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Record of Proceedings

Loudoun County Heritage Commission Stewardship Subcommittee Meeting – October 7, 2026

Commissions & Advisory Boards — Wednesday, October 7, 2026
BodyLoudoun County, Virginia
SessionCommissions & Advisory Boards
DateWednesday, October 7, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 57:58

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:01

Commissioner Kimball on October 5th, 2026, calling the stewardship subcommittee meeting to order present.

0:10

We have from the subcommittee, Commissioner Sternitsky from the Department of Planning and Zoning, Heidi Steventrant and Jennifer Moore from the Department of General Services, Artie Wright, and from Department of Parks Recreation and Community Services, Mark Novek.

0:30

So Artie, I thought what we could do.

0:33

What how would this best help you to do this?

0:37

And which SMP would you like to start with?

Speaker 2

0:39

Sure.

0:40

So the goal tonight would be to uh walk away with consensus that we uh we take uh I'll take everybody's comments, um, send them over to CP and G.

0:54

We'll get the drafts um cleaned

Unassigned speaker

0:58

up

Speaker 2

0:58

and ready to go to a presentation to the HC

Unassigned speaker

1:01

at

Speaker 2

1:02

perhaps maybe next month's meeting.

Speaker 1

1:06

Okay, um, and then release it to the Heritage Commission next month or do that beforehand.

1:12

Or does it depend what CPG gets it done?

Speaker 2

1:15

Yeah, I think they could probably I would think we could probably turn it around pretty quickly within weeks and ideally we could um the process before was um if I remember correctly, we the sub the the committee um once we're satisfied with the drafts and we present it to the full HC and then on to T Line.

Speaker 1

1:44

So you received comments from us and you got you received a comment from uh Donna about lanesville.

Unassigned speaker

1:50

I

Speaker 2

1:50

don't know if I received Donna's.

1:52

Let me um let me finish um getting booted up here one second.

Speaker 3

1:57

Maybe I'll just forward them to you because I have the comments from Donna.

2:00

I didn't see Don was

Speaker 4

2:01

comment.

Speaker 2

2:08

Um yeah, just I thought you know this evening would be good to um

Unassigned speaker

2:15

if

Speaker 2

2:15

anybody has anything specific, you know, um capture I I have some things that I I have concerned with.

Speaker 1

2:23

Okay.

2:23

So which one should we

Speaker 2

2:24

start

Unassigned speaker

2:25

with?

Speaker 2

2:26

Um let's go with lanes.

2:28

Okay.

2:29

So I'll I'll go and start.

2:32

So uh as a whole, I I'll say I think the SP's lanesville and Buzzlother both look really good.

2:40

Um what I've what I don't like, what I want to see um in the SMPs is um in the executive summary.

2:53

Um we really need CPG to kind of give us the um in your face kind of version of what we need to do with the buildings, right?

3:07

So the building, the lanes of house needs quite a bit of quite a bit of rehabilitation.

3:15

If you you know, if you look through the SP, it's you really got to dig hard to kind of find out about how much effort really is needed to rehabilitate that building.

3:26

But if you look at the structural engineers reports report on Lanesville, um they really make it clear, you know, there's some pretty significant deficiencies that need to be addressed and and rather urgently, you know.

3:42

We've got numerous windows uh on the building that are racked, doors and windows that the window and door jams and the frames are racked so bad that some of the glass is cracking in the windows, some places you can put your fingers right through, you know, between the sash might look like that, you know.

4:12

There's I mean I'm exaggerating,

Unassigned speaker

4:14

but

Speaker 2

4:14

in the doors, you know, or

Unassigned speaker

4:16

um

Speaker 2

4:16

you'll see a door that's racked like that where you could you know put your foot through there practically at the bottom, the other end is tight.

4:24

So what's going on with that?

4:26

I'm a carpenter by trade.

4:27

Um, been in construction my whole life.

4:29

So as the engineer noted, there's some pretty significant structural deficiencies that are happening.

Unassigned speaker

4:36

I

Speaker 2

4:36

think what happened has happened is through the decades of

Unassigned speaker

4:40

you

Speaker 2

4:40

know, we we the county put HVAC system into that building to keep it conditioned, which is a good thing.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

Um, you know, you're not letting it rot from the inside out with regards to mold um growing um all over the walls and stuff, dehumidification is a good thing, but it's also pulling moisture from the outside in because those old walls have German lap board style siding, but we have opened them up in places to do like rot repair and found that there was no sheathing.

Speaker 2

5:20

Um

Speaker 1

5:21

so do you feel that CPG missed a lot, or they just didn't emphasize what's wrong strongly enough.

Speaker 2

5:32

Yeah, I feel like they didn't emphasize strongly enough in the executive summary and in the like when you look at the executive summary and also in the resources portion of the SP where it where it describes um the different resources.

5:49

So the resources are the lanes of the house, frog shackle, the two barns, and the um and the uh school house.

5:57

So in those areas, um you you know they give you a sense that there's some problems, um, but when we make our presentation to

Unassigned speaker

6:11

the

Speaker 2

6:11

heritage commission and specifically TLOC, um which will drive it to go to the board, um, we need something

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Historic Preservation█████████████████████████████████████████████66%
Personnel Matters████████12%
Procedural███████11%
Public Engagement████6%
Budget███5%
Summary of Proceedings

Loudoun County Heritage Commission Stewardship Subcommittee Meeting – October 7, 2026

The Stewardship Subcommittee of the Loudoun County Heritage Commission met in person in the Dulles Room at the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg, Virginia, to review draft Stewardship Management Plans (SMPs) for Lanesville Heritage Area and Lovettsville Park. Commissioner Kimball called the meeting to order. Participants included Commissioner Sternitsky (Department of Planning and Zoning), Heidi Steventrant and Jennifer Moore (Department of General Services), Artie Wright, and Mark Novek (Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services). Note: The meeting record is dated October 7, 2026, while the agenda and transcript text state October 5, 2026.

