Are the Rose Hill Silos Historically Significant?

Rose Hill Civic Association President Carl Sell intends to settle the debate over the Rose Hill silos’ historical significance. 

Sell, who has lived in Rose Hill since the early 1960s, is drawing up paperwork to nominate the locally famous silos for inclusion in Fairfax County’s Inventory of Historical Sites. The silos are part of the now empty KinderCare site on May Boulevard in Rose Hill.

Sell said he hopes to submit the nomination form to Fairfax County’s History Commission by Friday, Sept. 23, or Saturday, Sept. 24.

The nomination is the latest step in Sell’s ongoing campaign to “save” the silos from possible demolition in a proposed development of 13 single-family homes on the property owned by Claude Wheeler of . 

If Sell submits the nomination by Friday or Saturday, the Fairfax County History Commission could review it during their October meeting and reach a decision as early as November 2011.

"It depends on how complete the nomination is when it’s submitted," said Laurie Turkaski, a representative from the Fairfax County office of planning and zoning, in a phone interview. 

A Question of Age

Sell says he believes the silos have been in Rose Hill and Franconia for at least 100 years, but that he is not sure of their exact age.

"I remember the silos and the Rose Hill farm before there was [the suburb] Rose Hill," he said. "These silos were preserved for a reason in the 1950s."

The area was a dairy farm, according to Sell, who has been researching the silos to submit information to the county.

"The silos were used for the May dairy farm and they needed a place to store the grain to feed the cows," he said.

'Significant' Doesn't Mean 'Saved'

But a place on the county’s historic inventory won’t necessarily put the silos out of harm's way. “Being listed on the inventory of historic sites doesn’t impose any restrictions on the property," Turkaski said.

According to the County's website: "At least 60 of these [historically designated] sites have been demolished since the creation of the Inventory. Inclusion on the Inventory is an honorary designation, and does not impose restrictions or limits as to what an owner can do with his property."

Turkaski and Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay said Wheeler is pursuing a by-right development within the property’s current zoning regulations. "It’s already zoned and planned for single-family homes," McKay said. "It doesn't go through a citizen process."

A Neighborhood Staple

Shirley Bennington has lived on May Boulevard in Rose Hill for about 45 years and can see the silos from her front yard. “We’re going to miss them because they’ve always been there,” she said. “They’re a part of the neighborhood.” 

Sell said he knew Wheeler can do what he wants with his property. "We’re not objecting to him building on his property," he said. "He has every right to do that. We are objecting to him not preserving the silos."

Wheeler told Patch he did not seem to think there was a controversy over the silos but declined further comment.