Randolph Avenue House Becomes La Mer Design Studio
Tammye Delk Van Clief and Nicolle Isaacs Smith are partners in a new venture: La Mer, offering their expertise in interiors, furnishings, and event planning. (Wave photo by Sarah Golibart)
By SARAH GOLIBART
Cape Charles Wave
July 2, 2013
Referring to themselves affectionately as “Ebb and Flow,” Tammye Delk Van Clief and Nicolle Isaacs Smith contentedly drift about their studio, chatting as they unpack a new shipment from England.
They have named their new design company La Mer, reflecting themselves, the harbor town of Cape Charles, and the fluidity of life.
The big white house at 339 Randolph Avenue is home to their new business: Interiors – Furnishings – Events.
Tammye and Nicolle have given the house a complete facelift, showcasing their skills as interior designers, artists, and buyers of fabulous goods.
Along with the right furniture and decorative pieces, Tammye and Nicolle believe in “transforming a space with colors and lighting.”
The house not only serves as a place to display their fabulous finds (all offered for sale) but as an inspiration to the two veteran interior designers.
A documented structure in the Cape Charles Historic District dating to 1905, the “windswept old house fits exactly what we want to do,” says Tammye.
Rather than a shop, she and Nicolle wanted a studio, — a “work in progress,” where they can “think and put together ideas.” [Read more…]
Richmond Newspaper Spotlights Cape Charles
The Sunday, June 30, RIchmond Times-Dispatch travel section featured a story on Cape Charles, including a bike ride from King’s Creek Marina to the Bay Creek beach shown above. (Photo by Katherine Calos, Richmond Times-Dispatch)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 1, 2013
Cape Charles locals love reading outsiders’ impressions of our little edge of the world, so when a reporter comes to town and writes a story, the Wave takes notice.
Yesterday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch story by Katherine Calos headlined the Eastern Shore, but the story was mostly about Cape Charles.
Following a time-tested pattern, Calos did venture outside the Town in a trip to Chatham Vineyards, accessed via SouthEast Expedition’s kayak tour.
Readers learn that “Harrison and Joan Wehner bought Chatham Farm in 1979 and spent about 30 years restoring the manor house that dates to about 1818. The three Wehner grandchildren now are growing up with the craft at the next level, with French vinifera grapes and winemaking as a full-time business instead of a hobby.”
And then a little geography: “The Eastern Shore is only a half-hour from Virginia Beach, but the 20-mile-long crossing on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel makes it feel like ‘the world’s largest gated community’,” according to kayak guide Margaret Van Clief.
Speaking of gated communities, reporter Calos biked from one part of Bay Creek to the other: “A bicycle ride earlier that day had been as easy as ice cream. After picking up rental bikes at Kings Creek Marina, we followed a 10-mile loop to the Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course at Bay Creek on the other side of town.
“Along the way we found Brown Dog Ice Cream, where scoops of homemade coconut almond and coffee ice cream would become our reward at the end of the day.”
(Calos neglected, however to reveal the secret for accessing Bay Creek’s gates: Never tell the guard you “just want to look around.” They are instructed to turn wanderers away — especially the week of July 4th. Instead, state a specific destination, such as the Coach House Tavern.) [Read more…]
EDITORIAL: The Worst Tax
June 28, 2013
Last night as this was being written, Cape Charles Town Council was approving the new budget, including new water/sewer rates.
Even though reassessed property values dropped 35 percent on average, Town Council still felt it was OK to increase our tax bills.
At the County level, elected officials didn’t see it that way, and voted a slight tax decrease. But rather than following suit, our Town officials viewed the County tax decrease as justification for raising Town taxes. After all, they told us, your combined County/Town tax bills are likely to be less than last year’s.
Yes, and with property values down 35 percent, they certainly should be!
The new budget is further evidence that Town Council doesn’t control Town staff – quite the reverse. During the budget planning process, Council instructed staff to produce an “equalized” budget – one that would not require a tax increase.
But Town staff disobeyed orders – as if they had been asked to perform the impossible. And Town Council, like an indulgent parent, gave in. [Read more…]
Huge Sewer Rate Increase Won’t Affect Bayshore Concrete
Town’s largest potential water/sewer customer, Bayshore Concrete Products, uses private wells and septic tanks. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 27, 213
Cape Charles Town Council meets tonight (Thursday) to approve a budget with the biggest sewer rate increase in Town history. The minimum monthly sewer charge will rise from the current $35.45 to $60.85 – a 72 percent increase.
Town officials plead they have no other option than to drastically increase rates because there just aren’t enough users to create efficiencies at the Town’s new $19 million wastewater treatment plant.
Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek, who also acted as the Town’s chief consultant for construction of the wastewater plant, wants to create efficiencies by pumping in sewage from out of town, beginning with commercial properties on Route 13.
But Panek is ignoring the Town’s biggest potential customer – Bayshore Concrete Products. Located only hundreds of yards from the new wastewater treatment plant, Bayshore has never hooked up to Town water or sewer pipes.
