Town Grants South Port $180,000 Utility Fee Deferral
South Port Investors’ Cape Charles Yacht Center looks to cater to this clientele.
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
January 23, 2014
Town of Cape Charles offices were closed yesterday due to snow, but that didn’t stop Town Council from holding a special meeting to grant a deferral to South Port Investors of up to $180,000 in utility connection charges.
South Port, the developer of Cape Charles Yacht Center, is engaged in yacht repair and storage, and is soliciting vendors for boat manufacturing, yacht brokerage, boat rentals, sail making, ship stores, insurance, a bistro, retail shops, and a bed & breakfast.
South Port last month requested a waiver of utility charges and fees for property it is leasing from the Town. Unable to reach consensus at its December meeting, Town Council held a special work session earlier this month to further discuss the issue, but still could not agree on what to do.
A week ago, Council held a closed meeting, revealing only that the discussion concerned “property leased by the Town and Town-owned property,” leading observers to conclude that South Port again was the topic.
The thorny issue is that although Town Code requires utility connection charges, Town Council has begun making exceptions. The Shanty Restaurant, built on property leased from the Town, was not required to pay a utility connection fee (which would have been $60,000).
South Port’s legal representative, Cela Burge, said South Port is only asking for equal treatment. She also pointed out that the Town waived a portion of connection fees for the developer of the apartments planned for the Old School at Central Park. (The fees essentially were eliminated by cutting them 75 percent and then giving the developer $41,000 to apply toward the remainder.)
Council member Joan Natali appeared to have forgotten about the Old School: “To my mind our precedent is limited to leased Town property,” she said.
Most recently, the Town reduced connection fees for the new Bay Creek Beach Club from $153,000 to $44,000. [Read more…]
DINING:
Bistro Tuesdays Bring Taste of Europe to Mason Avenue
Salmon Mousse (Photos by Clarice MacGarvey)
By CLARICE MACGARVEY
Cape Charles Wave
January 21, 2014
Chef Timothy Brown of Hook-U-Up Gourmet has ambitious culinary goals. He intends to elevate the level of dining on the Eastern Shore, and establish some new benchmarks for quality and good taste, both locally and region-wide.
A talented and innovative chef, Brown’s credentials include teaching at the Culinary Institute of America and operating the 5-Star restaurant, Myriah’s at Tower Hill. He opened Hook-U-Up, a gourmet dine-in/take-out café-style restaurant, in April 2012, and began introducing Bistro Tuesdays, a more upscale dining experience, this past November.
My first visit to Hook-U-Up Gourmet’s Bistro Tuesdays event indicates that Chef Brown is taking the right approach, and that there is plenty of great dining ahead for epicureans living on, or visiting, the Shore.
Located at 227 Mason Avenue in downtown Cape Charles, the venue is small and intimate, with only six tables at the front. The kitchen is within view. My companion and I arrived at 7:30, and although the dining space was packed, our server, also named Tim, seated us and took our drink orders right away. My first surprise was finding some of my favorite wines listed at very reasonable price points. The bottle of Hess Select Chardonnay we enjoyed, for example, was only $22.
For appetizers, my companion ordered the Salmon Mousse served with chopped egg, red onion, and crème fraiche. It was so creamy and delicious, I couldn’t keep my fork away, even though I had a lovely appetizer of my own: Sauteed Local Crabmeat en bouchee, finished with sherry, butter, and country ham. [Read more…]
TOWN COUNCIL:
A Thank-You to ‘Sambo,’ PSA, Multi-Use Trail, More
Former Police Chief “Sambo” Brown (now in civilian clothes), Mayor Dora Sullivan, and new Chief Jim Pruitt at Town Council meeting. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
January 20, 2014
Cape Charles Town Council members paid tribute to newly retired Police Chief Charles “Sambo” Brown at their January 16 meeting, and welcomed new Police Chief Jim Pruitt. Mayor Dora Sullivan presented Brown with a duck carving in appreciation of his years of service to the Town.
In other business, Cape Charles Business Association President George Proto announced plans for a 2014 workshop on economic development jointly sponsored by the Association, the Town, and the County. Proto also reminded Town Council that the Business Association had asked both the Town and the County to halt plans for a sewer pipe from the highway until concerns about the effect of highway development on the Town are addressed.
