Town Climbs Down from Fake Chimney Demand
621 Jefferson as it appears today — minus chimney (and TV antenna)
621 Jefferson as it appeared in May 2013 (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 17, 2014
A year ago, members of the Historic District Review Board resigned en masse after Town Council overruled their requirement that Hotel Cape Charles modify its new glass balconies.
Following the resignations, a new Historic District Review Board was appointed, and at their first meeting last May, they denied a request by the owners of 621 Jefferson Avenue to elimante a non-functioning chimney, stipulating that it be replaced with a new fake chimney as part of their renovations.
Now, Town Planner Rob Testerman has recommended that the Review Board overrule its own decision and forget about the chimney.
A May 30, 2013, report in the Wave on the fake chimney requirement drew a number of comments – none of them in agreement with the Board’s decision.
Most vocal was Planning Commissioner Dan Burke, who wrote: “Dear HRB — Get off your duffs and go take a look at what you’ve done. There are several houses right across the street that a stiff wind could knock down, half of the older houses don’t have chimneys, one has a stainless steel pipe through the roof, and two other houses have been recently remodeled with no chimneys. These people are investing in our town. We desperately need people like this and you are concerned about a broken-down chimney.”
The four owners of 621 Jefferson originally agreed to comply with the requirement for a fake chimney, but have had second thoughts. A recent letter from the owners to the Board echoes Commissioner Burke’s comments. Reviewing the 600 block of Jefferson Avenue, they found “enormous variation in the condition of these structures ranging from uninhabitable to completely and handsomely renovated. . . . The pattern is very clear: the overwhelming majority of renovated, well maintained homes (and those recently built) do not have chimneys. Most of the homes with chimneys are dilapidated and poorly maintained,” they wrote the Board. [Read more…]
Cape Charles Chickens Leave Home to Roost
This backyard chicken coop from Williams & Sonoma has been vacant since the previous owner moved away last year. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 17, 2014
Chickens that resided at two Cape Charles residences in the Historic District have left town. One little flock of three left last summer when their owners sold their property. The other flock of six has moved to Eastville while their owner awaits a decision on whether backyard chickens will be allowed in town.
The presence of chickens in town and the need for an ordinance regarding them has sparked controversy between friends and neighbors. Town Council has tasked the Planning Commission with providing a draft ordinance about backyard chicken keeping. This month Commission members discussed the pros and cons of chicken keeping in town but did not finalize a draft ordinance. The discussion will continue next month.
As has been reported in the Wave, numerous municipalities allow small flocks of chickens in residential neighborhoods. Roosters are rarely allowed due to their natural tendency to crow in the morning. [Read more…]
Groundwater Use Could Go to 1 Million Gallons Per Day
The meteorite that hit 35 million years ago between Hampton Roads and Kiptopeke not only created the Chesapeake Bay, but also destroyed all but one freshwater aquifer, which the lower Eastern Shore depends on today.
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 17, 2014
The Eastern Shore of Virginia gets all of the water used for residential development, agriculture, and industry from underground aquifers. Those aquifers were the subject of the Groundwater Summit held at Kiptopeke School last Wednesday, February 12.
About 20 attendees braved a snowstorm to attend a presentation by Britt McMillan, consulting hydro-geologist to the Eastern Shore Ground Water Committee, and Curt Smith, Director of Planning for the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission (ANPDC) about “Groundwater on the Eastern Shore of Virginia from Kiptokepe to Eastville.”
Two additional summits will be held with Eastville/Nassawadox/Exmore in June and communities from Belle Haven to Accomac in October.
Like most areas of the country, access to groundwater is fundamental to human activity. Agencies called upon to protect access to resources must weigh competing needs of humans for clean, fresh water with the requirements of agriculture and industry that create jobs. “Northampton County has a sustainable amount of groundwater for the foreseeable future,” Smith told the Wave.
Demand for water on the lower Eastern Shore could reach 1 million gallons per day and be sustainable even though very little rain water reaches the water table. The report noted that even with 44 inches of rain a year, only 5-6 inches makes it down to the Yorktown-Eastover Aquifer that supplies our drinking water. [Read more…]
Wayne Hodgson Is Town’s Newest Police Officer
OFFICER HODGSON
February 17, 2014
The Town of Cape Charles has announced that Wayne Hodgson joined the Police Department January 27.
