The sidewalks of College Heights lead through not just a neighborhood, but also concrete eras in Fredericksburg’s history.
University of Mary Washington professor “Michael Spencer informed us years ago that College Heights is unique, because you can walk through patterns of suburban development from the inter-war period to the beginning of World War II and post World War II,” resident Sue Sargent said at Tuesday’s Fredericksburg City Council meeting. “He takes his students sometimes into the neighborhood to show them how design shifts… College Heights is like an intact learning lab in historic preservation.”
Sargent was among several speakers who commented in favor of crafting a city ordinance to formalize College Heights as a conservation district.
Press the Issue
The Historic Fredericksburg Foundation (HFFI) is hosting a “Community conversation: Neighborhood Character and Conservation Districts” on Oct. 14 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Downtown Library Theater. To attend, email Danae Peckler at [email protected]
Historic Fredericksburg Foundation Preservationist Danae Peckler noted that Charlottesville passed its first conservation district ordinance in 2019, while local historic preservation professionals and UMW students have prepared surveys of the city’s neighborhoods for decades.
“If city leaders are willing to explore the option for data centers,” said Peckler, “surely they can do the same for the tax-paying citizens already vested in Fredericksburg’s past, present and future.”
Sargent noted that the concept of a conservation district was mentioned during the Sept. 25 planning commission meeting, which devoted an agenda item to Small Area 5, which includes College Heights. In a 2015 cultural resources survey, at least 60% of properties were found eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Sargent said.
In response, Mayor Kerry Devine said that she resided in College Heights for decades and “lived in four different houses from four different time periods, so I do know the neighborhood.”
Longtime College Terrace resident Clint Schemmer assured councilors that he’s “not a knee-jerk, NIMBY person,” but would like officials to pursue a pilot conservation district program that would limit demolition and in-fill construction in established neighborhoods.
“Such an overlay district enables residents to determine what they want their neighborhood to look like in the future,” said Schemmer, “but no one tells you what color to paint your house.”
In other business, the city council unanimously approved a measure to initiate a public review process for an amendment to the comprehensive plan related to the planned Jeremiah Community supportive housing development.
That amendment, which concerns the Roffman Road right-of-way as well as the location of the planned Virginia Supportive Housing apartment building within the existing “T-1 transect” will be considered by the planning commission at its Oct. 23 meeting.