Nevertheless, Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek reported that the Public Service Authority is moving forward with plans to provide wastewater treatment to commercial properties on and near Route 13. (Panek is also chairman of the PSA.) He said that 12 properties had been removed from the planned special tax district, while four other properties had been added. Councilman Frank Wendell asked Panek if plans had been put on hold. Town Manager Heather Arcos responded that the Town “has not made any progress” on providing sewer service to the PSA. [Read more…]
EDITORIAL: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
A CAPE CHARLES WAVE EDITORIAL
January 16, 2014
At 5:15 p.m. today (Thursday), members of Cape Charles Town Council will go behind closed doors at Town Hall for an “executive session.” (The Wave has been criticized in the past for referring to such meetings as “secret.”)
Virginia state law requires almost every action, or even discussion, by publicly elected or appointed bodies to be open to the public, with records available. There are only a few exceptions — personnel matters being the most important. If Town Council wishes to interview candidates for, say, chief of police, the candidates understandably deserve privacy.
But today, Town Council is meeting to consider buying or selling property. That much we know, because state law requires the Town to state the reason for its “executive” session.
Here is the reason provided by the Town Clerk:
Discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose, or of the disposition of publicly held real property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body. Specifically: Discussion of property leased by the Town and Town-owned property.
So, we know that today Town Council will discuss property leased by the Town, with the idea of buying it, and property owned by the Town, with the idea of selling it. What we don’t know is — just what property?
The only allowance under state law to privately discuss the sale or purchase of property is if “discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy” of the Town. Note that any “adverse effect” must be on the Town – not the other party. [Read more…]
LETTER: State Bar President-Elect on Old School Battle
KEVIN MARTINGAYLE
January 15, 2014
DEAR EDITOR,
For well over a year, a group of residents has been battling to save the historic Cape Charles High School from being lost as an historic public asset. I will explain why and suggest a course of action to protect other historic property.
First, the primary excuse for transferring the property to a private developer, for a nominal price, was a supposed need to unload a building that had been allowed to fall into disrepair. Of course, the Town of Cape Charles has ordinances that prohibit allowing property to become dilapidated, so it appears that the local governing body violated its own laws. That type of excuse for disposing of historic property is sad, ironic, and unacceptable.
Second, the deal involving Cape Charles High School converts a public asset into private property, with no public space and no future intended public use. The deal takes a building that was considered to be a part of the public park and allows it to be converted into private residences. The “renovated” building will bear little resemblance to the old high school. This would appear to be contradictory to the Cape Charles Comprehensive Plan, which calls for the preservation of public space.
Third, saving an historic school property like the Cape Charles High School is not complicated to do. The Town of Onancock managed to save the old Onancock High School, and the community is richer for the effort. Many residents urged the Cape Charles Town Council to follow the Onancock example, to no avail. In fact, a competing bid to purchase the school for more money and keep it public was rejected without any Council vote or public discussion. No good reasons were ever offered for the refusal to engage in a serious preservation effort. [Read more…]
As Shore Gains Political Muscle, Old School Group Urges Protection for Public Property
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
January 14, 2014
With Onancock native Ralph Northam now lieutenant governor, and Nassawadox native Lynwood Lewis in line to be a state senator, the community group Old School Cape Charles wants them to know the story of how Cape Charles public park property was given to a private developer. The group is urging Virginia lawmakers to pass legislation to prevent what happened in Cape Charles from happening elsewhere.
Old School leaders will participate in a telephone conference with Delegate Lewis on Thursday, January 16.
“Since our historic old school was sold without our knowledge or consent for the ridiculous sum of $10, we want to keep that from happening to any other communities in Virginia. The loss of our historic school property in Central Park has left our town with no basketball court and no public meeting space,” said Old School spokesperson Deborah Bender.
Old School has asked Lewis (now a state delegate and expected to be a state senator) to “patron” two bills — one relating to preservation of historical sites, and the other banning state tax credits for any project that removes a public asset to benefit a private developer. The second bill also provides that “no local or state park property may be sold to any developer for private gain.” [Read more…]
SETTLEMENT: Paul Galloway Gets a Lighthouse
Replica Old Plantation Flats lighthouse boasts great Bay Creek location — but what about parking?
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
January 13, 2014
Anyone want to buy a lighthouse? There’s a dandy one in Bay Creek, and it just might become available at the right price.