Bayshore’s treasurer, John Chandler, told the Wave that his company had not given any thought to using Town utilities. When asked whether they would consider it, Chandler said, “There has been no analysis done.”
Town residences and businesses generally are required to use Town water and sewerage, and the Bayshore plant is inside Town limits.
The Wave asked Panek why Bayshore had not been compelled to connect to Town utilities. Panek said the reason is because there are no Town water or sewer lines within 100 feet of Bayshore property.
Panek also said that he did not think Bayshore Concrete uses very much water.
A 2007 Town map indicates that Bayshore Concrete had eight wells and five septic tanks at that time.
Research by the Wave reveals that in 2006 the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) fined the Bayshore plant $39,000 for groundwater violations. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY: Eastern Shore’s Cool/Fiery Pulse of Life
By SHER HOROSKO
Cape Charles Wave
June 26, 2013
I have learned in my life that we will protect fiercely whatever it is we love.
And love takes time. It requires an intimacy that is woven between people and life of all sorts, whether fish or flowers, elusive doodlebugs or old forest trees. What is necessary is this: that we take time to stand still and pay attention to the life around us as if it truly matters.
Because it does.
Here, on Virginia’s Eastern shore, life is teeming. Wild turkeys thunder out of the dry thickets of wheat when I walk down the sandy road in the early morning light. A young eagle sits high on the top of a loblolly pine whose center trunk was snapped by a runaway wind. Fastening my gaze on his mustard-colored feet with the curled javelin tips, I think: it may take time for his head to go white but his feet are ready and set.
All day and every day, something big is happening on the Shore. In Red Bank, a frantic mockingbird jumps up and down on the back of a black snake arching and swerving across the road. I reach for my camera but am so mesmerized by the utter bravery of the bird, I miss the shot.
Days later, while wading through the grass at Savage Neck, I spot a blue-colored hornet diving into one of his own kind on a swaying Queen Anne’s lace. Is this a petaled battlefield between the boys or a drunken dive into the sweet elixir of spring passion?
Waiting and watching, I’m certain. Hornet perfume must be very strong.
There are people for whom the land and sea are alive. I am one. And though I have been on your Shore for just a month, it is evident to me there are many others who feel the alternatively cool and fiery pulse of life in this place. [Read more…]
State Approves $6 Million Harbor Access Road
Harbor access road will link Stone Road with Old Cape Charles Road. Click on map to view larger image.
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 25, 2013
It’s official – VDOT will construct a $6 million harbor access road connecting Stone Road (SR 184) and Old Cape Charles Road (SR 642).
The 1.7-mile connector will intersect Stone Road near the Blue Heron Realty billboard just outside Town limits and run to the entrance to Bayshore Concrete Products.
Cape Charles Town Manager Heather Arcos announced the approval at the June 20 Town Council meeting.
The road is not expected to be complete until 2022 – nine years from now.
Engineering studies are ongoing, and no announcement has been made about possible traffic lights and turning lanes.
The harbor access road will align with Old Cape Charles Road just east of the entrance to Bay Creek golf resort.
Instead of an intersection, Old Cape Charles Road will be closed off at that point. Traffic heading west on Old Cape Charles Road will be routed to a T-intersection with the new road.
Continuing west past the entrance to Bay Creek, the new road will overlap Old Cape Charles Road until the point where Old Cape Charles Road makes a 90-degree right turn toward the Hump.
The access road will then continue straight all the way to the entrance to Bayshore Concrete Products. [Read more…]
Camryn Reese Coffin Loved the Eastern Shore
June 25, 2013
Following a courageous battle with cancer, Camryn Reese Coffin, born June 14, 2005, passed Saturday, June 22, surrounded by family and friends at her home in Virginia Beach.
A visitation will be held 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 28, at Doughty Funeral Home in Exmore.
The funeral will be 11 a.m. Saturday, June 29, at Francis Asbury Church, 1871 North Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach. A viewing will be held at the church one hour prior to the service.
Interment will follow at 2:30 p.m. at Cape Charles Cemetery.
Reese enjoyed family camping trips on the Eastern Shore, boating, fishing, and many fun days at the beach, playing soccer and attending school. [Read more…]
Historic Review Board Postpones Decision on Old School
Developer J. David McCormack plans a 17-unit apartment building for the Old School at Central Park. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 24, 2013
Petersburg developer J. David McCormack came to town last Tuesday with hopes of receiving approval by the Historic District Review Board of his plans to convert the Old School at Central Park into an apartment complex.
But after two and a half hours of questioning, the Board told McCormack they needed more information and tabled his request until August.
Newly appointed town planner Rob Testerman had advised the Board to consider only exterior features of the building. “The interior modifications are not in the purview of the Cape Charles Historic District Review Board,” Testerman wrote in a memo to the Board.
But newly appointed Board Chairman David Gay said he got a different impression after talking to Julie Langan of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond. Gay said that according to Langan, while features that can be seen from the outside should be the focus of the Board, the whole building and its site are considered in the Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines.
“When you take a public building of this magnitude, the Historic District Review Board has a role in considering all the aspects of the building,” Gay stressed. [Read more…]