Officer Hodgson previously worked for the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office as a Deputy and for the Town of Exmore Police Department. He is a graduate of Nandua High School in Onley.
Hodgson is the first officer to be hired by newly appointed Police Chief Jim Pruitt. One more vacancy remains to be filled.
Town Council May Spend $10,000 on Wage Study
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 10, 2014
Cape Charles Town Council wants to spend $10,000 for a wage compensation study for town employees. At a Council “retreat” on Saturday (February 8), Council members Steve Bennett and Joan Natali emphasized that the “essential” study should be done as soon as possible.
Only Councilman Frank Wendell opposed the idea, arguing that town managers and directors are already paid to determine those requirements. Town Manager Heather Arcos said that most localities have an outside person determine wage and position descriptions, but she conceded that Cape Charles has never had such a study done. A knowledgeable source has observed that wage and compensation information is available for free on the Department of Labor website.
Arcos said the town could pay for the wage study with money budgeted to update the Comprehensive Plan. Town Council budgeted $30,000 for the update, but subsequently contracted for it to be done for $8,600.
Council members also discussed raising the transient occupancy tax from the current 3 percent to 3.7 percent. Combined with state and county taxes, Cape Charles tourists now pay 10.3 percent of their hotel bill in tax. Raising the town tax would make it 11 percent.
Arcos noted that the town spends money to attract tourists, and needs to “sustain momentum.” The transient occupancy tax could help the town provide funds for organizations such as Citizens for Central Park, Arts Enter, and Friends of Cape Charles Memorial Library.
Councilman Chris Bannon, who operates a bed and breakfast, said he hoped the tax increase could be approved before the tourist season begins.
Arcos also said that Cape Charles provides an “outsize” contribution to the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission, which maintains the Welcome Center at the Bridge-Tunnel. Council members agreed that the town should make a set contribution to the Tourism Commission instead of a percentage of the transient occupancy tax collected. Last year the town contributed $14,232 to the Tourism Commission. [Read more…]
Planning Commission Limits Squawk About Chickens
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 10, 2014
Part-time residents Sheryl and Paul Eulitt drove down from Baltimore February 4 for one purpose: to tell members of the Cape Charles Planning Commission that they oppose allowing chickens to be kept in town. Sheryl Eulitt said they intend to retire here, and don’t want any chickens in their neighborhood.
After Eulitt spoke for 3 minutes, Planning Commission Chair Dennis McCoy gave her a 20-second warning:
McCOY: 20 seconds.
EULITT: I’m sorry?
McCOY: 20 seconds.
EULITT: Oh – oh really? Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know.
McCOY: You have a 3-minute time limit. You’ve now gone to 3:13.
And 20 seconds later the gong sounded. The Eulitts returned to Baltimore the same night. No other member of the public spoke.
CLICK HERE to listen to Eulitt’s presentation to the Planning Commission.
Eulitt asked why the current ordinance that excludes the keeping of farm animals in town has not been enforced. Town Planner Rob Testerman said that the chickens have been allowed to stay while an ordinance is being drafted with the thought that it would be wrong to send them away only to later allow them.
Eulitt maintained that chickens are not pets. She said the chickens wake them in the morning and create an unpleasant odor.
Noting her surprise at being stopped mid-sentence, Commissioner Mike Strub explained to the Eulitts that the Planning Commissioners would take what she said under advisement even though they would not respond directly to her.
The Commission is considering the pros and cons of allowing residents to keep a few chickens, and may propose a revised ordinance. A public hearing would then be held to further assess residents’ feelings.
Four of the six Planning Commissioners present at the meeting reside in Bay Creek, and they noted that any ordinance the town might pass allowing chickens would not apply In Bay Creek. Indeed, no action the Planning Commission takes on any subject applies inside Bay Creek. The four Bay Creek residents are Chairman Dennis McCoy, Joan Natali, Sandra Salopek, and Bill Stramm.