Bay Creek LLC had the lighthouse built in 2004 as an exact replica of the Old Plantation Flats Lighthouse that until 1962 stood two miles offshore in the Chesapeake Bay. The replica rises from a lake at the perimeter of the Bayside Village development.
As part of a tentative settlement agreement, Bay Creek LLC is giving Galloway Corporation, owned by Paul Galloway, the lighthouse along with a cash payment of $450,000. The settlement agreements were made available by Bay Creek attorney Jeff Hunn after the Wave published a letter to Bay Creek property owners (click to read) from their Community Association regarding a tentative settlement on their behalf in a lawsuit brought by Galloway and others against Bay Creek LLC.
The settlement terms were not fully revealed in the letter, causing a number of Bay Creek property owners to be concerned that they could lose any future legal right to bring grievances against the Association management.
The settlement letter only stated that Galloway and his associates had agreed to pay their back Association dues. There was no mention of any benefit to Galloway, causing property owners to press for more details. When it became apparent that a number of homeowners would object to the settlement, Bay Creek’s attorney released details of the “global” settlement.
In addition to the $450,000 cash and the lighthouse coming to Galloway from Bay Creek LLC, the settlement also awards him the balance of excess proceeds from the December 2012 foreclosure sale of Aqua Restaurant, Bay Creek Marina, and related properties, which were sold to Robert Occhifinto for $4.6 million. The bank got $3.3 million, leaving $1.3 million (minus fees). Under the settlement, $260,000 will go toward infrastructure improvements in Marina Village East, $50,000 goes to Bay Creek LLC, and the rest goes to Galloway — which should be a little under $1 million. [Read more…]
Lloyd Kellam’s Final Words: Daddy’s Punishments
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
January 12, 2014
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Cape Charles Historical Society has for more than a decade been recording oral histories of the area’s earlier days. In 2002, as one in a series of lectures sponsored by the Cape Charles Library entitled “The Way We Were,” Cape Charles native Lloyd Kellam shared the following account. In 2012, funded by a grant by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, the recording, along with 14 others, was transcribed. The Historical Society has now made it available for readers of the Wave. All the transcriptions are also available for reading at the Museum.)
SEVENTH AND FINAL PART
One of the other things, and this is to tell you how my childhood was, didn’t have anything to do with Cape Charles, sort of like what my parents were like. Like I said, I was born in a store and had jobs to do and if I didn’t do certain things on time, Daddy would punish me. Mother would usually punish me and Daddy would talk to me. If things were important, Daddy would start to punish or if I spoke back to him, he would punish me. And if I’d say, “I think Daddy that’s too strong,” whatever he gave me, he doubled.
I can remember one time I was supposed to have gotten the Eastern Shore News from the post office right after school and then I was on my own. Like I told you, once you did your job, then you were on your own. But I stayed too long. And when I got home, I went by the post office and they weren’t there. When I got to the store, I said, “Daddy, the Eastern Shore News wasn’t there.” He said, “I know. I had to hire somebody to go get them.”
“Who’d you hire?” He said, “Herman Etz.” I said, “Gee, Daddy, you take his money out of my money.” “Worse than that,” he said, “I’m going to punish you. You can’t go to the movies, you can’t have your candy, and you can’t leave the house for a week.” And I said, “Daddy . . . ” He said, “Two weeks.” I said, “But Daddy, “Guadalcanal Diaries” is on at the movies.” I never will forget that. He said, “Four weeks.” And then I said, “Can I read the funnies in the newspaper?” He said, “Eight weeks!” And I had that more than one time in my life.
At one time, he started out at a month and he got me up to three months in a hurry. That’s because I had the big bicycle that I told you about with the big basket. George used to run away, my little brother George, used to run away. I’ve often said that if I was going to write a book, the title would be, “My Brother Was an Only Child.” Because Mother always had a soft spot in her heart for George because he was the baby. But George would run away and wouldn’t mind.
This particular time, it was supper time and he wasn’t home. Mother said, “Lloyd, go get him.” And I said, “All right. I’m going to take my bike.” “Fine.” Well, I chased him down Pine Street. I saw him down there, he was down somewhere around Tazewell and Pine. When he saw me coming, he was right out in the middle of the street. As I got closer to him, he started running. I was in that big basket bicycle and I was going after it at a good clip and the little sucker stopped and I ran over him. I had to pick him up and put him in the basket and bring him back. [Read more…]
