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ARTICLE X

HISTORIC DISTRICT

 § 175-60.  Statement of Intent.

A.    The intent of this section is to implement the Comprehensive Plan goal of                 

      protecting our natural, scenic and historic resources and provide a means to   

      recognize and protect the historic, architectural, cultural, and artistic heritage   

      of the community, and to promote and protect the health, safety, recreational,

      educational, economical, and general welfare of Edinburg through the

      identification, preservation and enhancement of its buildings, structures,

      sites, districts, objects, neighborhoods, landscapes, places and areas which

      have special historical, cultural, artistic, architectural or archaeological

      significance as provided by Section 15.2-2306 of the Code of Virginia, as

      amended, hereinafter the “Virginia Code”.

B.     A survey of architectural resources within the corporate limits of the Town of

      Edinburg was completed in the spring of 1997.  Its purpose was to identify

      and document approximately 170 architectural properties in an area defined

      as the proposed Edinburg Historic District. The three main objectives of the

      project were to survey the historic resources within the proposed historic

      district boundaries, write a survey report on the findings and complete a

      National Register Nomination application for the Edinburg Historic District to

      be accepted by the Virginia Historic Resources Board.  The survey report not

      only established an historic context for the surveyed properties, but also

      serves as a planning document for making land use decisions and assists the

      Town in the creation of a Historic District Ordinance.  The proposed Edinburg

      Historic District was approved and placed on the National Register of Historic

      Places July 22, 1998.  The survey resulted in the documentation 186 properties with a total of 305 individual histroic  resources including; 133 single dwellings, 19 commercial or mixed use buildings, four churches, two hotels, a train station, a mill, 2 warehouses, 41 grages, thirty-six chicken coops, 22 sheds, 8 barns, 8 meat-houses, five kitchens, 3 workshops, 2 bridges, 2 cemetereteries, two foundations, 2 privies, one station, one fountain, one gatepost and stairs, one pump house, road trace and mill ruin, and a town hall building.   The Edinburg Town Council established the Designated Historic District as an Overlay of  the Town’s Official Zoning Map, June 13, 2006.

C.     It is hereby recognized that the deterioration, destruction or alteration of said

      buildings, structures, sites, districts, objects, landscapes, places and areas

      may cause the permanent loss of unique resources which are of great value

      to current and future generations of Edinburg, the Commonwealth of Virginia,

      and the Nation, and that special controls and incentives are warranted to

      ensure that such losses are avoided.

§ 175-61.  The purposes for establishing an historic district ordinance are:

A.    To protect the historic significance and integrity of the properties within the historic district which are or may be recognized for having association with historic events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of Edinburg’s history; or have association with significant persons; or posses distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or have the potential to yield information important to prehistory or history.

B.     To preserve and improve the quality of life and sense of place for Edinburg’s residents by protecting familiar and treasured tangible, visual elements in the area.

C.     To promote tourism and other economic benefits by protecting historical, architectural, archaeological and cultural resources, including historic landscapes attractive to visitors and thereby supporting local business and industry.

D.    To stabilize and improve property values by providing incentives for the upkeep and rehabilitation of significant older buildings and structures and encourage appropriate land use planning and development that will enhance both the economic viability and historic character of the district.

E.     To educate residents, students and tourists about the local cultural and historic heritage as embodied in the historic district through the preservation of Edinburg’s architectural and archaeological past that demonstrates the social and artistic development pattern of our predecessors.

F.      To promote local historic preservation efforts and to encourage the identification and nomination by their owners of eligible individual historic properties to the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.

G.    The promotion of harmony of style, geographical context, form, color, proportion, scale, height, width, spacing, setback, orientation, rhythm, traditional quality, appearance, texture, finish and material between buildings of historic design and those of more modern design.

H.    To develop the historic areas, not in a vacuum, but as a vital area in which each succeeding generation may build with the quality and sensitivity of past generations.

I.       Encourage sound stewardship and foster a sense of pride in Edinburg’s heritage resources.

§ 175-62.  Definitions related to Historic Zoning.

For the purpose of Article X of this chapter, certain words and terms are defined as follows.  These definitions and terms are in addition to those set forth in

§ 175-2 of this chapter and apply only to those areas included in the Town’s Designated Historic District.

Aggrieved Person – A person with an immediate, financial and substantial interest in an action taken by the Zoning Administrator or the Architectural Review Board (the ARB) under this Ordinance, as opposed to a remote or indirect interest.

