Town Estimates $67,000 for Bank Building Repairs, Upgrades
Town could close on Bank of America building purchase by October 15. Money for repairs has not yet been budgeted. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
September 11, 2012
Cape Charles building code official Jeb Brady estimates that near-term repairs to the former Bank of America building could cost roughly $56,500. A further $10,500 is required for modifications.
The Town has signed a contract with Bank of America to buy the building for $200,000 plus $8,000-$12,000 in closing and due diligence costs.
The intent is to use the building for a new library on the first floor, a computer lab on the second floor mezzanine, and future overflow municipal offices on the third floor. The bank vault would hold Town records.
The bank property includes two lots on Randolph Avenue which the Town plans to use for parking. Land directly behind the building would become an alleyway.
Town Council only learned about the bank offer on July 12, when Bank of America gave the Town one week to match what it said was an existing offer of $200,000. As part of the deal, the Town had to pay a $20,000 non-refundable deposit. The Town then was allowed 30 days to inspect the property and make a final decision about buying it. The decision deadline is Friday, September 14. [Read more…]
Planning Commission Endorses Bank Building Purchase
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
September 6, 2012
The Cape Charles Planning Commission voted September 4 to advise Town Council that the proposed relocation of the Town library to the former Bank of America building would be in compliance with the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.
The Planning Commission action is in response to charges that moving the library to the commercial district violates the Comprehensive Plan. Former town manager Timothy Krawczel wrote in an August 3 op-ed column in the Wave that the Town Council violated Virginia State Code when it voted to buy the bank building without consulting the Planning Commission. He further noted that the Comprehensive Plan ”recognizes Mason Avenue as the center of retail activity,” and that “turning the most prominent commercial building on the street into public space . . . not only removes the property from the tax rolls, it eliminates the building as a possible site for a future bank or commercial center.”
Town Planner Tom Bonadeo in his staff report pointed out that the Comprehensive Plan includes relocating the library to a larger space, as well as acquiring “strategic undeveloped properties.” The bank building purchase would be in accord with these goals, as well as providing increased parking for the commercial district and overflow offices for Town officials on the third floor of the building, he said.
Bonadeo conceded that the Town’s purchase of the bank building would cause a loss of real estate and business tax revenue – especially since banks pay a higher tax than regular businesses. But he said that conversion of the old school into apartments would somewhat offset the loss of the bank building tax.
Planning Commission member Joan Natali, who also sits on Town Council, said she found nothing about the bank purchase contrary to the Comprehensive Plan, and made a motion to that effect. The motion passed unanimously.
OTHER PLANNING COMMISSION NEWS [Read more…]
OLD SCHOOL DEVELOPER
South Virginia Town in Water Feud with Echelon Partner
Front page of Blackstone, VA, weekly Courier Record newspaper. The photo caption reads: “Developer On The Clock — Tenants in the new Blackstone Lofts luxury apartments on Lunenburg Avenue have been hoping that Town Council and developer Dave McCormack of Petersburg can resolve a dispute over $38,000 in unpaid water and sewer tap fees. Officials ‘upped the ante’ this past Monday night, giving McCormack 30 days (until Sept 27) to pay tap fees, or water will be shut off to the 25-unit building.”
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
September 4, 2012
Blackstone VA Town Council is threatening to turn off water to the tenants of newly developed Blackstone Lofts luxury apartments if the developer does not pay $38,000 in hookup fees by September 27.
The developer is J. David McCormack, who also is a partner with Edwin Gaskin at Echelon Resources, Inc. Echelon has a contract with the Town of Cape Charles to convert the old school at Central Park into an apartment building.
According to Blackstone Town Council minutes, the council voted March 26 to give McCormack 30 days to pay the tap fee.
McCormack told the Wave Monday night that “We were told there were no tap fees — then they initiated the tap fees. We’re negotiating it.”
McCormack noted that unlike in Cape Charles, where the Town owns the old school property, the old tobacco warehouse he converted in Blackstone was “a private deal.”
“We got taken by surprise — we’re still going to pay. That’s the way I am,” McCormack said.
[Read more…]
DON’T MAKE WAVES
First WADs in Virginia Installed Off Cape Charles
Crew lowers a WAD (Wave Attenuating Device) into the bay off Seabreeze Apartments at the foot of Washington Street. (Wave photo)
By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
August 31, 2012
Rain pelted Scott Bartkowski as he waited on the breakwater. It had been a long day. First, the sun and tide were both out, and the barges sat grounded. By high tide, waves of black clouds dumped downpours on the crew, but they worked anyway.
That’s how it played on the first day of the first wave attenuating devices (WADs) in Virginia.
“I’m the inventor, so I know it’s the first,” said Bartkowski as the thunderstorm raced toward shore. He is president of Living Shoreline Solutions, Inc. Until now, most WADs have been used as artificial reefs. “These particular WADs were designed specifically for here, in Cape Charles.”
WADS are massive concrete pyramids that sit on the aqueous bottom in rows, breaking the wave action and helping a new beach form at the water’s edge. In Cape Charles, three private landowners have joined to pay for the WAD breakwater to prevent further erosion to their land.
