For immediate release—December 13, 2007

Contact: Franklin Wright/PHW President (540-662-1676)

Preservation of Historic Winchester Files an Appeal to the Kent Street Demolition Decision

Precedent and follow-through on

purported redevelopment plan a concern…

Winchester, Va. - Today Preservation of Historic Winchester (PHW) announced that it has filed an appeal with the Winchester Circuit Court to the decision made by the Winchester City Council allowing the demolition of five structures on the 400 block of South Kent Street. All of these structures are located in the Historic Winchester District as well as the Winchester National Historic District and are designated as contributing to the purposes of the district. In filing the appeal, Franklin Wright, President of the Board of Directors of PHW remarked “Regretfully, PHW is taking this action following considerable soul-searching and thought. However, we believe that the action by City Council on November 13^th to overrule the Board of Architectural Review’s denial of the demolition of these structures is flawed and not in the best interest of the city or its residents.”

The buildings in question are part of a package of buildings donated to the Robert E. Rose Foundation by Miss Vivienne Jackson. The Rose Foundation desires to demolish the buildings – clear cut a swath of the historic district – purportedly to redevelop the vacant lots for “affordable housing”.

PHW’s appeal, filed in accordance with the City’s historic district ordinance, contends that City Council’s decision was flawed by a number of procedural defects. Further, PHW contends that the City Council's approval to demolish the row of five buildings was based on representations by the applicant as to what will be put in their place, but without requiring a legally enforceable promise or enforcement mechanism for the plan, and thus the Council’s action was arbitrary and an abuse of discretion. “We believe the City’s authority to require such mechanism is fairly implied in the enabling statute and is essential and indispensable to the proper exercise of the City's power to administer an historic district,” said Wright.

City Council acknowledged the demolition of these structurally sound buildings was conditioned upon the “plan” presented by the developer – yet Council also admitted that the developer would not be required to do anything once the buildings were destroyed. The lots could be left vacant! Even when faced with a glaring example on South Braddock Street of a demolition premised on an unenforceable promise to replace the demolished building with a contextual office building, the result has been a parking lot. Council has failed to require a performance bond or proffer or any other device for the application.

PHW seeks the opportunity to work with both the Rose Foundation and the City to develop a compromise plan that will be a mix of restored historic buildings and new construction. Rather than being an “absolutist” approach to preservation, PHW urges a pragmatic assessment of the adaptability of the historic buildings and a strategic restoration program. From March 2007 until this past September, when the Rose Foundation precipitously broke off negotiations, PHW sought compromise positions, approving the demolition of some of the Rose holdings while offering proposals for how the remaining historic structures could be profitably restored. PHW even offered to purchase the buildings from the Foundation. PHW would have then resold the buildings to for-profit developers or individual owners who could use the generous state and federal income tax credits that would enable some of the buildings to be renovated, new construction on other lots, and the goal of affordable housing be achieved.

There are numerous examples in Winchester, elsewhere in Virginia and across the U.S. of historic buildings having been economically restored and put back into service, often providing affordable housing in some of the most challenging real estate markets in the county. State and federal tax credits, such as those used to rehab the much saluted Jones Knitting Mill, also a vernacular, utilitarian structure, much like the Kent Street houses, into a highly successful commercial venture. In the Knitting Mill, the historic building was restored and adapted with the final per-square-foot cost below comparable new construction. Continues Wright “It requires dedication, vision, creativity, and a will to improve the quality of life in the city. The ability to work out such a compromise was short circuited by council’s decision.”

“PHW sorely regrets that it must take this step in filing the appeal. We want to be partners with the City and with property owners to show how to preserve the past while serving the needs of the present and the future. But we believe that it is a necessary step to defend the Historic District, support the good work of the BAR, and revive good-faith negotiations to seek a successful solution for all the parties involved in this matter.”

Preservation of Historic Winchester was founded in 1964; its purpose is to help protect the architecture and physical history of Winchester - one of the most historic communities in Virginia. Since its founding, PHW has helped to create the Winchester Historic District, promote creation of the Board of Architectural Review, protects more than 80 historic buildings with restrictive covenants, provides grants and loans to help restore historic buildings, and hosts educational programs to help residents better understand the city’s architectural history and means to preserve its buildings.