HRAB 06-17-08 Meeting MinutesFrederick County Historic Resources Advisory Board (HRAB)
June 17, 2008
Board of Supervisors Executive Session Room of the County
Administrative building
107 North Kent Street Winchester, VA
Members Present: Rhoda Kriz (Chairman), Elizabeth Fravel (Vice Chairman), Gary Oates, Stacey Yost,
Martin Killingbeck, Claus Bader, Lauren Krempa
Members Absent:
Staff Absent: Maral Kalbain
Staff Present: Amber Powers
Others Present: Ben Montgomery and Paul Bielich
Agenda Items: April Minutes, Route 7 Warehousing Site Rezoning, Rutherford Crossing Sign
Proposal, Website Status, APVA June 30"' organizational meeting.
Call to order at 6:35 PM. The minutes of April 15, 2008 were unanimously approved as presented.
Item One: Request for comments regarding the Route 7 Warehousing Rezoning Application:
Major Points:
• Ben Montgomery from Montgomery Development was asked by Chairman Kriz if steep
slopes would be an issue in developing the site.
• Mr. Montgomery responded yes and also clarified the rezoning strictly limits development to
self -storage only.
• He was also asked if heavy amounts of clearing would be necessary for construction. He
responded by saying not really, and that trees must remain intact on most of the site due to
restriction regarding steep slopes and floodplains riparian buffer.
• Ms. Krempa responded saying that while the environmental feature protections in the code
may limit the amount of clearing permitted at the site that she would like to see an assurance
of that fact in the proffer statement. All agreed.
• The group also discussed the possibility of finding historic artifacts on the property since they
are has never been developed and is essentially intact. Group strongly suggested a phase one
archeological survey be conducted prior to site disruption and that any if any historic artifacts
are found, a more intensive survey be conducted.
• Chairman Kriz, summed -up the Boards comments by recommending that both a designation
of tree -save areas particularly along Route 7 be included in the proffers, as well as a phase
one survey of the property, (with a follow-up investigation of any findings) be conducted
prior to site disturbance.
Action: The recommendations summed -up by Chairman Kriz will be included in the HRAB's
response to the applicant's request for comments.
Item Two: Discussion regarding the location of the existing and proposed interpretive signs for the
Rutherford Crossing Development:
Major Points: Board members reviewed the map of the site's current sign location plan, and the
new proposal. Content of the signs was not yet prepared for the HRAB's approval, so the Board
focused the discussion on the location.
• Board Members expressed the desire to have the existing VDOT information signs near the
site placed facing the historic site and not the road. Mr. Bielich, who is in charge of this and
other aspects of the Rutherford Crossing Development, will follow-up with VDOT to see of
this is possible / permissible.
• Mr. Bielich confirmed that Mr. Howard Kittell of The Virginia Conservation Network (VCN)
will be drafting the text of the signs and once it is finished the text will be forwarded to
Planning staff and the HRAB for approval.
• Chairman Kriz requested that the bugle symbol (the Civil War Trails logo) be included on the
new signs. Mr. Bielich will see if this can be included.
• Group also suggested that photos of the artifacts found on the Rutherford Farm site be
included somewhere on the signs.
Action: Mr. Bielich will forward the final design of the signs including final text to the board for
Approval via email as soon as they are finished. He will also seek VDOT's comments regarding
the location of the existing signs and the proposed location of the new signs will be reviewed by
Ms. Candice Perkins as a part of the necessary Site Plan revision.
Major changes included the remittance of the history to the beginning of the section and to the
implementation strategies section. It was suggested that members take the Comprehensive Plan home to
read and send comments to Planning Staff by April 18. It was stated that this version may be the one to
go before CPPS for comments. Members agreed to read through the plan and send comments before the
before stated date.
The next item presented was the website. Planning Staff had begun formatting the site and wanted to
receive comments from HRAB before continuing. Members suggested that the website have more links
to other sites, more pictures, and a section for cemeteries. Mr. Oates stated that he would like to have a
form for reporting cemeteries that surveyors may happen upon during their surveying. Planning Staff said
that they would work with IT to develop a reporting form as such. Planning Staff stated that work would
continue on the website with hopes of finishing the initial form by April 30th. A copy of the website
would be sent to HRAB members for comment and approval before being added to server.
The next item was presented by Chairman Kriz who asked if HRAB members wanted to meet if there
were no rezonings to review. Vice Chairman Fravel stated that there were still several projects that could
be worked on such as the Plaque Program for the upcoming year. Chariman Kriz said that Ms. Kalbain's
consultation would be needed to determine what properties to nominate. Chairman Kriz, then, spoke of
the funding that HRAB was allowed to spend on historical markers. Currently the fund is around $9,000.
Members discussed spending the money on interstate markers and maintenance. Chairman Kriz also
suggested that the Bicentennial Committee that allocated the funds be reconvened to determine if the
money could be spent elsewhere. It was agreed that both ideas needed to be further investigated.
Item Three: Website Status
Ms. Powers acknowledged that the status of the website project remains unchanged since she began
serving as staff support for the HRAB, and that she will make sure that the site, which was originally to
be launched with the new County Website be published as soon as possible.
Item Four: APVA June 30th organizational meeting.
Board members received a flyer announcing the Association for the Preservat5ions of Virginia
Antiquities' (APVA) organizational meeting scheduled for June 30 and 5:30 pm at the Museum of the
Shenandoah Valley in Winchester.
It was unanimously agreed that the need for a meeting next month would be discussed by email before an
agenda was formed.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:30.