Corps of Engineers Rejects Request to Deepen Harbor
Blue outline is Cape Charles channel, maintained at 18 feet by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Town requested the depth be extended to 35 feet to benefit existing and potential businesses.
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 20, 2013
The Army Corps of Engineers has rejected a request by the Town of Cape Charles to deepen the Town’s outer harbor and channel.
The request was made in April 2012 by Town Manager Heather Arcos, who wrote: “During the past year businesses in the Harbor have lost significant contracts due to the lack of sufficient depth for moving goods from the Harbor.” Arcos did not specify which businesses were losing contracts.
In response, the Corps of Engineers performed a year-long feasibility study. On June 13, the Corps reported that only one business would benefit from deepening the channel: Bayshore Concrete.
To qualify for full Corps funding, at least two users must be identified. If Bayshore is the only user, it would be required to bear half the expense, which, including interest and maintenance of the channel, could exceed $245,000 annually.
According to the Corps report, Bayshore Concrete stated that it would be “financially unable to meet the single user obligation at this time.”
The Corps study identified three potential future commercial users of the Town Harbor: an aerospace defense contractor from Wallops Island, a small inland cruise ship company, and the Cape Charles Yacht Center, a boat maintenance and storage facility currently under construction. However, none of those potential users would require a deeper channel. [Read more…]
Town Staff News: Pruitt Promoted; Testerman, Pfeiffer Hired
Sgt. James Pruitt
Town Planner Rob Testerman
Officer Chelsea Pfeiffer
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
July 17, 2013
The Town of Cape Charles has announced three staff changes: two police officers and the town planner.
Police officer James Pruitt has been promoted to the rank of sergeant. According to the Town statement, “His promotion was based on the performance and work ethic shown since being hired in 2010 and his continued attention to detail while performing the required duties assigned to him by command.”
Pruitt was recognized by Gov. Robert McDonnell last October for organizing a dedication service for the Town’s only officer to be killed in the line of duty.
The Town also formally announced the appointment of Rob Testerman as the Town Planner. A native of Chesapeake, Testerman holds a B.A. in Public and Urban Affairs from Virginia Tech, where he studied urban planning in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies.
After graduation, Testerman was the land use planner for Accomack County for six years before joining the staff of Cape Charles.
His work for Accomack County included rezonings, conditional use permits, ordinance revisions, GIS mapping, comprehensive plan research, and erosion and sediment control inspections. Testerman is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Chelsea Pfeiffer, the Town’s newest police officer, holds a B.S. in Administration of Justice from George Mason University. She worked for two years as a probation officer for Accomack County and operated the 2A Court Service Unit’s satellite office in Eastville.
Sign Language: Parade Truck Perturbs Planning Commission
Majority of Town Planning Commissioners are upset over sign-fested truck. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 15, 2013
Cape Charles Planning Commission has been reviewing the Town’s sign ordinance for more than two years, but the signs on a truck in the July 4th parade brought the issue to a head.
The majority of commissioners expressed displeasure July 9 over signs displayed on a parade truck for the group known as Old School Cape Charles.
Festooned with American flags and plastered with signs, the truck was a moving billboard for the activist group that is fighting the Town’s decision to give away the Old School, basketball court, and parkland to a real estate developer.
“Repeal the Crooked $10 Deal,” read one sign, referring to the price the developer paid for the school and park property.
“Don’t Raise My Water Bill to Pay for More Condos,” read another.
And at the back of the truck: “Stand Up for Your Rights – Don’t Give Up the Fight.”
No planning commissioner found any illegality with displaying signs in the actual July 4th parade. The problem seemed to be that the parade truck was parked on the street both before and after the parade.
Chairman Dennis McCoy said, “What really stuck out like a sore thumb to me was the truck when I came into town this weekend . . . It was not [advertising] any business, and it stayed parked for two days.”
“I complained as a citizen. I thought it was offensive,” said Commissioner Joan Natali, who also is a member of Town Council. She advocated changing the ordinance to allow Town officials to immediately confiscate signs deemed offensive. [Read more…]
Town Flood Insurance Rates Should See ‘Drastic’ Drop
Click on map to view larger image. (An additional click may be required on larger image.) As proposed, only a few tiny areas in the entire Town of Cape Charles are classified “AE,” which requires flood insurance to obtain a mortgage. On the current 2008 flood map (not shown), a majority of the Historic District is classified “AE.”
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 11, 2013
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is proposing “a drastic change regarding flood zones in Cape Charles.”
Town Planner Rob Testerman told the Cape Charles Planning Commission July 9 that a majority of the Historic District, currently rated high-risk by FEMA, is proposed to be reclassified at a much lower risk of flooding.
That is wonderful news to any property owner paying flood insurance premiums.
Under FEMA rules, federally regulated lenders require property owners to buy flood insurance in areas labeled “A or “V” on the FEMA flood zone map.
In high-risk areas, there is at least a 1 in 4 chance of flooding during a 30-year period.
In the current 2008 FEMA map, “a majority of the historic portion of Cape Charles is located in the AE Zone,” Testerman said.
But the preliminary map for 2013 “shows the AE zone ending at the beach,“ he noted.
The most flood-prone area is of course the beach itself, which retains a “VE” classification. [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…]
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…]
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…]
New Historic Review Board Tackles Old School Issue Tonight
The address for the historic Old School has been changed from 23 Park Row to 423 Plum Street. The Plum Street side of the building has only a metal service door. The front of the school faces what was North Park Row, where once there was a circular drive now planned to be a private parking lot. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
June 18, 2013
A new group of Cape Charles residents, advised by a new-hire town planner, will meet at 4:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) to consider whether proposed exterior changes to the Old School building in Central Park meet historic guidelines.
The Town’s Historic District Review Board is authorized by the State of Virginia to exercise regulatory control over properties in an officially designated Historic District. The Old School is listed as a “contributing structure” by the National Register of Historic Places.
Although the Historic Review Board has regulatory authority, the Town Council has authority to overrule the Board, which is what happened last February when the Board refused to approve the modern glass balconies on Hotel Cape Charles. All but one member of the Historic Board resigned after being overruled by Town Council.
The new Board has already tasted controversy after denying a request by the owner of 621 Jefferson Avenue to remove a non-working chimney.
But that was a minor issue in comparison to the Old School in Central Park, which a developer plans to convert into a 17-unit apartment building. The plans are the subject of two lawsuits now under appeal to the State Supreme Court.
The developer, J. David McCormack, has applied for federal and state tax credit reimbursements of up to 45 percent of his costs.
According to McCormack, construction of the apartment building will not happen unless he gets the tax credits. But tax credit criteria are stringent, requiring that exterior details as well as interior spaces remain faithful to the original 1912 design.
McCormack has requested tax credits from both the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the National Park Service.
His application to the Virginia DHR was denied on November 21, 2012, for failure to retain historic features and spaces. [Read more…]
