Comments on: Developer Pays Blackstone Tap Fee Day before Deadline

By: Jean Johnson

Jean Johnson — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:00:44 +0000

Sounds like McCormack and Echelon operate with minimal cash cushions for their projects. What happens if there are construction delays and overruns on the school project? (I remember seeing in a recent Wave article that the Hotel Cape Charles budget ballooned from I believe $600K to over $2M. ) What if rental demand isn’t as robust as expected among the fisherman second-home crowd or young teachers? Does the town have a contingency plan in the event of project non-completion or bankruptcy?

By: Dana Lascu

Dana Lascu — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:59:26 +0000

Even if we are not getting totally screwed, it mostly feels like it. The Town needs to hire a public relations agency (alternatively, a shrink) to change this perception.

By: Bruce Lindeman

Bruce Lindeman — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:03:45 +0000

So, the part about this project being financially viable if the property is given to the developer essentially for free is what I think the Town Council owes us more detail about. What does “financially viable” mean? Is it simply that there will be positive income to the Town via taxes, etc.? If so, how many years before the Town’s investment is paid back and we begin seeing this positive income?

Has ANY analysis been done to determine the relative value of this deal from a revenue perspective? Also, the argument that many have on this issue is still valid: why wasn’t this sale done competitively to determine the best deal for the Town and to maximize the Town’s (and taxpayers’) investment?

Lastly, the diversion of funds from other projects to fund this deal and the Bank of America building is troubling. It’s the old, robbing Peter to pay Paul thing. I realize these kinds of trade-offs occur all the time in municiple governments. However, there should be a threshold at which the Town should be required to get taxpayer input. Do most taxpayers, for example, really want money that was planned to be used to upgrade our street lights used to restore the bank building instead? I wonder. I know that I don’t.

I think you can argue either side of this issue but it’s the lack of transparency about these deals that makes me squirm. Thanks, George, for keeping the light shining on this stuff.