Fredericksburg’s Historic Review Board on July 8 approved a request to rerate a deteriorated accessory building on East College from medium to low, allowed disassembly with salvage of reusable materials, and supported the owner’s plan to reconstruct a replacement building in the same location — subject to later review of final plans and potential variances.

City staff and board members visited the site and concluded the structure is beyond repair. Staff recommended documentation of the building for possible reconstruction and salvage of historic fabric where feasible. "If the demolition were approved, the building should be well documented for possible reconstruction," staff said in its report.

The owner and design team presented renderings of a proposed replacement and said they intend to reuse as much salvageable barn wood, hinges and hardware as possible and that they had identified reclamation sources for supplementary material. One applicant said, "we are gonna try to reuse much of the existing material that's currently on the outside of the building" and had contacted a reclaimed-wood supplier as backup.

Board members moved to rerate the building to low, allow disassembly/demolition if the owner chooses, and recommend that Planning & Zoning grant a replacement variance to keep the current footprint and curb cut so the project can proceed without losing historic site relationships. The board emphasized the applicant must return with final construction drawings, elevations and materials lists for formal COA approval of the new building.

Board members also asked staff to advise the applicant on the variance process and confirmed that HRB cannot itself grant zoning variances; any setback relief must come from the appropriate city board.