Discussion Items

  • Lanesville Heritage Area SMP – Artie Wright said both draft SMPs were well done overall, but the executive summaries did not give enough weight to serious structural problems. For Lanesville, he described racked window and door frames, cracked glass, and other deficiencies from decades of deferred maintenance and said the structural engineer’s report shows urgent rehabilitation needs. He wanted CPG to revise the executive summary and resource descriptions so the Board understands the house needs a major project, not routine maintenance. A rehabilitation cost estimate in the range of $815,000 was referenced.
  • Artie explained that Parks and Recreation and General Services can maintain grounds and structures but cannot undertake major rehabilitation, which would require a capital improvement project and direction from the Board. He supported a modern intervention approach, similar to the 24 Union Street schoolhouse project, carefully removing and reusing existing siding while adding sheathing and house wrap to protect the historic fabric.
  • One commissioner cautioned that removing Secretary of the Interior Standards from the SMP could allow a future caretaker to justify inappropriate changes such as aluminum siding. Staff agreed the standards should remain the high-level recommendation, while the executive summary and staff reports could explain the property-specific context and wiggle room.
  • Lovettsville Park SMP – Artie and others said the Lovettsville SMP also needed a blunter executive summary on urgent stabilization and structural defects. Artie questioned whether the dairy barn is realistically salvageable without removing and replacing the entire superstructure after years of missing roof panels and rotted hay, and asked CPG to revisit the structural engineer’s report. Mark Novek noted the plan lacked clear priorities or a recommended order of work. Discussion also touched on including historic photographs of the house and documenting stored log components in Ashburn.

Other Business

  • Banshee Reeks – Structural stabilization work was described as around 60 percent design and expected to go through DTCI review within about two weeks, though slower than desired.
  • Broad Run Tollhouse – The DTCI project manager is aware of earlier Heritage Commission concerns; a consultant was brought back on board for specifications, and the Heritage Commission may invite the project manager to discuss treatment.

Key Outcomes

  • The subcommittee agreed to send its comments to CPG and ask CPG to revise both executive summaries so they clearly state structural deficiencies, urgent stabilization needs, and the level of investment required.
  • Artie said CPG expected to provide a revised Lanesville executive summary that evening; he will share it with the subcommittee when received.
  • The subcommittee agreed not to target a November Heritage Commission meeting. A follow-up work session will be scheduled during the week of October 19, with October 20 or 21 mentioned as possible daytime dates.
  • They also agreed to follow the Board-directed review process: staff and subcommittee comments now, Heritage Commission review next, and public or stakeholder input when the SMPs go to the Board of Supervisors.
  • Staff discussed broader work on historic property maintenance funding, including a possible future Board presentation and the county administrator’s request for budget implications of treating historic properties with best practices.

Meeting Transcript

Commissioner Kimball on October 5th, 2026, calling the stewardship subcommittee meeting to order present. We have from the subcommittee, Commissioner Sternitsky from the Department of Planning and Zoning, Heidi Steventrant and Jennifer Moore from the Department of General Services, Artie Wright, and from Department of Parks Recreation and Community Services, Mark Novek. So Artie, I thought what we could do. What how would this best help you to do this? And which SMP would you like to start with? Sure. So the goal tonight would be to uh walk away with consensus that we uh we take uh I'll take everybody's comments, um, send them over to CP and G. We'll get the drafts um cleaned up and ready to go to a presentation to the HC at perhaps maybe next month's meeting. Okay, um, and then release it to the Heritage Commission next month or do that beforehand. Or does it depend what CPG gets it done? Yeah, I think they could probably I would think we could probably turn it around pretty quickly within weeks and ideally we could um the process before was um if I remember correctly, we the sub the the committee um once we're satisfied with the drafts and we present it to the full HC and then on to T Line. So you received comments from us and you got you received a comment from uh Donna about lanesville. I don't know if I received Donna's. Let me um let me finish um getting booted up here one second. Maybe I'll just forward them to you because I have the comments from Donna. I didn't see Don was comment. Um yeah, just I thought you know this evening would be good to um if anybody has anything specific, you know, um capture I I have some things that I I have concerned with. Okay. So which one should we start with? Um let's go with lanes. Okay. So I'll I'll go and start. So uh as a whole, I I'll say I think the SP's lanesville and Buzzlother both look really good. Um what I've what I don't like, what I want to see um in the SMPs is um in the executive summary. Um we really need CPG to kind of give us the um in your face kind of version of what we need to do with the buildings, right? So the building, the lanes of house needs quite a bit of quite a bit of rehabilitation. If you you know, if you look through the SP, it's you really got to dig hard to kind of find out about how much effort really is needed to rehabilitate that building. But if you look at the structural engineers reports report on Lanesville, um they really make it clear, you know, there's some pretty significant deficiencies that need to be addressed and and rather urgently, you know. We've got numerous windows uh on the building that are racked, doors and windows that the window and door jams and the frames are racked so bad that some of the glass is cracking in the windows, some places you can put your fingers right through, you know, between the sash might look like that, you know. There's I mean I'm exaggerating, but in the doors, you know, or um you'll see a door that's racked like that where you could you know put your foot through there practically at the bottom, the other end is tight. So what's going on with that? I'm a carpenter by trade. Um, been in construction my whole life. So as the engineer noted, there's some pretty significant structural deficiencies that are happening. I think what happened has happened is through the decades of

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