Opinion: BAR No Longer a Real Board of Historic Preservation

By Andrew Macdonald

Wednesday night at the Old Town Board of Architectural Review (BAR) hearing, residents of North Columbus Street learned that historic preservation is simply a façade for behind the scenes wheeling and dealing between developers and city officials. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has witnessed the uncontrolled redevelopment of Alexandria, and the farcical attempt to equate greater turnout (e.g., changing the local election from May to November) with a higher level of democracy.

The 300 block of North Columbus Street is as good a place as any to tell the story of a city that once listened to its residents but now turns a deaf ear to anything but the cha-ching sound of money in the piggy bank.

What’s the issue here?

A local developer wants to turn an old parking lot that once was the site of a row of fine old historic homes into something that he and the City’s BAR for the Old and Historic Alexandria District board say complements the historic character of the town. 

Residents say it doesn’t and that the plan should be changed—not stopped completely.
The developer wants to build five townhouses that will tower over the historic homes that it faces on the west side of North Columbus Street. The structures contain huge glass windows that give their facades a decidedly industrial look, and the buildings will ne much taller then the homes that line the street there now. There are no real gardens associated with the structures, just garages.

Residents who live along this block and elsewhere think the project will disfigure the street they live on and should be scaled back and rethought. They took the time to look closely at the plan and suggest reasonable changes.

The BAR listened disinterestedly to these residents and said the plan looks great and that the applicant has made changes that will improve it. When was that? Oh, just Wednesday night, they say.

Residents are told that tolerating the scale of the proposed construction is just a matter of perspective. As one member of the BAR said, “If you stand far enough away, it won’t look so big.” The 39-foot wall of monotonous, uniform houses with scalloped roofs is supposed to be reminiscent of Dutch architecture. The façade is made up of elements from historic Alexandria designed to compliment the town’s historic character in an eclectic way, staff, BAR, and developer all say in unison.

Residents dispute that claim with real architectural facts and say it’s not complementary architecture at all, and that the BAR is ignoring its own guidelines. The buildings are too tall and too big and turn what is a decidedly residential street into something that looks more like an office park. We are not opposed to some development, they say. What we want to see, though, is development that is closer in scale mass to what is close by, not resemble the large office complexes on North Washington Street, which replaced beautiful historic homes that should never have been demolished. 

City staff and four BAR members (2 members were absent) have the last word, always. They say that the buildings complements the historic character because they are, in fact, so “different.”

Unh?

But since in Alexandria the process of debating and listening is all a façade too, they get to make the rules and like the waterfront process the applicant offered to make some minor adjustments to the plan, which residents had no opportunity to review. There was no real debate, yet again. The BAR thought the changes were fine and that was that.

The residents of North Columbus Street took the time and energy to point out what could be done to improve the plan and they were shown the door before they arrived. Many of these residents had never come down to City Hall before, and after the hearing, they never will again, because the decision had already been made by four arrogant BAR members in consultation with a City staff who offered residents the façade of a public process.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer to just about everyone that the BAR is no longer a real board of historic preservation. As Wednesday night’s performance shows, it’s becoming a political wing of a City Council hell bent on increasing the level of development wherever it can, while pretending to address the legitimate concerns of residents who must live with these bad (no debate) decisions.  

Andrew Macdonald
North Columbus Street resident