Should Town Encourage Rt. 13 Commercial Development?
By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
August 8, 2012
Should Cape Charles, with its new wastewater treatment plant, make it easier to commercially develop nearby Route 13? That’s a question that will be on the table Thursday night at the Town Council meeting.
The Public Service Authority (PSA), which once hoped to provide sewer service around Exmore and Cheriton, has scaled back its goals. Now, the PSA is focusing on the strip along Route 13 between SunTrust Bank running south to the Corner Mart, with a branch to the Fairview mobile home park. The wastewater generated there would be pumped to the new Cape Charles plant.
“When taking the temperature of the community, we found significant interest by the commercial property owners,” said Bob Panek, who is both the assistant town manager of Cape Charles and the chairman of the PSA. “So we decided to concentrate on service for the commercial properties. Then we could build on that, should the grant funding climate improve in the future.”
A preliminary cost estimate for the small system is $1.5 million to $2 million. There are about 53 acres of commercially zoned property near the Cape Charles traffic light, and 32 acres zoned industrial. The PSA contacted 65 parcel owners to see if they were interested in a wastewater system.
“It pretty much has to be funded by private money,” said Panek, since the grant pool has dried up. The PSA has considered dividing the capital costs among participants, or having a special tax district created to pay for the project.
In the past, many Cape Charles business owners have objected to plans to develop the highway outside town. They point to Exmore, and hundreds of other small, historic downtowns that have been gutted by sprawl construction along the traffic corridor.
But a recent, informal survey by the Wave of Cape Charles business owners showed that — for the most part — they were unwilling to pass judgment on development outside town until they had more information about what would be built. Strip malls, however, got thumbs down.
“It really depends on what the description of the development is,” said Sandy McFall of Gallery 209 on Mason Avenue.
Some business owners wondered who would control the future growth. The answer: Northampton County zoning ordinances would determine what could or could not be built near the Cape Charles traffic light, and in every direction to the legal Town boundary.
Zones for parcels in areas for the proposed PSA project include Town Edge Commercial General, Existing Business, Existing Industrial, and Commercial. The long list of uses that can be built in each zone is described by charts in the Northampton County Code, Chapter 154, Appendix A.
The Cape Charles Planning Commission worked for years on a Corridor Overlay District that would limit growth along Route 184, with the intention of protecting the rural viewshed. But no Overlay District has yet been approved.
When asked if the PSA should encourage commercial development that could compete with businesses in town, Panek said that was not an issue for his organization to decide.
“That’s a question for the Town Council,” he said. “The PSA has no opinion on the subject. My personal sense is that Cape Charles is developing as a town that is economically tuned to tourism and visitors. I don’t see things that could go at the intersection that would compete with the town.”
Three things come to mind regarding the question: Should Cape Charles, with its new waste water treatment plant, encourage commercial development nearby, on Route 13? That’s a question that will be on the table Thursday night at the Town Council meeting, as I understand it.
• I have never seen rural highway commercial development that did not impact on a nearby small town. We need not look beyond our own town at what happened when Food Lion opened. We now have two empty grocery stores right in Cape Charles. I have seen this happen in other small rural towns too. Big corporations do what they have to do to ensure success and monopoly.
I am delighted and encouraged by the great events Cape Charles has planned and hosted this year, and I am encouraged by the number of people who attended each. The town is looking great. Brave investors and determined shop owners deserve our support and gratitude. But this is the summer. Winter will come. Our businesses need to be able to depend on local clients to support and sustain themselves. They do not need to compete with local or national chains sitting on the highway just a mile away.
• Regarding the waste water treatment plant and its current under-use, once the marina and golf communities are built out, at what capacity will the plant be functioning? Is that reality so far in the future that it should not be considered when offering to support and serve other areas?
Finally, a comment: I understand why members of our town council and administration sit on broader authorities and boards that make decisions about issues related to Cape Charles, i.e. the Library Board and the PSA. Under such circumstances, however, it falls to Cape Charles representatives to be sure that they are seeking out support from and taking into account the expectations, needs, and opinions of the citizens of the town. As a property owner and part-time resident, it does not seem to me that that always is the case. Discussions and decisions seem to take place primarily at the board/council levels. Perhaps more forums & town meetings might help. Online publications like The WAVE and “Cape Charles Happenings” are helping non-resident property owners like me as well.