The commissioners asked Town Planner Testerman to continue his review of other municipalities’ chicken ordinances for further discussion at the next meeting. [Read more…]
Oral History Project Planned for Rosenwald School
Historic marker reads: Cape Charles Colored School
Constructed in 1928, this school opened about 1930 for African American children in Cape Charles during legalized segregation. The building was constructed with contributions from the local African American community, the State Literary Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Fund, established in 1917 to build schools for African American students in the rural South. Staffed by three teachers and a principal/teacher, the school housed grades one through seven, and was a center for educational, social, and cultural events for the African American community. Under Principal Jesse L. Hare, the school closed in 1966 when Northampton County Schools were consolidated four years before their integration. (Wave photo)
February 10, 2013
The Cape Charles Rosenwald School Restoration Initiative is working to preserve the history of the old Cape Charles Rosenwald School, its alumni, and faculty. The group has been awarded a $2,000 grant from the Virginia Foundation of the Humanities to conduct an oral history project entitled “Voices from Over the Hump – An Oral History of the Cape Charles Elementary School – A Rosenwald School.”
The project captures in words and film the history of the Cape Charles Elementary School (identified on the historical highway marker as the Cape Charles Colored School), from the experiences of surviving alumni, faculty, and members of the school’s community, as well as from existing institutional records, personal photos and other historical documents collected from local government and private individuals.
The interviews are conducted by students from the Old Dominion University, guided and supervised by Dr. Bridget Anderson, ODU Associate Professor of Linguistics. The students will record, transcribe and analyze the interviews using ethnographic methodology.
The data collected and analyzed will provide the foundation for a documentary film, booklet of excerpts from the oral history interviews, archived scholarly research materials, a virtual museum for a future web site and traveling exhibit that could be used in schools and other venues in the region.
Nine interviews have been conducted. Six additional interviews are scheduled for the spring. Alumni and faculty members interested in archiving their experiences are asked to contact the Initiative through their Facebook page (click here).
EXTRA! Gov. McAuliffe Visits Bayshore, Brings Check
Gov. Terry McAuliffe presents check to Northampton County Board of Supervisors Chairman Larry LeMond and Cape Charles Mayor Dora Sullivan. The grant money goes to Bayshore Concrete Products in return for creating 135 jobs. (Wave photos)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
February 5, 2014
Newly elected Governor Terry McAuliffe came to town yesterday bearing a gift — a $150,000 grant for Bayshore Concrete Products in return for creating 135 jobs. The expansion at Bayshore comes after a debilitating dry spell: Bayshore General Manager Chad Saunders noted that in 2012, production was down by half. And in 2013 things got even worse: Bayshore poured only 20 percent of its normal amount of concrete.
All that is changing now that Bayshore has won some big contracts: Great Egg Harbor Bridge in New Jersey, the Bayonne Bridge between Bayonne, NJ, and Staten Island, NY, and most recently for New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge. In order to ship larger concrete products out of Cape Charles, Bayshore is spending $4 million on harbor infrastructure.
Northampton Economic Development Director Charles McSwain said that for Bayshore to qualify for the state grant money, both Northampton County and the Town of Cape Charles had to “partner” in the endeavor by providing their own tax incentives to Bayshore. The county and the town will “forgive” Bayshore the increased property taxes for 10 years that it otherwise would pay on up to $1.8 million of infrastructure improvements. Based on current tax rates, that translates to $12,000 county annual tax relief and $5,000 for the town, for a total over 10 years of $170,000.
In December the Town of Cape Charles also awarded Bayshore Concrete a “stimulus grant” that will refund to the company the increased machinery and tools tax it otherwise would pay on its infrastructure improvements. Town Manager Heather Arcos told the Wave she estimates the value to Bayshore in town tax credits at roughly $10,000 a year for five years. The total tax relief package for Bayshore from the town and the county equals about $220,000.
“Things are looking up,” said County Chairman Larry LeMond, “after a difficult last five years.” As Vice President of Bay Coast Railroad, LeMond has every reason to be pleased: Bay Coast Railroad is largely dependent on business from Bayshore, as the cement to cast concrete products arrives on Bay Coast rail cars.
The arrival of the governor shut down Bayshore operations for a couple of hours as every employee gathered at a tent set up for the ceremony. When McAuliffe spoke the magic word “jobs,” the employees clapped and cheered.
Bayshore Concrete employees assembled to hear the Governor (at left). More will join them this year.
