SATURDAY 3/16: Authentic Celtic Music at ESO St. Paddy Party
ESO Arts Center is proud to host once again The Leigheas, an authentic Celtic Band for Saturdays St. Paddy’s Day celebration 7:30 p.m. in Belle Haven. [Read more…]
Mandatory Sewer Charges Pondered for Cheriton
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
March 13, 2013
Northampton County Board of Supervisors yesterday heard cost options for expanding sewer service into the County from the Cape Charles treatment plant.
County Executive Director Katie Nunez laid out various costs to the Supervisors, all of which entail running a pipeline from the new treatment plant near the Town Harbor to at least as far as Highway 13.
The Supervisors are interested in expanded sewage treatment to spur economic development in Northampton County.
Public Service Authority Chairman Bob Panek, who is also assistant town manager for Cape Charles, is promoting expanded sewerage as a way to reduce treatment costs. If fixed costs are shared by more customers, rates could be lower.
Cape Charles Town Council has tentatively given a go-ahead to explore expanded treatment options, despite concerns that commercial development on Highway 13 could compete with Town businesses.
Just how much a customer outside Cape Charles would pay for wastewater treatment remains unknown.
The PSA envisions extending service first to businesses near the Highway 13-Route 184 (Stone Road) intersection, as well as to Fairview Mobile Home Park. Infrastructure costs are estimated at $2 million.
Phase Two would extend service to Cheriton. Nunez said that Cheriton would need to enact a mandatory participation ordinance unless at least 80 percent of residents voluntarily requested service.
Nunez conceded that getting 80 percent of Cheriton residents to request sewage treatment was unlikely. But under a mandatory participation ordinance they would have no choice. [Read more…]
LETTER: Make Old Library Available to Community Groups
March 12, 2013
DEAR EDITOR,
Cape Charles is about to have a beautiful new library. The old library building and excess computers should be provided to organizations that are focused on community activities, both educational and recreational.
Concerned Citizens of Cape Charles, a non-profit organization, was formed by local residents in 1989. The working class community organized to be better informed, educated, and empowered to become a part of the civic decision-making process, and to accept responsibility for self improvement and in turn community improvements at a time when the Town did not have the human or financial resources to sustain itself.
The organization’s mission is to improve the lives and living conditions of the working class residents through human development and the creation and development of a sustainable community.
Concerned Citizens became the advocate and the voice for the disenfranchised. The organization brought many resources to Cape Charles, including hundreds of student volunteers who worked on community projects including installing shelves in the Library, painting a senior’s house, moving scenery at Arts Enter, and gardening at the Museum.
The group also fought for changes to promote community stability such as zoning laws that allowed in-fill housing development and other laws favorable to improving the quality of life.
Channel 10 was on our side when the Town wanted to use $1.2 million in Community Development Block Grants for infrastructure improvements instead of the most critical need of housing rehabilitation.
Concerned Citizens also brought national media attention to its fight to save the predominantly African-American Northeast neighborhood when a developer’s plan for a resort retirement community would have destroyed the neighborhood and displaced its residents. [Read more…]
WEDNESDAY 3/13: Harbor Area Review Board Meeting on South Port Yacht Center
The Cape Charles Harbor Area Review Board will meet 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, at Town Hall. [Read more…]
FRIDAY 3/15: Judge Fulton Describes Handling of Drug Cases
The Science and Philosophy Seminar of the Eastern Shore of Virginia will present “Drug Courts Save Lives and Save Money” 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 15, in the Eastern Shore Community College lecture hall, 29300 Lankford Hwy, Melfa. [Read more…]
‘Freshwater Frank’ Gets Surprise 60th Birthday Party
March 11, 2013
“Freshwater Frank” Russell, Cape Charles’ beloved musician, at his surprise birthday party, with Frank Wendell. (Wave photos)
“Pottsy” and Jenny Potts hosted Frankie’s party in their backyard Saturday night.
REPRINT: Northampton PSA Tries Again
March 9, 2013
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following report on the Northampton Public Service Authority is reprinted by permission from SHORE LINE, published by Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore. Whenever possible, the WAVE reprints articles from other sources concerning Cape Charles.)
After failing to attract grant funding for either an Exmore/Nassawadox project or a Cheriton-area project, the Northampton Public Service Authority (PSA) is proposing a smaller wastewater system for commercial areas around Cheriton and Cape Charles.
But a July, 2012, survey of area commercial property owners to gauge interest yielded a “poor response,” PSA Chair Bob Panek told the Northampton Supervisors in January.
Follow-up meetings in the fall of 2012 with 64 owners of 85 mostly vacant parcels yielded a “thin response” of five “yes,” four “no” and one “maybe” when asked about commercial sewage treatment, but the Fairview Mobile Home Park has expressed interest in connecting with any wastewater system in the area.
There is still no grant money available for a primarily commercial sewage treatment project. PSA proposals to the Supervisors for generating loans to construct a $1.5–$2 million system for commercial users in the Cheriton, Rt.13, Rt. 184 and Bayside Road area included:
- A PSA loan with a County “moral obligation bond” guarantee;
- A Special Tax District could be created in which the users would be taxed to fund the debt service over 20 years;
- A county-wide tax rate increase on real estate to repay the construction loan; or
- “Blending” the above funding options.
Construction costs and debt service would most likely be in addition to user hook-up fees and monthly fees for the costs of treatment at the Cape Charles treatment plant and operation and maintenance. [Read more…]
THURSDAY 3/14: Young Artists Show at Stage Door Gallery
The Stage Door Gallery will hold the opening reception for THE YOUNG ARTISTS SHOW beginning at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, at 301 Mason Avenue in Cape Charles. [Read more…]
