State board to review Waterford's historic status
By Shannon Sollinger
The Virginia Board of Historic Resources will convene in Waterford later this fall to hear Milari Madison's petition to have the Waterford Historic District declared a thing of the past.Since 2003, when she and her husband, Paul, bought the dilapidated house on Janney Street in Waterford for $180,000, Madison has failed to get plans approved by the county -- first to restore the historic structure, and now to build a new one on the vacant lot.
Her battles with the county's zoning administrator, the Department of Building and Development, the Planning Department and the Historic District Review committee at one point had seven lawsuits moving through Circuit Court. In late 2006, the court ruled she could have the old structure demolished on the condition she drop all other legal actions.
If she can't get the county to let her build a house on the property, Madison said, the next step is to get rid of the historic designation that gives the county the authority to hold her up.
Her petition to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources claims, "The designation [Historic District] is used as a basis for limiting the Petitioner's property rights." The designation, she charged in the petition, is and always has been "faulty, unlawful, and obsolete ... "
She also is charging that Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Department of Historic Resources, mishandled her petition to have Waterford taken off the list. Kilpatrick rejected the petition when she should have given it directly to her board, Madison charges.
Patrick Butler, chairman of that board, wrote to Madison on Aug. 12, "Only the Board ... has the authority to remove a property or district from the Register."
True, but Kilpatrick does have the authority to turn down a petition under certain conditions, said Catherine Slusser, the department's deputy director for policy and planning.
"The director can decide to take it to the board. In this case, the director looked at what had been sent, the conditions for removing, and the findings [of the Architectural Evaluation Committee], and the director found the conditions did not meet the criteria," Slusser said.
The next step, Slusser said, is for the petitioner, Madison, to appeal that decision directly to the board. She did just that and "It's all going according to regulation."
The Waterford Historic District was placed on the state's list of landmarks in 1972. In 1977, Madison said, the county followed suit and established historic district zoning for the area. Only local authorities, not the state, can establish any regulations governing the district, Slusser said.
Madison's appeal charges that Waterford's designation as an historic district, and its placement on the Virgina Landmarks Register, "is used as a basis for limiting [her] property rights and happiness. A such, [she] is directly harmed by the faulty, over-reaching, unlawful recasting of the Petition, and refusal by the Commission to de-list the Waterford Historic District ... "
Both the original petition and the appeal contend that Waterford's designation as an historic district was plagued by legal and procedural errors from the beginning, and that since then houses have been destroyed and added, streets have been paved, modern building materials have made their way in and a modern sewage treatment plant graces its western edge.
In short, Waterford is no longer a rural farm village surrounded by an agricultural landscape – even if it had been listed properly in the first place, the basis for its listing has long since been destroyed, according to Madison.
She denies that she is anti-history, or even anti-historic district. "I have no problem with the historic district, just with the way it is administered in Loudoun County. I feel that all of this is a result of the failure of the county government, and that's where we are now."
Her husband is descended from James Madison, she said, and "I had an uncle who was president of Czechoslovakia. So I value history."
She wants a district, she said, which is purely voluntary – individual property owners can opt out at any time – and perhaps limited to specific buildings "through the wishes of the property owners."
Madison has also petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to take away Waterford's status as a National Historic Landmark.
When the state board meets in Waterford, in late October or November, according to Butler's letter, it will "review the question of whether or not Waterford Historic District retains sufficient physical integrity and historic significance to remain listed as a Virgina Historic Landmark."
All affected property owners and local governments will be notified, and the public will be invited to speak.
Nancy Doane, executive director of the Waterford Foundation, said, "We welcome the Virginia board's coming and reviewing what we have been able to accomplish. Yes, there are threats of development, but we have done an incredible job to protect the integrity of our historic designation."
Waterford was the first setting, as opposed to a building or structure, to be so designated, Doane said, and "it is very different because it is a living area, occupied by people on private property."
Contact the reporter at ssollinger@timespapers.com