Breaking News: Added October 2009
PDF: U.S. Rep Thelma Drake & FMFADA Chair L. Preston Bryant, Jr. Release Study of Fort Monroe
PDF: Fort Monroe FADA implements real estate time-line counting down to take-over in 2 years
Tuesday, December 16, was a red letter day for Fort Monroe. Hamptonians are taking direct citizen action to steer post-Army Fort Monroe away from inappropriate and financially unnecessary “industrial” and other development and toward a future as a Grand Public Place such as a revenue-generating, self-sustaining, innovatively structured national park. Under the city charter’s citizen initiative provisions, a Committee of Petitioners has gathered over 2300 Hampton voters’ signatures on a petition to revise the city’s ordinance concerning Fort Monroe’s future. That’s important, because Hampton has enormous power in the planning. On Tuesday, the committee formally submitted the petition to the city clerk. Now Wednesday, December 17, can be another red letter day -- especially if you can attend the city council meeting that starts at 7:30 P.M. in council chambers on the 8th floor at city hall. During the citizen comment period at the end of the meeting, Committee of Petitioners Chairman Sam Martin will briefly report on the petition to the city council. Below are the explanatory report that Sam submitted to council members today, followed by a comprehensive plain-English summary of the proposed ordinance revisions. This is a Hampton effort by Hampton citizens, but any owner of Fort Monroe may attend -- and every American is an owner of Fort Monroe. Will you come and show support by your presence?
REPORT SENT TO HAMPTON CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS BY SAM MARTIN, CHAIRMAN, HAMPTON COMMITTEE OF FORT MONROE PETITIONERS:
FROM: Samuel R. Martin
SENT: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 3:44 PM
SUBJECT: Report to council re Ft Monroe petition
Mayor Ward and Members of Council,
This is a report to members of the Hampton City Council concerning the Fort Monroe-related petition that Dorothy Rouse-Bottom and I submitted earlier today to the city clerk, whose graciousness we greatly appreciated.
On behalf of a worthy future for Fort Monroe, the two of us together with our fellow Hamptonians Gerri Hollins, I. Neil McInnis, Jr., Monika Malone, and James Stensvaag formed a Committee of Petitioners to advance a citizens’ initiative petition within Hampton, under the city charter.
You might recall that in October, the late Dr. H. O. Malone of Hampton reported to you that this would be happening. We are delighted that Mrs. Malone took his place on the Committee of Petitioners after his untimely passing.
I can report to you that the petition contains over 2,300 signatures that were collected from registered Hampton voters in accordance with provisions of the city charter. The petition asks the city council to amend Hampton’s ordinance addressing Fort Monroe’s future. The revisions would bring the ordinance into line with the planning advances that have been made. We believe that the ordinance is outdated in that it overly emphasizes “industrial” and other development of Fort Monroe, and also in that it fails to provide for shielding Hampton citizens from possible Hampton tax burdens.
The revisions would fix those problems by emphasizing instead what Hampton citizens plainly and overwhelmingly want: a self-sustaining Grand Public Place, quite possibly some kind of innovatively structured, revenue-generating national park that heads off possibilities of special city tax burdens, that sustains itself through judicious use of Fort Monroe’s many assets, and that enriches Hampton in multiple ways, starting with the financial one. I would like to emphasize that the proposed ordinance revisions not only reflect the overwhelming public will in Hampton concerning Fort Monroe, but constitute the best way to take advantage of the opportunities that Fort Monroe presents for the long-term future of our city. A comprehensive plain-English summary of the proposed ordinance revisions appears below my signature block.
I plan to sign up at the beginning of the city council meeting tomorrow night to report again briefly to you during “Audiences Granted to the General Public.” I will be inviting other citizens to attend in support of what we believe is a highly constructive development in the evolution of the planning for this wonderful national treasure in Hampton.
Respectfully submitted,
Samuel R. Martin
Chairman, Committee of Petitioners
COMPREHENSIVE PLAIN-ENGLISH SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE REVISIONS:
The Hampton citizens’ petition calls for amending the ordinance to mandate a Hampton city policy that:
- Highly values Fort Monroe’s 400 years of public ownership, the entire 570-acre post’s status as a National Historic Landmark, and its unique natural resources and recreational opportunities -- as required by state law.
- Pursues for Hampton the economic and other forms of enrichment that a Fort Monroe refashioned as a Grand Public Place would bestow.
- Distinctly recognizes the need to preclude any local tax burden for Hampton citizens.
The amended ordinance would require seeking to achieve those goals through:
- Striving to keep all of Fort Monroe in public ownership under the management of a public entity dedicated to stewardship of Fort Monroe as a "Grand Public Place" for the American people.