Alteration – Any change, modification or addition to the form, materials, workmanship, design, appearance, texture or details of all or a part of the exterior of any building, structure, site, or object other than normal repair, maintenance, and landscaping.

Architectural Significance – Importance of a property based on physical aspects of its design, materials, form, style or workmanship and recognized by National Register Criterion No. 3.

Area of Significance – The aspect of historic development in which a property made contributions for which it meets the National Register Criteria, such as architecture, agriculture, commerce, community planning and development, politics/government, religion, etc.

Association – Link of an historic property with an historic event, activity, or person, and the quality of integrity through which an historic property is linked to a particular past time and place.

Building – A resource created principally to shelter any form of human activity, including, but not limited to, a house, barn, meat house, bank, store, church, town hall, courthouse, jail, library, garage, or hotel.

Building Official – The person designated by the locality to administer and enforce the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code.

Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) – The approval statement signed by the Chairman of the Architectural Review Board or designated staff member which certifies the appropriateness of a particular request for the construction, alteration, reconstruction, repair, rehabilitation, restoration, demolition, or relocation of all or part of any building, structure, site or object within an historic district, subject to the issuance of all other regional permits needed for the matter sought to be accomplished.

Contributing Building – A building, which has historic significance by reason of type, period, design, style, workmanship, form, materials, architectural details, or historic association to a significant event or person or has or may yield information important to prehistory or history.

Contributing Properties – Those parcels of land containing a contributing building, structure, site or object adding to its historic significance and so designated on the inventory map and inventory of contributing properties and non-contributing properties which are identified in the July 1, 1997, Edinburg Historic District Survey Report.  This survey and accompanying files and photographs are adopted as a  part of this Ordinance.  The designated contributing properties, which may or may not be individually listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register or National Register of Historic Places, are those properties which by reason of type, period, design, style, workmanship, form, materials, architectural details, or have historic association to a significant event or person, or have or may yield information important to prehistory or history and relation to surrounding properties contribute favorably to the general character of the part of the Historic District in which they are located.

Contributing Resource – A building, site, structure, district or object adding to the historic associations, historic architectural qualities or archaeological values for which a property is significant because it was present during  the period of significance, relates to the documented significance of the property and possesses historic integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the period; or it independently meets the National Register Criteria.

Corridor District – A geographical area contiguous to arterial streets or highways on a significant route of tourist access to the locality or to designated historic landmarks buildings, structures or districts therein or in a contiguous locality determined by the Governing Body to be an historic district.

Cultural Landscape – A geographic area, including both cultural and natural features, associated with an event, person, activity, or design style that is significant in the history of the locality, state or the nation.  Historic sites, landscapes designed by a landscape architect, master gardener, architect or horticulturist and vernacular landscapes developed by human use and activities are types of culture landscapes.

Design – A quality of integrity applying to the elements that create the physical form, plan, space, structure and style of a property.

District – One of the five resource types, being a concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development.

Eligibility – The ability of a property to meet the National Register Criteria.

Feeling – A quality of integrity through which a historic property evokes the aesthetic or historic sense of past time and place.

Historic Area – An area containing one or more buildings or places in which historic events occurred or having special public value because of notable architectural, archaeological or other features relating to the cultural or artistic heritage of the community, of such significance as to warrant conservation and preservation.

Historic Context – An organizing construct for interpreting history that groups information about historic properties which share a common theme, common geographical location and common time period.  The development of historic contexts is a foundation for decisions about the planning, identification, evaluation, registration and treatment of historic properties, based upon comparative significance.

Historic District – Any geographical area delineated by the governing body from time to time and consisting of public or private property, containing a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of contributing properties containing contributing building(s), structure(s), site(s), or object(s), united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development and having a common historical, architectural, archaeological or cultural heritage being of such interest and significance as to warrant conservation and preservation.

Historic Landmark – A building, structure, district, site or object determined to have historical, architectural or archaeological statewide or national significance listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register.

Historic Property -  Any prehistoric or historic building, district, site, structure or object.

Historic Significance -  Importance for which a property has been evaluated and found to meet the National Register Criteria.

Integrity – The authenticity of a property’s historic identity, evidenced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during the property’s historic or prehistoric period.

Level of Significance – The geographical level – local, state or national – at which a historic property has been evaluated and found to be significant.

Local Significance – The importance of a property to the history of its community, this locality, general vicinity or area.

Location – A quality of integrity retained by a historic property existing in the same place as it did during the period of significance.

Materials -  A quality of integrity applying to the physical elements that were combined or deposited in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property.

National Historic Landmark (NHL) – An historic property evaluated and found to have significance at the national level and designated as such by the Secretary of the Interior.