It was Sheldon Williams’ job to move the monster WADs into place. Williams, of Cheriton, inched his barge toward the drop site. People waiting in the water watched for lightning, inundated by the sweeping storms. Slowly, slowly, the barge was nudged into position. They tested the crane, then in one swoop — PLOP — the WAD was set in its permanent position.
Bartkowski expects it to take 10 days to complete all three breakwaters, which will extend around Seabreeze Apartments to the pilings of the old ferry landing. [Read more…]
Bay Creek Pays Part of Back Taxes Owed to Town
By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
August 29, 2012
Bay Creek LLC and Baymark Construction have paid $43,616 in back taxes to Cape Charles, according to Town Treasurer Kim Coates. Before the payment, the two companies owed $60,762.
Bay Creek LLC paid $18,350 for 19 lots, and owes the balance for 94 more lots, said Coates.
Baymark Construction paid $25,266 for 39 lots, with balances due on 15 more.
“There was never any intent to avoid them,” said Bay Creek spokesman Oral Lambert.
The Wave’s July 31 story on delinquent Town taxpayers may be read here: http://capecharleswave.com/2012/07/some-of-towns-biggest-landowners-owe-back-taxes/
A related August 16 story on delinquent County taxpayers may be read here: http://capecharleswave.com/2012/08/northampton-county-to-tax-delinquents-pay-up-or-else/
Can New-Design Breakwaters Save Seabreeze Apartments?
WADs waiting at the Cape Charles harbor for deployment off the north beach. (Wave photo)
BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
August 28, 2012
Massive concrete pyramids line the south dock of Cape Charles harbor, waiting to be deployed along the town’s northern waterfront. They’re called WADs—wave attenuating devices. And these WADs are probably the first to be used in Virginia.
“They never would have let us build it if erosion wasn’t a problem,” said George Mirmelstein, agent for the owners of Seabreeze Apartments.
He said there was only 20 feet of land beyond the apartments’ foundation when he was first shown the problem, and Hurricane Irene gobbled up another 8 feet this past September.
“We’re hoping that this system—WADs—will cause the beach to recreate itself,” said Mirmelstein. Seabreeze joins two other properties in the Bay Vistas development to fund the breakwaters.
He said Seabreeze will contribute more than $150,000 to the project, which costs over $250,000. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) holds the mortgage on Seabreeze until 2033. It approved an emergency reserve loan from the Rural Development branch of USDA to help pay for the WADs. [Read more…]
Council Gives Final OK to Turn Old School into Apartments
Developers Edwin Gaskin (left) and J. David McCormack of Echelon Resources, Inc., plan to convert the old school, basketball court, and playground parking area into 17 one-bedroom apartments. (Wave photo)
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
August 24, 2012
Cape Charles Town Council voted Thursday night to rezone the Town’s old school, basketball court, and playground parking area from Open Space to R-1 Residential, and also to allow a 17-unit apartment building to be built in a single-family residential area.
The vote in each instance was 5-1, with Councilman Frank Wendell dissenting.
Some 100 people turned out for the meeting in the Fire Hall. Mayor Dora Sullivan laid out several ground rules but was unsuccessful in enforcing them. “Be respectful and stay on topic,” she said – no personal attacks or accusations. She informed Wendell that he could speak during the public hearing or during Council discussion, but not both. However, Wendell insisted that when he was elected a member of Council, he did not lose his rights as a public citizen. Ultimately he was allowed to speak at length.
During the Public Hearing, Town Police removed two of the speakers from the podium, and a member of the Planning Commission threatened to assault a member of the press for photographing him.
Wendell urged Council to heed the advice of former town manager Tim Krawczel to put some conditions in the conditional use permit. That should include heeding the recommendation of the town’s attorney for a buyback option and performance bond to protect the Town’s interest in the property in case the developers were unable to carry out their plans. Wendell also moved that the Town retain the basketball court and playground parking lot, suggesting that Echelon build a parking lot across the street for the apartment house. The motion did not pass. [Read more…]
Survey: Northampton County on Wrong Economic Track
By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
August 21, 2012
What do the people of Northampton County want for the future?
Jobs.
That’s according to two public surveys. One was done by the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, which telephoned 350 local residents. The other was by the County Planning Commission, involving 221 residents in an extensive public meeting process.
“Some of the main messages are not dissimilar,” said Sandra Benson Thornton, Northampton County Director of Planning and Zoning and head staffer for both projects.
But the methods and objectives of the two groups are very different. The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) began their process with the assumption that the County “was on the wrong track” in its planning and zoning process, and set out to prove it.
“It’s accurate to say they started with that assumption,” said Thornton. “I think they felt there were major issues that need correcting. They felt [the public meetings] didn’t draw from a broad enough representation of the population, and the input didn’t accurately reflect the feelings of the citizens and property owners.”
The CPAC telephone survey was funded by the National Association of Realtors. Its first goal was “to obtain community input on future land uses preferences for use in updating the Comprehensive plan.” [Read more…]
