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To the editor:
There seems to be a deep misunderstanding among some of the residents of Washington, Virginia, and Rappahannock County about the purpose and goal of the Architectural Review Board (ARB). Turn the name around - a board which reviews architecture! To the best of my knowledge, every town or city o| any significant historical importance (the key word) has an ARB to help it maintain that position.
Certain villages; towns and cities in other counties of Virginia have been permitted to change their buildings to conform with the times - that’s known as progress! In doing so, the original buildings were torn down and replaced by faceless box-like edifices, or the original building fronts were covered by modern facades of artifical materials. Well-known old taverns were destroyed, leaving nothing but a plaque as a marker to indicate what once had been there. The connections with the past are lost forever, and the town or city loses it identity. This must not be allowed to happen here in First Washington.
Our ARB is doing its best to prevent our town and county from losing its identity. It’s not an easy task, but an understanding public could ease the burden by actually seeing the beauty and charm in the old huildings, and showing pride in having a residence in Washington and the county.
Because of a minority of one or two residents, the ARB has been placed in an unfortunate and awkward position. There will always be a few dissidents in a group who seem to take pleasure in crying “foul,” even though no fault was committed. The ARB is using written standards set forth by the Secretary of the Interior regarding the preservation of historic districts - precise guidelines which the board carefully follows in making its decisions. It is a non-threatening group of residents who want only the best for your town and county - a group composed of three members of the community - not a three-headed monster breathing fire!
In performing their duties, the members require that applications be submitted to the board for review, then they make their decisions based on the merits of each individual application. Every applicant sub
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