Six months after it was first submitted, a request to bestow historic-district status on an Arlington parcel slated for a major redevelopment continues to await action.
The request, formally submitted in April, came from local residents upset with plans by property owner Melwood to redevelop a 1.96-acre parcel on 23rd Street S. in Aurora Highlands as a mixed-use property and, likely, demolish the former Nelly Custis Elementary School on the site.
The request for historic designation cites both the building’s Classical Revival-style provenance and the school’s role in completing, in 1971, desegregation of public schools in Arlington. But because of a backlog of projects ahead of the Melwood site in the queue, research by historic-preservation staff on the site has not commenced.
“We’re working to figure out where that can fit on our timelines,” historic-preservation staff member Lorin Farris said at the Sept. 18 meeting of the county government’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
That bottleneck had been anticipated and acknowledged when HALRB members voted over the summer to put the project in the queue. But any delay could be deadly to preservation prospects, as county planning personnel and Melwood staff are moving forward in getting the redevelopment proposal in front of County Board members for action.
Under current timelines, that consideration could come in early 2025, HALRB members were told. Were HALRB members and then the County Board to agree on historic status before a final development plan was adopted, it would make it more difficult for the property owner to make major changes on the site without county-government approval.
Though unlikely to fundamentally derail Melwood’s long-term plans for the site, historic designation could place speed bumps in the way and might force a compromise among the factions.
Odds seem to favor Melwood: County Board members in recent years have been hesitant to bestow historic-district status, and the restrictions that come with it, on property owners who do not want it – apparently fearing legal action that would not go their way.
In one notorious case, County Board members allowed demolition of the Febrey-Lothrop (Rouse) estate on Wilson Boulevard while the historic-designation process was under way. Bulldozers moved in literally within hours of the board’s action and razed the more than century-old manor house and outbuildings to the ground.
Preservation activists earlier this year were able to get changes to state law, giving them a little more say in a state that for centuries has zealously guarded private-property rights. But the legislation’s patron, Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), has said it is unlikely provisions in his legislation would be applicable to the Melwood battle.
At the Sept. 18 meeting, HALRB members said they would keep an eye on both the historic-preservation and development angles of the Melwood plan. “I’m sure that I’ll be asking the same questions in future meetings,” said member Richard Woodruff, who broached the matter.
The circa-1923 building, now used by Melwood for programs serving those with intellectual disabilities, once housed Nelly Custis Elementary. The school was shuttered in 1979 as part of a wave of closings and consolidation as the Arlington student population cratered in the 1970s and 1980s, and the parcel later was sold off.
The site is listed as a “contributing resource” to the larger Aurora Highlands Historic District, which was incorporated into the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. But unlike a local historic designation, being on the federal historic register imposes no limitations on property owners.
