On Tuesday night, Planning & Zoning presented its plan for the nomination of Parker-Gray to the National Register of Historic Places, which was swiftly ratified by City Council.
The Growler had been assured by Hal Phipps (via City Manager Jim Hartmann) that the City was going to proceed with the nomination despite the statement in Mr. Hartmann's second memo to Council that the historic advisory panel were going to discuss whether or not to do so in one of the upcoming workshops. That was reassuring.
Nevertheless, it's clear that without pressure from both black and white residents in Parker-Gray the possibility of nomination indeed would have been referred to the old guard of Old Town and possibly squelched yet again.
BTW, Mr. Phipps clarified the statement about the 1999 workshop. Turns out it was actually a 1997 workshop at George Washington Middle School, convened shortly after state tax credits for preservation were approved in the Commonwealth. No-one seems to be able to document who the invitation went to but frankly from the Growler's conversations with others around here it sounds like it was never publicized to Parker-Gray residents. And to claim that a workshop at the school on Mt. Vernon Avenue was a seminar in Parker-Gray is stretching things.
But that's all behind us now. The nomination is now on the fast-track and the neighborhood will finally have its history better-documented and acknowledged.
It was a good evening for Parker-Gray. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Still missing in action: the entire leadership of the Inner City Civic Association. Not one was present at the Council hearing on Tuesday night.
6 comments:
Grrreat!!! Do I get your drift?
Uh, Growler, you mentioned "fast track" and "Alexandria" in the same breath. We're talking about the Fair City of Alexandria here... It took over ten years to put that extra stoplight and crosswalk on Route 1.
What exactly is the time line for declaring Parker Gray a national historic district??
The PLAN was ratified. A bureaucrat plans, meets, discusses, and is always DOING something but never COMPLETES anything. I'll believe it when I see it, and do hope to see it in my lifetime!
You can add the City's lovely management of the Chatham Square process to your "delay" list....
It took 15 years.....
"The PLAN was ratified."
Thank you blogger for setting the Growler straight. Sometimes we think the Growler easily duped. Has the departing Planning Director given either the Growler or the neighborhood a timeline for submitting the application?
The timeline for Parker-Gray's nomination to the National Register of Historic Places has consistently been described in documentation and in hearings as 18 months to 2 years. “It is estimated to take about 1½ to 2 years from beginning the documentation and nomination process to a listing by the National Park Service.” p. 6 of City Manager Hartmann's report to City Council on Parker-Gray nomination. With so many statements like this on the record, it's going to be hard for P&Z to let this one lapse again for a couple of decades.
The community meeting about the Parker-Gray nomination was tentatively planned for September 2006, although it isn't clear if this will proceed despite Eileen Fogarty's departure around the same time.
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