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City Council reviewing CAR?
06/10/2009 5:03 PM by John M
A representative for the Historic Richmond Foundation says that “City Council is putting together a 7-person task force to review the validity of the [Commission of Architectural Review]“, and that Historic Richmond has one of the 7 slots on the panel. Does anyone have anything else on this?
No, I don’t have anything else on it, but I don’t think council can do away with CAR, or do much to change it, as I think it is in the state’s legislation for old and historic districts. I’m not even sure how much they can meddle with it, due to the Dillon rule (that thing that says we can’t change things without state legislature approval), so I’m not sure why they have come up with this task force, and I will be real interested in seeing more info about this task force! The reason I say they can’t meddle with it is that the post says they are concerned with the ‘validity’ of CAR, and it most certainly is a valid … board, or organization, under the state legislation.
Looking forward to hearing more about this.
Resolution 2009-R85 (PDF) will be discussed at the Land Use Committee meeting on Tuesday, June 16, at 3PM. The text of the resolution indicates that it is set for a public hearing on July 13, 2009, at 6PM.
Patroned by Councilpersons Graziano, Tyler, and Conner, the resolution states that “the Council of the City of Richmond believes that it is in the best interests of the citizens of the City of Richmond that the Council appoint a task force to review the process and guidelines of the Commission [of Architectural Review]”.
The resolution describes its intent “To establish a Task Force to Review the Processes and Guidelines of the Commission of Architectural Review”, and describes the guiding mission of the task forces as to “Look into the whether the Council should modify the process of the Commission”.
The Task Force will be made up of 7 members, including an architect “who specialized in historic rehabilitation”, a member of Council, a current member of CAR, a member of the Dept. of Community Development, someone affiliated with the Richmond Historic Foundation, someone affiliated with the Richmond Realtor Association, and “a citizen of the City of Richmond”.
Once initiated, the Task Force will have 180 days to submit a written report.
Wow. Thanks, John, for providing the entire resolution. I don’t have good feelings about this but can’t put my thoughts into words at the moment, other than to say it doesn’t sound good.
I wonder how it fits with the lawsuit that was filed against the city re the Oakwood development.
Also, it will be interesting to see who is appointed, since that could make all the difference.
Waiting for other comments here on the blog…..somewhat surprised that no one else has commented already.
It will be interesting to see how and who they pick for this committee. Can anyone apply to be that “Citizen of Richmond” or are the participants to be hand selected by council?
CRD – Delores L. McQuinn & Henry L. Marsh, III are part of the State legislature.
Deanna, #5 – I know that, why are you posting it? Are you suggesting that they might be behind this move by council to “review the validity of CAR”? It’s an interesting thought, but do you have any facts to back that up? Or did you post it for another reason?
Post #4. According to Ms. Graziano, Mr. Tyler is heading up this effort and would be the person to contact regarding the appointment of the “citizen” position.
hi crd –
I wasn’t aware that you knew that, hence the post 🙂
No, I’m not suggesting that they (McQuinn/Marsh) are behind this review. That’s way too conspiracy theory 😉 I’m simply pointing out who is on the legislature for our area and who might have the power to alter the CAR.
I do think a review of CAR is a good thing. I also believe CAR is a valid, valuable and necessary part of the City of Richmond and the Old & Historic Districts.
The verbiage, “the Council of the City of Richmond believes that it is in the best interests of the citizens of the City of Richmond…” and “… the guiding mission of the task forces is to “Look into the whether the Council should modify the process of the Commission†is quite powerful.
The CAR, at this point in time, has authority. That authority was challenged by Council. City Council will be before a Judge on Monday defending their ruling against CAR’s decision on Oakwood Heights.
Now Council wants to review and possibly modify the CAR. We, the Citizens whose best interests Council professes to be looking out for with this review, need to be involved, voice opinions and pay attention.
Council last night passed an amended version of the CAR Task Force Resolution, adding one position, an architect with experience in renovation and historic preservation, to the Task Force. No appointments yet to the TF.