Town Sells Old School, Parkland to Private Developer for $10
Early photo of 1912 Cape Charles School at Central Park
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 22, 2012
Christmas came early for Echelon Resources, Inc. On Thursday, Cape Charles Mayor Dora Sullivan signed over the deed to the school building at Central Park to Echelon developers Edwin Gaskin and J. David McCormack. The building is slated to be converted into a 17-unit apartment complex.
The purchase price was $10, but the sales contract also states that the Town shall pay to Echelon the insurance proceeds received for earthquake damage to the property — approximately $41,000.
In addition to the school building, Echelon received the adjoining park basketball court and playground parking area. Both plots of land are intended to become private parking lots for the apartments in the school.
Town Council secretly decided to give the school and land to Echelon without putting the property up for bid.
Residents opposed to the giveaway have sued the Town and Echelon on the grounds that both the sale and the rezoning of the property were done illegally. A court date was originally set for December 17, but has been rescheduled for January 25 due to a heavy docket.
The Old School Cape Charles group maintains that Town Council violated state law by keeping its meetings with Echelon secret for almost six months. The Virginia Freedom of Information Act allows closed negotiation sessions only after a public motion that “identifies the subject matter.”
The law stipulates that “A general reference to . . . the subject matter of the closed meeting shall not be sufficient to satisfy the requirements for holding a closed meeting.” When voting to go into closed session, Town Council concealed the specific subject of the session. Only a general reference was made to an “Unsolicited Confidential Proposal.”
The Town also rejected Old School Cape Charles’ proposals without a vote in public session and ignored petitions from residents requesting time to put forward a public use plan for the building.
The Old School group is also contesting the rezoning of the school, basketball court, and playground parking from “Open Space” to “R-1 Residential.” Old School argues that the applications were defective, the action was contrary to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, and the issuance of a Conditional Use Permit to allow apartments in R-1 Residential constituted illegal spot zoning. [Read more…]
TOWN COUNCIL:
When Hospital Leaves, Locals Face Bridge-Tunnel
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 17, 2012
When Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital moves out of Nassawadox, ambulances serving Cape Charles and points south will not be driving all the way to Accomack County. Instead, they will transport emergency-care patients across the 17-mile bridge-tunnel to Virginia Beach.
That’s according to Cape Charles Mayor Dora Sullivan. She and Town Manager Heather Arcos met November 9 with the Northampton County Board of Supervisors and other local mayors and rural health representatives to discuss ways to bring emergency care closer to the area.
“Our number-one priority is quality health care,” Mayor Sullivan stressed at the December 13 Town Council meeting.
Sullivan subsequently raised another complication with the Wave: bridge/tunnel closures. In cases when the bridge is closed, usually due to high winds, an emergency vehicle would nevertheless be allowed passage. But after delivering a patient to the hospital, the vehicle would no longer have an “emergency,” and would be forced to wait until the bridge reopened to return to the Shore.
Sullivan told Town Council that Cape Charles has received at least four offers of land to build a free-standing emergency department.
Regional elected and rural health care officials continue to meet, and Sullivan hopes that a plan can be announced in January.
“We need good-quality emergency health care for this town to grow,” Sullivan maintained. [Read more…]
Pier vs. Park: A Tale of Two Toilets
On the left is the Town’s toilet at the fishing pier, built in 2000 by Boy Scout Jeb Brady in fulfillment of his Eagle rank. All materials and labor were donated, resulting in zero cost to the Town. On the right is the sewer pumping station prototype for the park toilet under construction now at a total cost of $37,000. (Wave photos)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 13, 2012
Just about 13 years ago, Boy Scout Jeb Brady was looking for a project to complete the requirements for the rank of Eagle. “I probably bit off more than I could chew,” Brady told the Wave, but after a year of hard work his project was complete: public toilets for the beach and fishing pier.
Previously, “there was no bathroom — not even a place to wash the sand off your feet,” Brady said. “There weren’t as many people using the beach back then, but a bathroom was still a huge need.”
That need was universally recognized, and the whole town supported Brady’s project, donating materials and labor.
Local architect Leon Parham drew up the plans. One firm donated the concrete and block. Another supplied the cedar shake shingles. Electricians did the wiring and plumbers installed the water and sewer pipes.
Fortunately for Brady and the Town, both his father and uncle are tradesmen.
The finished project totals 104 square feet comprising two unisex bathrooms, each with one toilet, and was dedicated September 28, 2000. Total cost to the Town: Zero.
Fast forward a decade or so: Central Park had just undergone a magnificent renovation with the assistance of federal stimulus money. But the only public toilet was a plastic porta-potty.
Citizens for Central Park, under the direction of President Bob Panek, applied for a $45,000 grant from the Eastern Shore of Virginia Community Foundation. They got the grant, but the amount was reduced to $20,000.
Town Council voted to contribute $15,000 toward the toilets, and the CCP is contributing $2,000 to pay the architect, for a total cost of $37,000 to build the park toilets. [Read more…]
APPEALS: First the Hotel Balconies, Now the Park Toilets
Citizens for Central Park paid $2,000 to local architect Leon Parham to design a park toilet to resemble the sewer pumping station shown above. The toilet will cost $37,000 and would be a prominent feature of the streetscape approaching Central Park. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 10, 2012
Cape Charles Historic District Review Board made two decisions November 20: to reject the balcony design for Hotel Cape Charles, and to approve the design for a bathroom in Central Park.
Both decisions are being appealed.
