virginia—include a collection of resources, like certain blocks of a downtown commercial district or a late 19th century residential neighborhood.
IMPORTANCE OF HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY
As the definition of historic districts differs,
so do the resources in those districts. Virginia’s wide
variety of historic districts—courthouse, residential,
commercial, industrial, academic, rural, or crossroads community—possess
their own identities, their own character. In establishing protective
local districts, communities must decide what building or
collection of buildings to include, based on the architectural,
historic or cultural significance of their resources.
Decisions about what resources to protect
are best made following a historic resources survey. The DHR
recognizes a survey as the foundation of a local historic
preservation program. Only when a local government knows its
resources and their importance can it begin the process of
recognizing and preserving those that are most significant.
In the past 15 years, organized community
surveys of historic resources have been accomplished for the
most part using the DHR Survey and Planning Cost Share program.
The cost share program makes state funds for a historic
resources survey available to a local government willing to
match the state contribution. The DHR usually assumes
responsibility for hiring a consultant to complete the survey
in compliance with state and federal standards. Products
generated by the survey include forms describing each building surveyed,
photographs, maps and a survey report with a discussion of the
historic themes represented by the buildings in the surveyed
area and recommendations for additional survey as well as a
list of properties that appear to be eligible for
listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register
and the National Register of Historic Places. The survey report
may also make recommendations for future preservation
activities in the community, such as enacting a historic
district ordinance. A local historic resources survey
therefore, can serve as a planning tool for local governments
interested in the public recognition and sensitive treatment of
their community’s historic resources.
RECOGNITION PROGRAMS
Information gained from a survey allows a
community to make informed decisions about how to recognize and
protect its historic resources. Recognition can take the form
of listing in a local inventory of historic places or in the
Virginia Landmarks Register, administered by DHR, and the
National Register of Historic Places, maintained by the
National Park Service. The Virginia Landmarks Register and the
National Register of Historic Places are honorary designations.
The registers can
be compared to state and national “honor rolls” of buildings that are important to local, state or US history and worthy of preservation. Despite popular thought, there are no restrictions on owners associated with register listing. Simply listing a building in the registers provides no protection against the demolition or alteration of a resource. It is the local historic district ordinance that provides real protection for historic resources.
be compared to state and national “honor rolls” of buildings that are important to local, state or US history and worthy of preservation. Despite popular thought, there are no restrictions on owners associated with register listing. Simply listing a building in the registers provides no protection against the demolition or alteration of a resource. It is the local historic district ordinance that provides real protection for historic resources.
GENERAL GUIDANCE FOR
LOCAL ORDINANCES
LOCAL ORDINANCES
The National Trust for Historic
Preservation’s guidance (see list of sources at the end
of the article) on establishing a local historic district
ordinance identifies broad concepts on which all ordinances
must be established in order to pass constitutional muster:
They must identify historic preservation as a valid public
