Tall Ships Festival Through a Newcomer’s Eyes
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
June 16, 2013
One of our area’s most recent arrivals, Sher Horosko, ventured among Saturday’s throngs of Tall Ships visitors. Everything was new to her, and this is what she saw.
Area’s Newest Savior Buys Again: This Time Kiptopeke Inn
Better days ahead for badly deteriorated Kiptopeke Inn. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 13, 2013
Robert Occhifinto, the newest millionaire “come-here” to Northampton County, has done it again, purchasing yet another failed property near Cape Charles – this time the crumbling Kiptopeke Inn.
Built in 1963 as a Holiday Inn, the 104-room motel closed last September after going into receivership. Most recently it was owned by developer Nimrod Tavi.
The Kiptopeke Inn was listed for sale at $995,000, but Occhifinto has shown a penchant for offering pennies on the dollar. He bid $300,000 last year, but his offer was refused.
Robert Occhifinto (Wave photo)
So Occhifinto waited, and more than six months later the owner apparently decided that $300,000 was better than nothing. The sale is expected to be completed soon.
That’s good news for the Kiptopeke Inn, as Occhifinto has already demonstrated that he’s no slumlord. Take a look at the now-gleaming Peacock Motor Inn which he rescued from disrepair last year.
The Peacock will always be for travelers on a budget, but the rooms are bright, clean, and nicely furnished.
Occhifinto, 51, is a New Jersey entrepreneur who made his fortune producing and marketing over-the-counter diet supplements. He is famous locally for purchasing Aqua Restaurant, Bay Creek Marina, and related properties last December for $4.6 million. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY: On a Come-Here Meeting Born-Heres
Just outside Cape Charles, the wheat field has gone golden. (Photo by Sher Horosko)
By SHER HOROSKO
June 12, 2013
Outside my window, a fleece of gray wool covers the sky. A white ibis with her pinky-orange beak prowls the ground while a blue bird stands atop his new cedar house. The wheat field has gone golden. I came here a couple of weeks ago to fall into the arms of wonder. I haven’t been disappointed.
The stories of the “born-here’s” captivate me. Your language is filled with color and sound. You may not even know this is so, because you’re steeped in a lifetime of conversation that draws from the storm and bounty of the land and water, that is tuned to the rhythms of harvest and migration.
But I know a living language when I hear it. I came to Cape Charles with ears used to listening to the thin, plain, read “dull” language of people who live as far away from the natural world as they can be. They don’t know when the flounder is running or the sweet corn will be picked. They buy food from six grocery stores, not one. [Read more…]
ANALYSIS: Huge Sewer Bills Due to Town Council Missteps
With water bills an election issue in 2012, Town officials paid a portion of new sewer bond out of general savings. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 11, 2013
NEW MINIMUM USAGE UTILITY RATES 07/01/13 $107.92.
So reads the message at the bottom of this month’s utility bill sent to every household and business in the Town of Cape Charles.
Technically, the message jumps the gun, because Town Council has not yet voted for the increase or even held the required public hearing.
But Town staff and elected officials have made clear that the rate increase is a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, an analysis by the Wave finds that the increase continues a years-long pattern of hiding the true cost to Town residents of sewage treatment.
The Wave analysis further reveals that Town Council and staff manipulated utility billing in the run-up to the 2012 Town elections, spending Town reserves to avoid increasing utility bills in an election year.
Finally, Town records disclose a disturbing pattern of cutting utility connection charges even as the Town planned an expensive new sewage treatment plant. In addition, the Town miscalculated badly in assuming that the new treatment plant would be partially paid by the developers of Bay Creek. [Read more…]
Town Plans $7 Million Budget; Public Hearing June 20
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
June 10, 2013
The Town of Cape Charles proposes to spend almost $7.2 million in the new fiscal year beginning July 1.
Estimated income and expenses are shown in the table below.
The Town Council will hold a public hearing 6 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at St. Charles Parish Hall to receive written and oral comments on all proposed disbursements.
The budget will be discussed and brought to a vote a week after the public hearing at a special meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, June 27, at Town Hall.
Following are proposed tax rates and user fees:
Vehicle Tax: $31 per state registered vehicle, (Trailers $18, Golf Cart Decal $31)
Real Estate Tax: $.2759 per $100; Personal Property Tax $2 per $100; Boat Tax $0.01 per $100
Transient Occupancy Tax: 3%; Meals Tax: 5%; Admissions Tax: 3%; Short Term Rental Tax: 1%
WATER RATE:
Residential 0-2,000 gal.: $34.50 minimum; 2,001 to 5,000 gal.: $2.63 per 1,000; 5,001 to 10,000: $3.75 per 1,000; 10,001 to 15,000 gals: $5.00 per 1,000; Over 15,000 gals: $7.50 per 1,000;
Commercial 0-2,000 gal: $34.50 minimum; 2,001-10,000 gal: $2.50 per 1,000; 10,001-15,000 gals: $3.75 per 1,000; Over 15,000 gals: $5.00 per 1,000
SEWER RATE:
Residential 0-2,000 gal.: $60.85 minimum; 2,001 to 5,000 gal.: $4.11 per 1,000; 5,001 to 10,000 gals: $5.85 per 1,000; 10,001 to 15,000: $7.80 per 1,000; Over 15,000 gals: $11.70 per 1,000;
Commercial 0-2000 gal: $60.85 minimum; 2,001-10,000 gals: $3.90 per 1,000; 10,001-15,000 gals: $5.85 per 1,000; Over 15,000 gals: $7.80 per 1,000
GARBAGE: $12.57 per month
COMBINED MINIMUM MONTHLY WATER BILL (water, sewer, garbage): $107.92
CAPE CHARLES BY THE BAY: Tourism Website Debuts
New Town website proclaims Cape Charles a “Harbor for the Arts.”