At Hotel Cape Charles, owner David Gammino is gathering signatures for an online petition to present to Town Council. Gammino admits that the hotel’s glass-front balconies do not conform to the design originally submitted to the Review Board, but says that most people find them very attractive, and that he can’t afford to replace them.
Over at Central Park, Don Riley is also gathering signatures for a petition — not on a computer but on a yellow legal pad.
STOP THE TOILETS IN CENTRAL PARK! THE LOCATION IS INAPPROPRIATE AND THE BUILDING UNATTRACTIVE, reads the petition.
“All of the citizens who signed my petition were unaware of the location, design, or timing of this project,” Riley wrote in his appeal to Town Council. [Read more…]
One Man’s Fight Against a Pig House in a Park
New park toilet was designed by a California architectural firm to match the existing sewer pumping station shown above. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 6, 2012
Last Monday, Don Riley was taking his morning stroll down Monroe Avenue when he saw workmen pounding posts into the ground in Central Park just off Plum Street.
Riley asked what it was all about, and was told that the posts delineated where the new park toilet would be constructed. He further learned that the new building would be the same size, shape, and style as the sewer pumping station just up the sidewalk.
Riley was incredulous. And he was immediately concerned for the owner of 500 Monroe, whose magnificent home sides to the park.
Riley worries that when the owner next comes to town, she will be greeted by a view of a pig house in the park.
That’s the name Riley has given the new toilet, because it reminds him of the brick house built by one of the Three Little Pigs.
Riley said he walked straight to the mayor’s store to ask why a little brick pig house was going up in the park. Whose idea was that?
Mayor Dora Sullivan sent him to talk to Bob Panek.
Panek is the assistant town manager, but the park toilet project is not being managed by the Town of Cape Charles. Instead, it is being undertaken by Citizens for Central Park.
Panek also happens to be the president of Citizens for Central Park. [Read more…]
Hotel Owner Petitions Town for Relief on Glass Balconies
Click above to access the Hotel Cape Charles petition.
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 4, 2012
After receiving a second rejection by the Historic District Review Board, Hotel Cape Charles owner David Gammino is using the Internet to mount a popular appeal.
The hotel has closed for the winter, but according to Gammino, the Town of Cape Charles will not allow it to reopen in March unless the glass balconies are replaced with wrought-iron railings to lend an “historic” air to the otherwise modern facade.
At the Review Board’s meeting in September, Gammino pleaded that wrought iron would ruin the look of the building as well as add tremendous expense. The glass panels had cost $60,000. “We don’t have the money to make that kind of change. We are $800,000 over budget already,” he said then.
At the November Review Board meeting, a proposal by Gammino’s architect for wooden casings around the glass wall edges was considered and rejected. Board Chairman Russ Dunton said the Board’s decision was final, and any appeal would have to be considered by Town Council.
But Gammino’s appeal is to the court of public opinion. In a published comment last night in the Wave, he wrote: “As the developer and contractor, I continue to express my apologies and accept responsibility for this situation. As a business owner I am trying to resolve the issue. We are still hoping that we can seek approval of our design through Town Council. Our petition is as follows: [Read more…]
TUESDAY 12/4: Public Hearing on South Port Yacht Center
Cape Charles Planning Commission will hold a Public Hearing 6 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, at Town Hall. The Planning Commission Regular Meeting will follow immediately after the Public Hearing.
The Town’s information packet is available at http://www.capecharles.org/documents/20121204PCAgendaPacket.pdf.
The Planning Commission will hear public comments regarding the Conditional Use Permit application submitted by South Port Investors LLC for the following uses on parcels 83A3-A-12 and 83A3-A-17 which are owned by the Town and leased to South Port Investors LLC :
i) Boat and marine engine repair;
ii) Boatel;
iii) Dwelling Unit;
iv) 6 foot Security Fence.
South Port will will make a presentation about the items requiring the Conditional Use Permit prior to the public comment period. [Read more…]
Grand Illumination Features Music, Pony Rides & Golf Carts
DECEMBER 2, 2012 — Northampton High School Band, under the direction of Jason Burnett, performed Christmas music in the pavilion at Central Park Saturday night for the annual Grand Illumination in the Park. Cape Charles Vice Mayor Chris Bannon welcomed the band, noting that he had not heard them perform in Cape Charles in 10 years. Saturday’s Grand Illumination carried the tradition into its third year. Children thrilled to rides on a pony train along the park sidewalk ringed with candles, which resembled an airport runway at night. Every spectator received an unlit candle, and members of the Cape Charles Police and Volunteer Fire departments, led by Police Chief Sambo Brown, each lit a spectator’s candle. Each lit candle was then used to light other candles until all were lit. Nancy Daniel Vest read a 1959 Christmas poem urging charity and forgiveness for the season, as well as starting the new year off fresh. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Mayor Dora Sullivan led a countdown to the Grand Illumination, when trees throughout the park were lit with Christmas lights. Special mention was made of the tree planted in honor of the late Melvin Dudley, a well-remembered friend of the Town and the park. The festivities then continued with a parade of illuminated golf carts which made their way to Mason Avenue’s Palace Theatre, where the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” was shown. Earlier in the day, the Cape Charles Christian School held a Santa’s House (which will be repeated next Saturday), and the Town’s Bed & Breakfasts joined in a “Cookie Trail” open house. With the opening of Bay Haven Inn at 403 Tazewell Avenue, owned and operated by Jim and Tammy Holloway, Cape Charles now has five B&Bs, and a sixth nearby on King’s Creek. (Wave photo)