National Register Criteria – The established criteria for evaluating the eligibility of properties for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (which is the same criteria used for inclusion in the Virginia Landmarks Register).  Specifically, the quality of significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering and culture is present in districts, sites, building, structures and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and:

1.                  That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or

2.                  That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or

3.                  That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

4.                  That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.

National Register of Historic Places -  The official federal list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture.

National Significance – The importance of a property to the history of the United States as a nation.

Non-Contributing Building – A building that does not add to the historic architectural qualities, historic associations or archaeological values for which a property is significant because it was not present during the period of significance or does not relate to the documented significance of the district; or due to alterations, disturbances, additions or other changes, it no longer possesses historic integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the period/ or it does not independently meet the National Register Criteria.

Non-Contributing Property – A property that does not add to the historic architectural qualities, historic associations or archaeological values for which a resource is significant because it was not present during the period of significance or does not relate to the documented significance of the district; or due to alterations, disturbances, additions or other changes, it no longer possesses historic integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the period; or it does not independently meet the National Register Criteria.

Non-Contributing Resource – A building, site, structure, district or object that does not add to the historic architectural qualities, historic association or archaeological values for which a resource is significant because it was not present during the period of significance or does not relate to the documented significance of the district; or due to alterations, disturbances, additions or other changes, it no longer possesses historic integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the period; or it does not independently meet the National Register Criteria.

Normal Repair and Routine Maintenance – For the purpose of maintaining the existing condition of the building, structure, site or object, normal repair and routine maintenance involves the repair of existing materials and features with equivalent material through stabilization, consolidation and conservation of historic materials, features and workmanship when the physical condition of these character-defining features has deteriorated.  Routine maintenance includes repainting the same or different color, but does not include the initial painting of masonry surfaces on any contributing resource.

Object – The resource term used to distinguish from buildings and structures those constructions, which are primarily artistic in nature, or are relatively small in scale and simply constructed.  Although it may be, by nature or design, movable, an object is associated with a specific setting or environment, i.e., sculpture, statuary, monuments, boundary markers, fountains.

Period of Significance – The span of time in which a property attained the significance for which it meets the National Register Criteria.

Preservation – The process of determining what to keep from the present for the future and applying measures to sustain the existing form, integrity, type, style, design, details, workmanship and materials of an historic property.  Work, including preliminary measures to protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongoing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive replacement and new construction.

Rehabilitation – The act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features, which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.

Resource – Any building, structure, site, district or object that is part of or constitutes a historic property.

Restoration – The act or process of accurately recovering the form, features, character, materials and details of a property and its setting as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of later work or by the replacement of missing earlier work.

Setting – A quality of integrity applying to the physical environment of an historic property.

Site – One of the five resource types, being the location of a significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure, whether standing, ruined or vanished, where the location itself possesses historic, cultural, or archaeological value regardless of the value of any existing or non-existing structure.

Site Improvements – Structural changes to the grounds of a property including the installation or alteration of walls, fences, or structures, paving, regarding, and the installation or removal of major plantings.

State Significance – The importance of a property to the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Structure – One of the five resource types distinguished from a building, being a functional construction made usually for purposes other than creating shelter, including, but not limited to, a gazebo, windmill, communication tower, bridge, canal, roadway, power plant, fence, silo.

Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) – The official state of Virginia list of districts, sites, buildings and structures of historical, architectural or archaeological statewide or national significance.

Workmanship -  A quality of integrity applying to the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture, people or artisan.

§ 175-63.  The Architectural Review Board.

Creation of the Architectural Review Board (the ARB) and Membership.

 A.  For the general purposes of this article and specifically to preserve and

       protect historic places and areas in the historic district through the control of

       demolition and relocation of such places and through the regulation of

       architectural design and uses of buildings, structures, sites and objects in

       such areas, there is hereby created a board to be known as the “Architectural

       Review Board” (the “ARB”) to be composed of five (5) voting members.  The

       members of the Architectural Review Board shall be appointed by the

       Town Council.

B.     Members of the ARB shall be appointed for terms of four (4) years and shall

      serve at the pleasure of the Town Council.  Initial appointments shall be for

      two (2) members for four (4) years and three (3) members for two (2) years,

      so that terms of office shall be staggered.  Members shall serve until their

      successors are appointed.

C.     Any member of the ARB may be removed from office by the Town Council

      for neglect of duty, malfeasance, the continued absence from the regular or

      called meetings of the ARB or ongoing disregard for the positive mission of

      the Historic District and the ARB, as determined by the Town Council.

