SHORE THING
Put Your Money on the Mantelpiece
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave Columnist
July 23, 2012
When I was 10 years old, and wanted something, I wanted it NOW, and I wanted it BADLY.
My mother (who lived through the Great Depression), invariably said: “Put your money on the mantelpiece for two weeks, and then see if you still really want (whatever it was I had to have immediately).
That put me in my own great depression. Two weeks? An eternity for a 10-year-old. Money on the mantelpiece? I didn’t have any money — I wanted my parents to buy it for me!
So, I know of what I speak when I say that Town Council is behaving like a 10-year-old.
The indecent haste with which they voted to buy the Bank of America building is childish at best, and illegal at worst.
— Childish, because when Town Council found out they could buy the building for what seemed like a cheap price ($208,000), they threw caution to the wind, jumped in with both feet, and allowed no public knowledge or comment whatsoever.
Town Council didn’t have any money to put on the mantelpiece, but they sure wanted that impressive building with the stone columns. So they found some money waiting to be spent on hooking up two new wells to the Town water supply, and just took it.
— Illegal, because once again, Town Council is ignoring State code requirements in regard to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan: § 15.2-2232. “No . . . public building . . . shall be authorized . . . until . . . approved by the [planning] commission as being substantially in accord with the adopted comprehensive plan . . . .” Read the full text of the code here: (It’s a mouthful.) http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+15.2-2232 [Read more…]
Echelon Partner Outlines Plans for Old School in Presentation at Palace Theater
Echelon Resources partner David McCormack outlines plans to convert old school into 17 one-bedroom apartments during Saturday morning’s Town information meeting.
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 22, 2012
Echelon Resources partner David McCormack came to town yesterday to tell the public about his company’s plans for the old school at Central Park. Over 100 people attended the Town information meeting at the Palace Theater.
About a year ago during a visit to the Eastern Shore, McCormack said, he “happened to notice that the old school was there.” His specialty is adaptive reuse of old buildings, so he investigated and was shown the school by town staff sometime last summer. In August, he and his partner, Edwin Gaskin, sent a confidential unsolicited proposal to the town to purchase the building.
Town staff negotiated in secret with Echelon until February 9, when Town Council held a public hearing as required before selling public property. Local resistance has mounted since that time, but until July 10, no Echelon representative had provided any information to the public about the company’s plan to convert the old school into a 17-unit apartment building.
McCormack attended the July 10 meeting of the Cape Charles Planning Commission and gave a slide show. Yesterday he repeated his presentation for the general public.
Although McCormack emphasized that he was “happy to answer any questions,” Vice Mayor Chris Bannon was not in agreement. The rules according to Bannon were that no question was to be asked about the contract signed by Mayor Dora Sullivan with Echelon or about required zoning changes. Such questions “should be directed to the Town Manager in writing,” Bannon twice emphasized.
In his presentation, McCormack gave an overview of Echelon projects in recent years. Echelon and its development partners have invested $80 million in historic redevelopment in Virginia, he said, assisted with tax credits from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the National Park Service.
Without tax credits, Echelon’s adaptive reuse projects would not be attractive to a commercial lenders, McCormack said. [Read more…]