- Planning for a Fort Monroe that sustains itself financially through judicious use of Fort Monroe’s many potential revenue-generating assets.
- Ensuring that the possibility of a continuing federal role at Fort Monroe -- a self-sustaining national park, likely combined with a federal or a federal-state trust -- is investigated fully and pursued vigorously.
Hampton City Council appoints seven of the eighteen commissioners on Virginia’s Fort Monroe Authority (the “Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority”). The amended ordinance would direct Hampton’s seven commissioners to pursue the amended city policy on Fort Monroe “to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.”
by Diana Parker
Note to our Falls of the James Group Members: As can be imagined there are varied interests in the conversion of this BRAC military property from a military base to civilian uses. The Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority (FMFADA.com/) has official authority to review proposals for its use for the Hampton Community where it resides. Public Hearings have been held in Richmond and other sites for public input. Meanwhile the Sierra Club, the Fort Monroe National Park Foundation, cited below with an appeal, also are trying to maintain what we consider as best public use. I include this special appeal as they have been partnering with the Virginia Sierra Club for this best use. York River Group and the Chesapeake Bay Group Sierra Club are also involved.
This is a special appeal from the Fort Monroe National Park Foundation, a nonprofit educational foundation formed by leaders of the separate and earlier established Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park (CFMNP.org). Months ago, the foundation commissioned a Hampton Roads regional waterfront parkland study by the Trust for Public Land (TPL.org). These respected national experts are nearing completion. Their report will be out soon. It will be vital for Fort Monroe’s future, but it costs $15,000. With an initial stake contributed by foundation board members -- and with generous contributions from people like you in response to an earlier e-mail appeal like this one -- we’ve paid $11,000 overall in the first two of three installments. Will you donate a tax-deductible $100 (or other amount) to help us raise the remaining $4000? Not one cent of your contribution would go to overhead or staff. We cover overhead ourselves, and we have no paid staff. More details about this Trust for Public Land study as an important component of the effort to save Fort Monroe are available via the ‘What’s New’ page at CFMNP.org
Breaking News: Added March 2009
PDF: Dec. 15,2008 Fort Monroe and the Need for Parkland in Hampton Roads
Recommended Viewing:
Fort Monroe Home Page
Planning a future for freedom’s legacy -- Fort Monroe, Virginia
Download PDF:
A National Park for Fort Monroe
Please make checks payable to:
Fort Monroe National Park Foundation
Mail checks to:
FORT MONROE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
Henry O. Malone, President, & Louis L. Guy, Jr., Treasurer
P.O. Box 097
Fort Monroe VA 23651
by Mark St.John Erickson (757.247.4952)
FORT MONROE :Much of the future look and feel of this historic Army post might have been determined over the past few days by a team of preservation architects surveying its most significant structures.
Armed with cameras, detailed plans and lengthy written descriptions, the group hopes to complete its meticulously annotated inventory of more than 170 buildings and thousands of different architectural features today.
Then it will transform its data on the current condition of these structures into comprehensive standards for both preserving the built landscape of this National Historic Landmark District and introducing any new construction.
Both sets of standards are required by the Army, the Commonwealth, the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation as part of their agreement for the federal hand-over of the 570-acre property to the state in 2011.
“We want to set fairly rigid standards so we can preserve the historic character and ambience of the fort. Certain things will be non-negotiable - there will be no demolition or new construction inside the fort,” said Gregory Rutledge, a historic architect with Norfolk architectural firm Hanbury, Evans, Wright, Vlattas + Company, which is conducting the work.
“But we also want to make these standards feasible. We want them to generate enthusiasm among people interested in coming in and looking for opportunities for development. We don’t want to make them so tight that we scare people away.”
Among the hallmark structures attracting special attention from the architectural team are Old Quarters No. 1 - the 1819 house that ranks as the earliest non-fort building inside the walls - and the Carpenter Gothic-style Chapel of the Centurion built between 1855 and 1858.
Quarters No. 17 served as Robert E. Lee’s home when the future Confederate general - then a lieutenant in the Army engineers - helped supervise the completion of Fort Monroe and the beginning of nearby Fort Wool between 1831 and 1834.
What makes the historic landscape at Fort Monroe unusually distinctive, however, is not just its landmark structures but also the dense, widely varied collection of other architecturally significant buildings that have cropped up in and outside the fort’s walls over the years, Rutledge said.
That inventory ranges in date from the early 1800s to the early 20th century and includes structures varying from 100 to 84,000 square feet in size. It also features high-style Beaux Arts office buildings and Colonial Revival dwellings as well as Victorian-era barracks and simple vernacular structures - all of which could provide opportunities for distinctive adaptive reuse projects.
