Welby Lehman is a contributing blogger to HarrisonburgSummits.com.
The following is an excerpt from the report of the “The Greenest Buildings Aren’t in the Landfill: Historic Preservation and Sustainability” here at Harrisonburg Summits:
“When the Historic Districts were created, there were concerns that the establishment of an Architectural Review Board (ARB) that would have the power to review proposed changes to structures in the Historic Districts would constrain property owners so that they would not support the Districts. Harrisonburg has no ARB.”
I think the lack of an ARB is good thing. I was not involved in this decision but to whoever was, “Thank you.”
This is good for two reasons. First, there already is a review of proposed changes to projects that are applying for federal and state historical tax credits. The application for tax credits requires photos and drawings to accompany written descriptions of the work to be completed. The majority of renovation projects have needed these credits to be economically feasible anyway (Beyond Restaurant, City Exchange to name two). So most of them are reviewed as it is (sorry I don’t have any hard numbers).
The second reason, which is more speculative on my part, is that establishing an ARB would have created a false sense of historical significance in the downtown. That may sound harsh, but let me explain. Harrisonburg has a number of nice, old buildings. It also has its share of eyesores. The later may be in the historical district and I’m all for preserving the structure, but they don’t need to be revered and definitely should not be considered sacred. For many of these buildings, the street facade is nothing special. If adaptive-reuse projects were to be planned for them, maintaining the facade should not be the “make-or-break” issue.
Even worse, the presence of an ARB would encourage the belief that new buildings should “look the part” to reflect a bygone era. We have new construction happening now with plenty of potential for more. These future buildings need the freedom to reflect the current time through their design. We use different tools, materials, and have different performance standards for our buildings today than we did in the past. Consequently, today’s buildings look different as well. But the catch is that with the juxtaposition of old and new, the new must take its cues from old (scale, proportion, and form) and the result is a harmonious urban fabric.
I believe an ARB would put too much emphasis on the “historical” side of Harrisonburg, which in my opinion, isn’t that strong. I don’t feel we need to have a “historic” identity to attract businesses, residents or even tourists to the downtown. But, with an appropriate mix of preservation and contemporary design we will have an identity that is uniquely (at least regionally) Harrisonburg. 50 years from now we should want citizens of Harrisonburg to look with pride and say, “See how they built in 1900 there, and then in 1950 there, and 2010 over there. And all of it is good!”
