A proposal to designate an Arlington Mill garden-apartment complex as a local historic district will not move forward following opposition from the property owner and neighborhood civic association.
Members of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) voted Oct. 15 not to embark on a staff study of the historical significance of the 1940s-era Haven Columbia Pike apartments. The vote concluded a three-year gestation period after the proposal was submitted by local activist Bernie Berne.
The 18-building property at 741-821 S. Florida Street and 5112 7th Road S. earlier this year had a historic-preservation easement placed on it by the county government, part of a complicated land-use agreement that enabled redevelopment of the Macy’s site in Ballston.
Concurrently designating the parcel a local historic district would be overkill, a representative for property owner Insight Property Group told HALRB members.
“We don’t see the need to impose a local historic district on this site, given that there’s already a mechanism to protect the site,” said Andrew Painter, a local land-use attorney there on behalf of Insight.
“It’s not only duplicative of what a local historic district would have, but actually goes a little bit further,” Painter said of the preservation easement put in place in July.
Berne, who in April 2022 requested consideration of a local historic district for the site, said approving one would “generate more public attention and interest” than the preservation easement could.
“I doubt anyone except you knows there’s an easement on this — maybe a few other people,” he said.
Berne said his ultimate hope was that at least one nearby apartment complex of the same vintage could be added to the historic district.
His proposal raised red flags with the Arlington Mill Civic Association, within whose boundaries the apartments sit.
Linda LeDuc, representing the association at the HALRB meeting, said adding local historic designation would make it more challenging to increase housing, including affordable housing, in the community.
“We have a lot of older apartments, and we would like the opportunity to upgrade a bit,” she said.
LeDuc also was critical of a proposed designation being sought from outside the community.
“To have somebody who does not live in our neighborhood to come in and want to designate a huge amount of property as historical, I sort of object to that,” she said.
Among those on the HALRB board is Omari Davis, president of the Arlington Mill Civic Association. He abstained from a final vote and did not participate in the discussion.
While there is one property in Arlington that is covered by both a preservation easement and local historic district, “it’s very rare,” a member of county staff acknowledged.
Had HALRB members voted to move forward with consideration, the site would have been added to a list of those to be studied by county preservation staff. It’s a process that currently has a backlog approaching a year.
Following that, HALRB members would have decided whether to propose that the County Board incorporate the apartments as a local historic district.
County Board members in recent years have been wary of agreeing to historic-district designations without the property owner’s consent. They have operated under the advice of a former county attorney, who advised that to do so would risk a lawsuit the local government could not be sure of winning.
Unlike inclusion on the Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places, which are merely honorific, creation of a local historic district puts Arlington properties under HALRB oversight for exterior changes.
Originally known as Tyrol Hill Apartments, Haven Columbia Pike was constructed in 1948-49 to create low-cost housing in the post-World War II period.
Insight purchased the property in 2017 and undertook a major renovation effort. Units are rented to those earning 60% or less of area median income.
