VIRGINIA BEACH — To preserve some of the city’s oldest and historically-significant structures, Virginia Beach has designated the area around them as special districts.
The formal recognition of a Historic and Cultural District is more than a label. It requires a City Council-appointed board to review proposed alterations to buildings in the designated zone. Each month, the Historical Review Board votes on applications to alter elements within historic districts across the city.
A recent unusual request from a centuries-old church in Virginia Beach in a historic district has some city officials questioning whether the review board’s standards are too stringent and cost prohibitive.
On Wednesday, the Planning Commission heard a request from Nimmo United Methodist Church to be removed from the Nimmo Church Historical and Cultural District. The church’s removal would subsequently eliminate the district all together. The city’s Historic Review Board and Historic Preservation Commission have both denied approval of the request.
Church representatives were not present at this week’s meeting to answer the planning commissioners’ questions. The request to be removed was “due to significant material and labor costs associated with repairs and improvements desired by the church,” Mark Reed, the city’s historic preservation planner, wrote in a report.
Commissioners wanted more information and deferred a decision on the matter until Jan. 14.
“It’s an important issue affecting our consideration of this district and other districts throughout the city,” said Commissioner Bryan Plumlee.
Nimmo United Methodist Church is the oldest Methodist church in the country in continuous use, according to the church’s website. No one from the church has responded this week to a request for comment.
Virginia Beach has 16 Historical and Cultural Districts that protect resources from the Colonial era through the 20th century. The first one was the Courthouse District, established in 1969. The Nimmo district, near the intersection of General Booth Boulevard and Princess Anne Road, was established in 1980. It includes a corner lot where a Royal Farms convenience store was recently built.
The city’s Historic Review Board weighs applications for new development and exterior building changes related to properties located in the city’s designated historic and cultural districts.
The board evaluates a development proposal’s compatibility in terms of design and materials. Owners of properties located in designated historic and cultural districts need approval from the board for exterior alterations, repairs or maintenance, additions, new construction, signs and demolition. If approved, the board issues a “certificate of appropriateness,” which is needed for a construction permit.
Recent applications for historic districts have ranged from a homeowners association’s desire to install a gate to the city wanting to build a pump station. Appeals can be made to the City Council.
In June, the board denied a homebuilder’s application to build a vinyl fence in the Courthouse district, citing that the material was prohibited. The board enforces design guidelines and doesn’t take cost into account, according to the June meeting minutes.
The board denied Nimmo’s request for removal from the historic district designation in October because it would set a negative precedent, according to the city.
On Dec. 3, the Historic Preservation Commission also shot down the request, writing in a letter that it would remove the basic protections for a building that is significant to the city’s historical identity.
Councilwoman Barbara Henley, who represents District 2 where the church is located, said she was aware of the request and had concerns about the review board’s standards. She’s hoping a middle-ground can be reached between the city and the church.
“Being in the (historic and cultural) district, they’re just required to meet the highest standard of historic preservation,” Henley said. “That gets extensive. After awhile it just gets to be so costly you just can’t afford it.”
It’s unclear what sort of repairs or improvements the church wants to make as the church has not requested approval of changes to the property, according to the meeting documents.
Members of the Planning Commission had questions about proposed alterations to Nimmo United Methodist Church, but Reed said the church has not brought any maintenance or repair applications to the review board recently. In 2021, the board approved three additions to the church but denied plans for a welcome center in front of the church’s steeple, Reed said.
The steeple was added in 1893 and is a character-defining feature, he said.
The original building was constructed in 1791. A balcony was installed around 1840 as a gallery for enslaved members. Early in the Civil War, the church served as a hospital under the control of Union forces. After the war, freed slaves built Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal, nearby.
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
