Safeguards are being put in place to ensure that county staff do not accidentally issue demolition and construction permits allowing the Melwood redevelopment to move forward before a planned historic-preservation analysis is done.
And that’s a process that could take a year.
Members of the county’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) were informed March 19 that county historic-preservation staff have made contact with colleagues in the Department of Technology Services, conversations designed to ensure there is “no chance” that redevelopment permits are accidentally issued.
“This is the best outcome we could ask for, so that we wouldn’t be caught in the same situation we had, unfortunately, in the past,” HALRB member Gray Hadley said in response.
County Board members in February voted 4-0, with Susan Cunningham abstaining, to permit razing the existing century-old former school at 735 23rd Street S. near Crystal City and replacing it with a five-story building providing 105 committed-affordable apartment units plus ground-floor training spaces for Melwood clients.
The proposal split the Aurora Highlands community, with some supporting it but others saying the project’s size was out of scale with the community.
Typically, Board approval would have ended the matter and allowed the project to proceed. But not in this case.
Last year, HALRB members authorized a staff study following the submission of a nomination seeking the parcel designated as a local historic district.
That study, now slated to start toward the end of 2025, will help HALRB members determine whether to forward the historic-designation proposal to the County Board, which has the final say.
Before 2024, county officials would have been able to issue demolition and construction permits even as the study of a site’s historic provenance was under way. But legislation patroned by Del. Patrick Hope (D-1) and signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin changed things.
The new law puts a hold on destruction of a property until consideration of the historic-preservation application is complete. Given the work involved, it could be until mid-2026 before the application comes back to the HALRB and, possibly, the County Board for consideration.
It’s taken as almost a given that if the historic-designation request reaches the County Board, it will be rejected. Board members have said they consider creation of additional affordable housing a key priority, and in recent years have declined to designate a site as historic when the landowner voices opposition.
Rather than wait, Board members conceivably could attempt to circumvent the process by bringing the historic-designation request up for action before the study has started. Or Melwood could challenge the law’s validity.
But given the potential poor optics of either option, it may be more likely Melwood and County Board members will just wait out the process.
HALRB member Richard Woodruff, who has voiced concerns about a potential attempt to go around the law’s provisions, said he was heartened that historic-preservation staff had reached out to those who issue permits.
“That’s really good that you’re doing that,” he said.
Hope’s 2024 legislation was in part a response to demolition of the Febrey-Lothrop (Rouse) manor house on Wilson Blvd.
Acting on the advice of the then-county attorney, demolition permits were approved for that parcel even though it had been nominated for historic-district status. The main house and outbuildings were then almost immediately bulldozed to make way for new housing.
