Nov. 3--Should developers have to perform archaeological studies of building sites in Fredericksburg? How should the city tighten its enforcement of building maintenance codes?
These are some of the questions raised in a proposed preservation plan on which Fredericksburg will seek initial public comments tomorrow night.
For the past three years, a council-appointed Historic Preservation Task Force has been working on a plan to guide stewardship of Fredericksburg's historic resources.
The group has finished its work and passed the document to the city's planning department.
Now, city staff are beginning a review process by hosting a public meeting to seek comment on what city residents think Fredericksburg's preservation priorities should be. The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in council chambers in City Hall.
The plan will then be reviewed by the Planning Commission and revised. Planning staff are aiming to bring it to a public hearing and vote by City Council in June.
The task force's draft of the preservation plan would cover the entire city, not just the downtown Historic District.
The plan asks the city to set up another task force to determine whether Fredericksburg needs an archaeological ordinance that would require developers to perform archaeological assessments of their building sites before starting major excavation.
It also brings up once again the idea of writing zoning rules to try to prohibit new construction that is out of scale with its surroundings.
City Council members have in the past looked at an ordinance aimed at preventing out-of-scale houses, but never acted on it.
The plan also suggests beefing up maintenance-code enforcement to help keep historic properties from deteriorating to the point that they must be demolished.
The Historic Preservation Task Force includes City Council and Planning Commission members, architects, archaeology professionals, members of Historic Fredericksburg Foun-dation Inc., and other local preservationists.
To view a copy of the entire preservation plan, visit the City Beat blog at fredericksburg.com/city beat.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email:
ebattle@freelancestar.com
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