Alexandria Board of Architectural Review Public Hearing - September 3, 2026
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Alexandria Board of Architectural Review Public Hearing - September 3, 2026
The Board of Architectural Review (BAR) met at the Del Pepper Community Resource Center, 4850 Mark Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia. The minutes state the public hearing was called to order at 7:04 p.m. and adjourned at 9:34 p.m. Note: the agenda and minutes date the meeting Wednesday, September 2, 2026, while the supplied timestamp is 2026-09-03T12:15:00+00:00; this summary uses the supplied date in the title. Board members present were Mr. Spencer, Ms. Miller, Ms. Robinson, and Vice Chair Zandian; Chair Scott, Ms. del Ninno, and Mr. Adams were absent. Staff introduced a new staff-report template and brief staff case introductions.
Minutes
- Approved the July 15, 2026 minutes as submitted on a 4-0 vote.
Consent Calendar
- BAR2026-00244 (806 S. Fairfax St.; Solar Energy World): approved as submitted, 4-0.
- BAR2026-00254 (520 S. Pitt St.; Harry Braswell Inc.): approved as submitted, 4-0.
- BAR2026-00286 (724 S. Lee St.; Richard and Shaune Cathcart): pulled from consent; approved as amended, 4-0, with a condition to work with staff on column scale/proportion.
- BAR2026-00298 (820 S. Columbus St.; Courtland Alexandria/MG Permits): pulled from consent; applicant requested a deferral and the board accepted it, 4-0.
- BAR2026-00304 (719 Prince St.; William Cromley): approved as submitted, 4-0.
Public Comments & Testimony
- 820 S. Columbus St. (BAR2026-00298): Todd Cohn and Janice Kupia, both of 815 S. Columbus St., opposed the proposed halo-illuminated sign. Kupia submitted a petition with 37 signatures and said the entrance is in a residential zone across from eight homes with bedrooms facing the street. Nancy Alan McCarthy of 803 Green St. also opposed, arguing the illuminated sign would change the residential character of Old Town. The applicant offered to consider non-illuminated three-dimensional lettering; the board then accepted a deferral.
- 121 N. Fairfax St. (BAR2026-00238): Several speakers opposed the metal roof proposal for the historic house. Bob Wine of 11 Cameron St., a neighbor and local historical foundation president, said the building should be interpreted to its 18th-century period and cited a report by retired Colonial Williamsburg curator Willie Graham. Ken Lach, a volunteer gardener, said the original roof material was wood. Alden Philbrick of 133 N. Fairfax St. said a shingle with 18th-century nail holes was found in the house and that wood can last 30-50 years if properly installed. William Dickinson of 20 Mine Jameson Ave., a former NOVA Parks board member, said he was agnostic but gave history: the 1980 renovation cost about $2.5 million (about $14 million today), and the 2006 cedar shingle roof replacement had fire-marshal concerns. Yvonne Callahan, president of the LTL Civic Association, opposed the metal roof and said flame-retardant shingles with long warranties are available.
- 335 N. Royal St. (BAR2026-00274): Stephen Kalinski, the original development architect, supported the privacy-screen proposal, saying there is nothing historic visible from the rear and that the buildings were expected to adapt over time.
Discussion Items
- BAR2026-00223 and -00235 (414 Duke St.): The board approved the proposed two-story addition, partial demolition, and encapsulation as amended, 4-0. The applicant agreed to add mullions/muntins to the new side light and enlarged transom to match the existing door proportions.
- BAR2026-00166 and -00167 (1010 Oronoco St.): The board approved the rear demolition and three-story addition as amended, 3-1, with Mr. Spencer voting against.
- BAR2026-00238 (121 N. Fairfax St.): Applicant Justin Wilson, executive director of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, presented the standing-seam metal roof proposal for the Carlyle House, citing about $1.5 million in recent investment, historic precedent, support from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and reduced future disruption. Board members preferred a wood shingle roof appropriate to the 18th-century house, including modern installation techniques to extend its life. The board denied the metal-roof application, 4-0. The chair noted that a same-material wood roof replacement would be an administrative request rather than the metal-roof request before the board.
- BAR2026-00274 (335 N. Royal St.): Approved as amended, 4-0, with the privacy screens redesigned as lattice matching the adjacent townhouse rather than heavy slats.