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 9, 2013
The long-awaited website promoting Cape Charles as a tourist destination went live Thursday at http://www.capecharlesbythebay.com.
The $15,000 website was funded by the Cape Charles “Our Town” project through grants and contributions.
The website banner proclaims “Cape Charles by the Bay – Harbor for the Arts.” A visitor to the website sees a succession of five billboard presentations, each for three seconds.
First is “Love Your Harbor (Relax in Cape Charles),” with a photo of a sunset over the Bay. (Curiously, the Town Harbor is not shown.)
Second is “Love Your Sweet Dreams (Stay in Cape Charles),” with a close-up of rocking chairs on the porch at the Town’s oldest B&B, Sea Gate, owned by Vice-Mayor Chris Bannon.
Third up is “Love the Charm (Shop in Cape Charles),” featuring a smiling Meredith Restein, proprietor of Moonrise Jewelry on Strawberry Street.
The fourth rotation is “Love Your Drive (Golf in Cape Charles),” with an overlook of Bay Creek’s Jack Nicklaus course facing the lighthouse.
Last comes “Love the Adrenaline (Play in Cape Charles),” depicting wetsuit-equipped kite boarders on the Bay. [Read more…]
PLANNING COMMISSION:
Outlet Mall, Holiday Inn on Route 13?
Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 7, 2013
Cape Charles Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek briefed the Town Planning Commission June 4 on wastewater treatment and development-related possibilities on Route 13 near the Cape Charles traffic light.
“One of the things this area needs is a hotel,” Panek said. “Something like a Holiday Inn, a Hampton Inn. To my way of thinking it’s no threat to the B&Bs or Hotel Cape Charles, it’s a completely different market.”
Cape Charles could attract a lot of people who “don’t want to pay $200 a night in a B&B,” Panek said. “There is a market for that $80 a night [room].”
Panek noted that the Ultra Triathlon which had been scheduled in Cape Charles for September 7 had been canceled, which he blamed on lack of hotel space. (However, Town Manager Heather Arcos told the Wave that organizers canceled the Triathlon after learning that a similar event would take place elsewhere the same weekend.)
Another development the assistant town manager envisions just outside Town limits on Route 13 is “a little outlet mall like Tanger Outlets up in Ocean City or Williamsburg, that type of thing,” Panek told the Planning Commission.
“One of the complaints I’ve heard from people vacationing here is that some of them get pretty bored,” Panek observed.
Town Council and Planning Commission member Joan Natali agreed: “There’re not enough places to shop,” she said. To which Panek responded, “You can’t buy a pair of underwear in the Town.”
But Commission member Andy Buckholtz worried that Route 13 development “would be driving people out of town or keeping people from driving into town. The whole purpose of this Planning Commission is to drive people into this town,” Buckholtz emphasized. [Read more…]
Town Council Votes 3.2% Real Estate Tax Increase
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 4, 2013
Cape Charles Town Council voted last night to raise real estate taxes 3.2 percent over last year. The new tax rate is 27.6 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value.
The tax is expected to generate some $1.07 million in revenue, based on collecting 95 percent of tax owed.
Council voted twice on raising the tax rate. The first vote raised the rate to the amount needed to receive the same amount of revenue as last year.
Town property values dropped 35 percent this year from the previous assessment made in 2008. If the tax rate were the same as last year, Town revenues would decrease by almost $300,000.
To obtain the same revenue as last year required an increase from last year’s 18 cents to a rate of 26.7 cents. All Council members voted for that increase.
The second vote was to increase the tax rate an additional 3.2 percent, to 27.6 cents. Four Council members voted yes: Steve Bennett, Tom Godwin, Joan Natali, and Mike Sullivan.
The two council members voting no were Chris Bannon and Frank Wendell — but for opposite reasons.
Wendell said he was voting no because he favored cutting spending instead of increasing taxes.
Bannon, on the other hand, voted no because he didn’t believe taxes were high enough. “We’ve never had money in this town. We have nothing in our contingency fund,” Bannon noted to justify his contention that taxes should be raised the full 8 percent advertised for the public hearing. [Read more…]
