Official Wrangling Over Old School Continues (in Fine Print)

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

October 16, 2013

When Cape Charles Town Council meets Thursday (October 17), the Old School in Central Park will be on the agenda yet again – more than two years after Town Council began secret negotiations with a developer to give away the property.

This time, Council will consider whether to override a decision by the Town Manager not to allow an appeal by the civic group Old School Cape Charles regarding issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness to the school developer.

Town Manager Heather Arcos and Town Planner Rob Testerman write that they “will reject the appeal unless otherwise directed by Council.” They present several reasons why, perhaps the most controversial being that “An appeal must be filed with the Zoning Administrator, but OSCC filed the appeal to the Town Clerk.”

The appeal, filed by OSCC President Wayne Creed, quoted Town Zoning Ordinance Section 8.15: “the decisions of the Historic District Review Board may be appealed to the Town Council.”

But Arcos and Testerman contend that Section 8.34 of the Zoning Ordinance “further explains the steps to give notice of an appeal. An appeal must be filed with the Zoning Administrator, but OSCC filed the appeal to the Town Clerk. The appeal is addressed to the Town Council,” they write. Their memo does not mention whether they obtained advice from the Town’s attorney on the issue.

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Section 8.34 of the Zoning Ordinance states: “An appeal from a decision of the Historic District Review Board may be taken to the Town Council by the owner of the property in question or by any party aggrieved by said decision, which shall be taken within thirty (30) days after the decision appealed from by filing with the Administrator a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof.”

Town Council thus must decide whether to accept Old School’s appeal in accordance with Section 8.15, or throw it out in accordance with Section 8.34.

The Arcos/Testerman memo to Town Council is for “information” only, meaning that no action by Town Council is requested. According to the memo, the staff has already decided that the appeal should not be heard. Action would not be required by Town Council unless it decides to override the staff decision — an action unprecedented in the recent past.

The Town Manager/Town Planner’s memo, which includes the Old School Cape Charles appeal, may be read by clicking here.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Official Wrangling Over Old School Continues (in Fine Print)”

  1. Steve Downs on October 16th, 2013 11:50 am

    I can’t wait for the Virginia Supreme Court to hear the case from Old School Cape Charles. Hopefully, after a decision is heard, it won’t matter what the “leaders” of town government think.

  2. Lenora Mitchell on October 18th, 2013 2:06 pm

    I’m just a little confused here. The appeal was filed to the Town Council, who didn’t get it because it was hijacked by staff, who said it should be rejected based on reasons that they cited. Then they included the info in the meeting packet, making a recommendation to the Council to reject the appeal (which would be an action), but not requiring any action because the staff had already made the decision, so it was only included in the packet as an “information” item. Is that what happened?

    – That is exactly right. The Wave’s report of the meeting will appear soon. –EDITOR