1. To identify additional historic areas, sites, and buildings in Stafford County;
2. To recommend specific sites to be designated as historic districts to the Board of Supervisors;
3. To provide standards and guidelines for the preservation of sites and buildings designated as historic;
4. To encourage owners of all historic properties to preserve through tax incentives and/or easements;
5. To review all applications for new construction, renovation, or alteration of buildings located within historic overlay districts. 

All Architectural Review Board meetings are open to the public.  The ARB meets the second Monday of each month at the Stafford County Administration Center

In 1985, the Board of Supervisors designated the Village of Falmouth and 23 other sites in Stafford County as historic overlay districts.  Citizens often ask how creating a local historic district benefits their community. According to an issue of Small Towns Institute, there are several good reasons why historic districts are a necessary and viable force in communities across the United States:

1. To preserve architecture
Historic buildings reveal a great deal about the evolution of a community.  By preserving these buildings a sense of history can be saved and a strong foundation is maintained upon which future development can occur.

2. To retain community character
People who own property within a historic district can learn the proper methods to maintain their buildings (which are often inexpensive, contrary to popular belief); therefore, buildings remain compatible with the existing environment.  If historic buildings are maintained according to particular standards, property value also increases.

3. To channel progress
Deteriorated buildings occasionally must be demolished and new buildings constructed in their place. How successful this progress is depends upon the compatibility of the new buildings. A historic district can establish standards for new construction in order to maintain visual compatibility, which has been known to generate or increase commercial opportunities.

4. To foster community pride
Community pride evolves from a group effort toward historic preservation. This contribution from many property owners is vital in developing an appreciation for the heritage of a community.

5. To preserve environmental beauty
A sense of beauty is created from appropriate repair and renovation. Historic district regulations can help to maintain a consistency in the treatment of such buildings, thus creating a sense of aesthetic satisfaction for all those who live in and visit the community.

6. To increase real estate value
Preservation of buildings can bring financial benefits to a community by making individual structures and the surrounding landscape more valuable by subsequently increasing the tax base.

7. To improve the business community
Visitors are attracted to historic communities to experience and appreciate their aesthetic qualities. The business community also benefits from an increase in trade.

8. To pull a community together
Making preservation work in your community takes a group effort from the local government, service clubs, the historical society, and the citizens. To establish a working historic district and ordinance requires cooperation.  A historic district can unify a community.

CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS

If you own property within one of the local historic overlay districts & you wish to alter the exterior of your building(s), a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) is required.  You must complete a Certificate of Appropriateness Application and submit the application, along with architectural plans and other descriptive project details to the Office of Planning and Zoning.  Building alterations or additions must comply with the Stafford County Historic District Guidelines and zoning ordinance regulations.   

TAX INCENTIVES FOR REHABILITATION

Rehabilitation is the act or process of returning a property to a state of utility through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those features of the property that are significant to its historical or architectural value.  There are state & federal tax incentives for rehabilitating historic properties.  A local tax incentive program has also been created whereby property owners may restore historic properties without increasing assessments for seven years.  For more information about historic tax credits, contact the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Financial Incentives.

To learn more about t he Architectural Review Board or Stafford County historic overlay districts, contact the Department of Planning and Zoning at (540) 658-8668.