D.    Members of the ARB shall receive such compensation as may be authorized

      by the Town Council, from time to time.

§ 175-64.  Interests and qualifications of members.

A.    Members of the Architectural Review Board shall have demonstrated a

      positive interest in preserving the architectural integrity of the buildings,

      structures, sites and objects within the designated history district(s).  One (1)

      member may be selected among the membership of the planning commission. 

      To the extent practicable, at least one (1) member should be a licensed

      architect, or have experience in the field of architecture, and one (1) should be

      an architectural historian or have substantial background in local, state, or

      national history or in historic preservation, architecture, archaeology or culture

      preservation or in landscape architecture, or should be a licensed contractor

      or be employed in the building materials industry. 

     The Town shall make every effort to appoint residents of Edinburg as members

     of the ARB.  It may become necessary to seek members from areas outside of

     the corporate limits of the Town to obtain the desired knowledge and skills

     required for the ARB.  Such members shall have demonstrated an interest in

     historic preservation within the Town of Edinburg and surrounding areas.

B.     Members shall make every effort to attend training sessions periodically

      sponsored or approved by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the

      Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Preservation Virginia,

      or other organizations, including those arranged by the staff of the Planning

      Department, that are involved with historic preservation issues, design and

      review standards or other work of the ARB.

C.     The ARB shall elect from its own membership a chairman and vice-chairman  

      who shall serve annual terms and may succeed themselves.  Until the ARB has staff of

      its own, The Town Clerk  and Town Manager shall serve as administrative staff to the

      ARB and maintain all records, minutes and files relating to the ARB meetings.

§ 175-65.  Powers and duties of the Review Board.

The powers and duties of the Architectural Review Board shall be as follows:

A.     The ARB shall administer the provisions of this Ordinance in accordance with duties as set forth in Article X of  Chapter 175, Zoning.

B.     The ARB shall use the Historic District Design Guidelines established by the Planning Commission and approved by the Town Council that are consistent with the provisions established herein and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Rehabilitation for each such district.  The ARB may, from time to time, recommend amendments and additions to the Town Council for consideration.

C.     The ARB may, from time to time, recommend areas for designation as Historic Districts, and additions or deletions to districts;

D.    The ARB shall review and approve or deny all applications for Certificates of Appropriateness in any Historic District.  Decisions of the board are binding upon applicants, unless and until said decisions are overturned on appeal;

E.     Act in an advisory role to other officials and departments of the locality regarding protection of local historic resources;

F.      Periodically conduct, or cause to be conducted, a survey of historic resources in the community according to guidelines established by the State Historic Preservation Office;

G.    Disseminate information within the locality on historic preservation issues and concerns;

H.    Coordinate local preservation efforts with those of local historic and preservation organizations, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and other parties, both public and private;

I.       Receive and act on public comment;

J.       Advise owners of historic properties of issues of preservation, as requested;

K.    Make recommendations to the Town Council regarding authorization of plaques to commemorate historic resources;

L.     Seek out funds to forward the purposes of this Ordinance, and to make recommendations to the governing body regarding the use of the funds;

M.   Investigate and support incentives programs including heritage tourism events and activities;

N.    Investigate and support heritage education activities.

§ 175-66.  Power to adopt rules of procedure.

A.    The ARB shall be authorized to adopt rules of procedure for the transaction of

      its business and implementation of the purposes of this Ordinance.  The rules

      of procedure shall not conflict with the provisions of this Ordinance.

B.     The ARB may request the Town Council to employ or contract for such secretaries, clerks, legal counsel, consultants and other technical and clerical services as the ARB may deem necessary for the transaction of its business. Such requests shall be considered within the constraints of the Town’s budget.  The ARB shall have the authority to request the opinion, advice or other aid of any officer, employee, board, bureau or commission of the Town.

C.   The ARB shall submit an annual report of its activities to the Town Council at

       the regularly scheduled June Town Council meeting.

§ 175-67.  Creation of Designated Historic Districts.

A.      In accordance with the Virginia Department of Historic Resource’s criteria and

      guidelines, the Town Council conducted a survey of architectural resources

      within the corporate limits of the Town in the spring of 1997. The resulting 

      survey documented 186 properties resources within the defined area and 

     resulted in the identification of 305 individual contributing historic resources. 
     The proposed Edinburg Historic District was approved and placed on the

      National Register of Historic Places on July 22, 1998.  The Town Council

      established the District as an Overlay of the Town’s Official Zoning Map, June