“Every major building campaign the Army undertook is represented here. We have at least seven or eight major architectural styles - and lots of minor variations on those styles,” Rutledge said. “So there’s a lot of work to do.”
Once completed, the standards will not only establish the requirements for builders and developers seeking historic preservation tax credits for adaptive reuse but also the benchmarks for new construction.
In addition to providing firm guidelines in such areas as building size, materials and style, they’ll also lay down the grid and scale of any new streets as well as both the density of any new construction and the nature of the surrounding landscape.
The standards will vary depending on the character of each of the post’s five different management zones, with the strictest rules governing development inside the historic fort and the “Historic Village” on the southwest.
“Some people are terrified that once the hand-over in 2011 comes, developers are going to come in and build the place out. But that’s not our goal,” Rutledge said. “We’re trying to define the character-defining features - the distinctive architectural and landscape features - that we don’t want to lose.”
Press Release: September 16, 2008 Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority
Press Contact: Bill Armbruster (757.637.7778)
FMFADA outlines action steps for implementation at September board meeting
Three years and counting until the Army’s moving day on September 14, 2011. It’s a timetable that’s getting lots of attention since Governor Timothy Kaine approved the reuse plan on August 20, 2008.
Bill Armbruster, Executive Director, Fort Monroe FADA explains the change of pace; “There is nothing like a deadline to keep you motivated. It is a bit like the night before Christmas, when you have to put together the gifts that need some assembly, there is a desire to get it just right but you have the added pressure of a finite deadline. The Commonwealth of Virginia is getting the gift of an historic town with a moated fort, set on 570 acres of land with breathtaking waterfront views but there are a lot of moving parts that have to come together before we can open the package for all the people who want to live, work and visit Fort Monroe.”
The next Fort Monroe FADA board meeting on September 19, 2008 will be held at the Bay Breeze on Fort Monroe at 1 p.m. The meeting includes a two-hour workshop given by Bay Area Economics (BAE) and project structural engineers Kimley-Horn on economic impacts of decisions made about Fort Monroe. And, the Army will present their schedule of work for environmental clean-up. The critical path for the environmental clean-up has been in process for some time. The Army, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the FMFADA’s environmental consultant, Matrix Design Group, will work together to ensure an efficient schedule.
Armbruster will brief the FMFADA board on other projects in process. These include the design standards developed by restoration architects Hanbury Evans Wright and Vlattas of Norfolk. The FMFADA will begin work to plan its public programs by initiating an interpretive master planning process.
The task of this multi-month process is to explore the national significance of Fort Monroe’s history and natural resources and plan programs that will enrich public audiences who will come to the site after the Army leaves. Recommendations about the design standards and interpretive master planning will be presented by Kathleen Kilpatrick, Chairman of the Historic Preservation Advisory Group, a panel of nine experts appointed to advise the Fort Monroe FADA on historic preservation and public programs.
- plan will guide appropriate reuse of historic property -
Press Release:
August 19, 2008
RICHMOND, VA - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that he has approved the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority's (FMFADA) plan for reuse of the Fort Monroe property when the U.S. Army vacates the base in September 2011. The FMFADA has created a plan that protects the property's historic character, maintains full public access, creates a large-scale park, and calls for adaptive reuse of existing buildings and allows new development within strict guidelines.
“I am pleased with the work of the FMFADA over the past 18 months to create a plan for Fort Monroe that ensures this spectacular and historic property will be enjoyed by many generations to come,” Governor Kaine said. “I also am pleased that the process to create the reuse plan has included many community and regional leaders, experts in historic preservation and economic development, the City of Hampton, and the National Park Service.”
The Fort Monroe property will revert to state ownership as a result of the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s 2005 decision to close the nearly 200-year-old Army installation.
The Governor is required by law to approve the FMFADA’s reuse plan before it can be forwarded to the U.S. Department of Defense. The FMFADA will now submit the plan by September 30, 2008 to the Department of Defense.
With the reuse plan approved, the 18-member FMFADA will continue working with the Army, community leaders, and the City of Hampton to prepare to implement the plan upon the Army’s departure in three years.
Fort Monroe was first established as an Army installation in 1819. It was established as a National Historic Landmark in 1960. The property's 570 acres include 40 acres of wetlands, 13 acres of beaches, and 20 acres of recreational areas. There are approximately 150 structures, including roughly 300 housing units, and some 1.5 million square feet of non-residential space. There also is a 332-slip marina.
More information on the fort, including the reuse plan, is available online at www.fmfada.com.
Governor Kaine and his Cabinet will visit Fort Monroe tomorrow, Wednesday, August 20, at 9 a.m. to ceremonially sign the reuse plan and tour the facility as part of his ninth Cabinet Community Day. The event is open to the media and public.