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ALL ABOARD: New members of the Architectural Review Board Michelle Schwartz and John Sullivan are in good spirits at the latest ARB /Town Planning Commission joint session.
Painting the town
By Monty Tayloe
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The February 27 joint meeting of the Washington planning commission and the Architectural Review Board(ARB) continued the process of review for proposed changes to the town’s new historic district ordinance. The proposed ordinance is intended to preserve the historic character of Washington’s architecture, and will guide Washington’s ARB in rulings on future construction in town. Although the proposed new guidelines are perceived by many to be more restrictive than the previous ARB policies, some aspects of town building controls may loosen up. Historically, the ARB has mandated that only certain paint colors could be used on town buildings, providing prospective painters with a limited pallet of approved colors, and this may be about to change.
“Paint is temporary,” pointed out Cheryl Shepard of Millennium Preservation Services, who is working with the town to create the new ordinance. According to Shepard, it might not be desirable for future ARB’s to not consider paint issues, since color choice is subjective and difficult to defend in court.
“These things have become political in the past, and people have used the ARB to punish their enemies,” pointed out ARB chairman Patrick O’Connell. “It would be interesting for the ARB to become less restrictive on that issue [paint], to balance becoming more restrictive in others,” he continued. Conclusions on the ARB’s restrictiveness may not be reached for some time, as the proposed historic district ordinance will have to pass through many sessions of public forums and town council votes before being approved. This joint meeting was also noteworthy because it was the first session for new ARB members John Sullivan and Michelle Schwartz. After the meeting, the new members were praised by Washington Mayor Eugene Leggett.
“We have really got some good people on there now,” said Leggett who feels that the two boards were working very well together at their joint meeting.
Copies of the proposed historic draift ordinance are available for a small fee at the Washington Town Hall.
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