OPEN LETTER:
Old School Cape Charles to Historic District Review Board

August 20, 2013

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Cape Charles Historic District Review Board meets at 4:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Town Hall to further consider an application by developer J. David McCormack to convert the Old School, basketball court, and playground parking lot at Central Park into an apartment building and private parking lot. Town Planner Robert Testerman has recommended that the Historic Board approve the developer’s application, even though it has not been approved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and yet-to-be-met conditions have been stipulated by the National Park Service. On the eve of the meeting of the Historic Review Board, the community group Old School Cape Charles has submitted an open letter documenting why the Board should wait until the developer meets conditions required by the relevant state and federal bodies.)

TO THE HISTORIC DISTRICT REVIEW BOARD:

Old School Cape Charles is committed to the common good of our town. One of our town’s most valuable assets is Central Park, which until recently included the Old School, the basketball court, and the playground parking lot.

In order for an historic property to receive tax credits it must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, (Click to read) including the following:

A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.

Converting our historic Old School, playground parking, and basketball court into an apartment house and private parking lot is a far cry from creating minimal change to the building and its use.

The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.

The developer wants to call the side of the building the front, even though there will be no front door. Not only will the historic character of the building be lost, but the developer hopes to attract vacationers to rent the apartments. Town Council’s giveaway of a park resource thereby becomes competition to vacation and other rental property owners.

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Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.

Turning our historic Old School into an apartment house in no way recognizes its record in time, place, or use.

Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved.

Changes to our town’s Old School site will be gone – the basketball courts, the auditorium, the school library, the offices in the building — all created at taxpayer expense.

New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.

The reason Mr. McCormack was adamant that his site plans for the Old School not be considered by the Historic Review Board is because he knows the plans do not meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.

Town Planner Testerman has recommended that you grant a Certificate of Appropriateness to this developer who worked secretly with our town staff to take our school without the knowledge or consent of the majority of  town residents. But you have the right and the ability to think for yourselves. There is no reason to approve this project at this time. Richmond has not approved it, and the sale and rezoning have been appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court. There should be no haste, since the project will not begin any time soon. The developer has stated that he does not have funding for the project and will not have it until the litigation is settled.

We hope that you will agree that this project is not in in accord with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. We ask you to delay any decision until the courts and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources have spoken.

For the Historic District Review Board to make a decision while the state Department of Historic Resources is still deliberating is possibly unprecedented. Of course, Town Manager Heather Arcos reported to Town Council months ago that the Department of Historic Resources had approved the developer’s application. That statement was not true then and it remains untrue today.

Old School Cape Charles implores you to wait until the developer supplies the drawings and mockup required by the state. Then you will be in a better position to make an informed decision.

Sincerely,

OLD SCHOOL CAPE CHARLES, LLC