- BAR2026-00285 (213 S. Fairfax St.): Approved as amended, 4-0, for demolition/encapsulation of about 228 square feet of rear masonry wall.
- BAR2026-00288 and -00295 (811 S. Columbus St.): Approved as amended, 4-0, for removal of about 100 square feet of roof area and construction of two dormer windows.
- BAR2026-00292/-00293 (500 N. Washington St.) and BAR2026-00291/-00294 (502 N. Washington St.): These related projects convert commercial offices back to two residences with third-floor/rear additions. After discussion, board voted to approve each pair as amended by separate 4-0 votes, with a condition that the architect work with staff to enhance the chimney brickwork/articulation.
- BAR2026-00302 (909 N. Washington St.): Approved as amended, 3-1, with Ms. Miller voting against. The board allowed three halo-illuminated wall signs but conditioned them to be dimmable/adjustable between 3000K and 5000K, with staff to verify the installed illumination level in the field. The applicant had requested 5000K rather than staff-recommended 3000K.
- BAR2026-00306 and -00307 (103 Queen St.): Approved as amended, 4-0, for removal of about 76 square feet of slate roofing, a roof terrace, stair enclosure, and shed dormer.
Administrative Approvals
- The docket listed 27 administrative approvals for roofs, doors, windows, fences, siding, panels, signage, and related work. No board vote on these administrative items is recorded in the meeting minutes.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the July 15, 2026 minutes and the bulk of the consent calendar, with item 5 approved as amended and item 6 deferred.
- Denied the metal roof application for 121 N. Fairfax St., 4-0.
- Approved all other new-business applications, except where noted: 1010 Oronoco St. (3-1) and 909 N. Washington St. (3-1); all other contested approvals were unanimous or 4-0.
- Directed applicants at 414 Duke St., 724 S. Lee St., 335 N. Royal St., 500/502 N. Washington St., and 909 N. Washington St. to satisfy specific design conditions through staff follow-up.
- The hearing adjourned at 9:34 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
We have a full document tonight. So please uh try to be concise and to the point if you are speaking and if you uh wish to speak on any of the cases, please make sure to fill out uh speakers for and give it to the staff. Uh so first order of the business we have the consideration of the meeting minutes from July McD. Uh does any do any of the members of the board wish to suggest alterations to the meetings? No, do any uh members of the public have any comments on the meeting? No. Uh can I get a motion on the minutes? So move. Any opposed. No. Second. Okay. Uh any upload? No. Oh, we'll uh we will adopt the in favor. I'm all opposed. All right, we'll adopt the uh minutes. Uh next item on the calendar is the is the consent calendar. Yes, yes. Um thank you. Um before we get started, I want to point out a couple of things to board members. First off, welcome after our August recess. Nice to see everyone again. Hope everyone had a nice August. Um you'll see a couple of new things tonight. We're trying to stuff out, and it failed everybody to tell me if you look at the game, but I'll try to. I'm always in the in in uh in the mood to try to approve things. So you'll see a couple of things. First, um the staff reports have a new template. Um we're trying out the different template, try to push some of the more important information early in the document, make it easier to find, kind of a little more graphic, you know, that sort of thing. So um we'll do that for a couple a couple years. Give us the feedback, things you like, things you don't discuss. Speak in uh as we go. That's one thing. The second thing is we're tonight. We're gonna try out try out something new out where staff will do a brief, very, very promised three three um introduction to each case. So we'll just basically say so okay. You're here up salient points in this case. Here are things that are um uh to be looked at, and staff is recommending this, and we uh recommendation and and conditions will be found here. That's about it. Very quick. Just trying to try to focus the conversation so we know what we're you know, what what's really the important point points that it is. So that being said, that's our new stuff. Now we gotta move on to our document. Um said we have uh number of items on the consent calendar and read them in and then that's first item at number three AR 2026-00244, all the store district request for operation South Fairfax Street. The applicant is sober energy world represented by July. Item number four, AR 2026-00254 request for operations at 45 South Pitt Street. Applicant is very Braswell Incorporated, represented by Gretchen Brandon. Is B AR 2026 dash 00286 for the historic district request for operations at 724 South East Street? Applicant of Richard and Sean Cascart.
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