I read with interest the article entitled, “Historic Districts Divide Residents,” (July 12, 2023). There was one part of the article that I want to clarify. The article said,
“Cesar del Aguila] and his Fortnightly neighbors have to go through the HDRB. The district’s border includes their street. ‘I think just about 100% of [my] neighbors want out of the HD; it makes no sense for us to be in there.’ The homes were constructed in 2005 before the district was formed.”
Herndon’s Historic District boundaries were drawn well before the Fortnightly neighborhood (of townhomes and condos) were built. In 1977 the first survey of historic homes was conducted in Herndon. In 1987 Herndon was designated a Certified Local Government (CLG), a program that is jointly administered by the National Park Service and State Historic Preservation Offices. In 1989 Herndon’s Historic Overlay District was adopted. In about 1991 Herndon’s Historic District was accepted into the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Most of the Fortnightly neighborhood was constructed between 2005-2007, with the final section built in 2012. Therefore, the Fortnightly homes were not constructed before the district was formed. They have an HOA.
Additionally, only a portion of the Fortnightly neighborhood is included in the Historic District, predominantly some of the homes that abut the W&OD trail. Mr. del Aguila’s home is not one of those homes. The section of Fortnightly land in the historic district previously included historic buildings plus the W&OD railroad’s wye, a triangular section of railroad track where locomotives would turn around, much like a three-point turn.
Barbara Glakas
Herndon, Va.