Historic Review Board Postpones Decision on Old School

Developer J. David McCormack plans a 17-unit apartment building for the Old School at Central Park. (Wave photo)

Developer J. David McCormack plans a 17-unit apartment building for the Old School at Central Park. (Wave photo)

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

June 24, 2013

Petersburg developer J. David McCormack came to town last Tuesday with hopes of receiving approval by the Historic District Review Board of his plans to convert the Old School at Central Park into an apartment complex.

But after two and a half hours of questioning, the Board told McCormack they needed more information and tabled his request until August.

Newly appointed town planner Rob Testerman had advised the Board to consider only exterior features of the building. “The interior modifications are not in the purview of the Cape Charles Historic District Review Board,” Testerman wrote in a memo to the Board.

But newly appointed Board Chairman David Gay said he got a different impression after talking to Julie Langan of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond. Gay said that according to Langan, while features that can be seen from the outside should be the focus of the Board, the whole building and its site are considered in the Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines.

“When you take a public building of this magnitude, the Historic District Review Board has a role in considering all the aspects of the building,” Gay stressed. [Read more…]

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