WAVY-TV News Report on Old School Controversy
Old school building sold for $10: wavy.com
To watch the WAVY news report, click “Read more” to enter full story; then click the PLAY button.
CAPE CHARLES WAVE
July 18, 2012
The WAVY Channel 10 news crew ventured across the bridge today to film a story about the controversy surrounding the Town of Cape Charles decision to sell the old school, basketball court, and parking lot adjoining Central Park to a private developer for $10.
The developer intends to convert the school into a 17-unit apartment building.
WAVY-10 interviewed Town Manager Heather Arcos as well as the president of Old School Cape Charles LLC, Wayne Creed. Old School Cape Charles is a legal entity formed by residents intent on saving the school for public use as a community center.
Cape Charles Mayor Dora Sullivan declined to be interviewed on camera.
The story aired during the 6 p.m. news on Wednesday on both WAVY-10 and FOX-43.
To watch the WAVY news report, click “Read more” to enter full story; then click the PLAY button.
Historic Review Board Rejects Apartments in Old School
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 18, 2012
The Historic District Review Board yesterday recommended unanimously against permitting a 17-unit apartment building next to Central Park.
“Converting the old school to apartments is not an appropriate use of the building,” the Board ruled.
Chairman Russ Dunton reminded the Board that Town Council is not required to adhere to the Historic District Review Board’s decision. But, Dunton stressed, the Board should nevertheless tell Town Council exactly what they think on the subject.
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the park,” Dunton noted. “If apartments are put there, the basketball court goes away and the parking for the playground goes away.”
Board member Dianne Davis asked what would happen to the basketball court, to which Town Manager Heather Arcos stated, “It could be relocated.”
However, the contract signed with the developer does not include relocating the basketball court.
Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek said that because no site plans have yet been drawn for the school, there is nothing for the Historic District Review Board to consider in regard to changes to the building. The only issue under consideration by the Board yesterday was the conditional use of the building as an apartment house.
The Board will also be asked to review plans for restoration of the building, assuming plans are eventually drawn. Such plans will also require approval by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, if the building is to qualify for federal and state historic tax credits.
Council Holding Secret Meeting to Buy Bank(?) Building
Bank of America building is for sale cheap — will the Town buy it?
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 18, 2012
Town Council has announced another “executive” session for tomorrow – meaning that the public is not invited.
According to records posted by the Town Clerk, this makes a dozen closed meetings so far this year.
By comparison, Town Council held 11 executive sessions during the whole of last year, and only 6 executive sessions in 2010.
The State of Virginia has strict rules about public bodies holding closed meetings. Under law, these closed meetings cannot be “secret” – the public must be informed when the meeting will take place and what specific subject will be discussed. “A general reference to . . . the subject matter of the closed meeting shall not be sufficient to satisfy the requirements for holding a closed meeting,” according to the Code.
In the case of Cape Charles, the closed meeting will take place at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 19, and the subject will be “Real Estate Acquisition Opportunity.”
This makes the third closed meeting this month with that subject – the earlier meetings being July 12 and July 3.
But Town Council has been meeting behind closed doors about a “real estate acquisition opportunity” since at least May 17 – and for the past two months, rumors have been circulating that the Town plans to buy the former Bank of America building.
The bank building, on the corner or Mason Avenue and Pine Street, has been vacant since March. According to a For Sale sign on the bank, bids were due June 8.
Four bids are believed to have been received, all under $100,000.
Group Sues Town to Stop Sale of Old School
School and parking lot front to newly refurbished Central Park.
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 17, 2012
The residents group known as Old School Cape Charles has filed a lawsuit and requested an injunction to prevent the Town from selling the old Central Park school, adjoining basketball court, and parking lot to a private developer.
Cape Charles Town Council voted unanimously June 14 to sell the school to Echelon Resources, Inc., a Richmond developer, for $10. The developer plans to use historic tax credits to assist in converting the school into a 17-unit apartment building.
Although Mayor Dora Sullivan signed a contract June 28 to convey the property to Echelon, the sale has not been finalized.
The lawsuit contends that “Town Council has never provided any coherent explanation as to why competing proposals or bids were never solicited or requested.”
It further states that the terms of the proposal made to Town Council by Old School Cape Charles “were superior to the private development proposal . . . but the proposal was rejected, without any coherent or logical basis or explanation.”
Town Council held secret negotiations with Echelon dating back to last summer. The public first learned of the plans on February 9, which quickly led to the creation of Old School Cape Charles, LLC.
On March 19, Old School Cape Charles made their first offer to Town Council to purchase the school and turn it into a community center. Mayor Sullivan informed the group by letter April 4 that their proposal had been rejected.
Old School Cape Charles then offered June 12 to lease the property for $100 per year. When that offer was not accepted, on June 26 the group offered to buy the property outright for $10,000.
Wayne Creed, president of Old School Cape Charles, said yesterday that going to court was “the last thing we really wanted to do — we would much rather be using our resources to perform much-needed repairs on the old school.”
TOWN COUNCIL
Veber, Bannon Back; Bay Creekers Not Flushing Enough
Larry Veber was off Town Council only 13 days before being reappointed.
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 13, 2012
Cape Charles Town Council last night appointed Larry Veber to fill the vacancy created by the death of Councilman-elect Donald Clarke last month, and also re-elected Chris Bannon as vice mayor.
Veber was an incumbent Councilman, but lost his re-election bid. His appointment to Council will last until a special election can be held.
Council is requesting the Northampton County Circuit Court to set a special election for the seat on the same day as the November 6 general election.
In other Council news, MaryAnn Roehm announced that Arts Enter has received a $50,000 “Our Town” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Cape Charles and Roanoke were the only grant recipients in Virginia.
Our Town grants support projects to transform communities into “lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core,” Roehn said. The Our Town project will complement the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, Community Trail master plan, and the Harbor Plan.”
Other reports to Council were not so sweet. During Dave Fauber’s Public Works report, he was asked what can be done about the strong smell at the Town’s new sewage treatment plant.
“It is what it is — a sewage treatment plant,” Fauber said. “You can encapsulate it, but at some point you have to let it out into the air. To stop the smell completely is probably cost prohibitive.”
Planning Commission Sets Another Public Hearing to Rezone Old School Property
Echelon Resources developer David McCormack meets publicly for first time with Town officials and residents.
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 11, 2012
The Cape Charles Planning Commission voted last night to schedule further public hearings to consider rezoning Central Park’s old school building, basketball court, and parking lot from “Open Space” to “R-1” (single family residential).
Simultaneously, the Planning Commission will conduct a hearing for a special use permit to allow conversion of the school to a 17-unit apartment building.
Several public hearings have already been held, but residents, backed by an attorney, have pointed out a number of deficiencies in the process, leading the Town to schedule further hearings.
For example, the April 3 public hearing occurred without required notification to adjacent property owners.
Some dozen persons came to the meeting last night to object to rezoning the property. Only Bob Panek, the Assistant Town Manager (who explained that he was speaking in his private capacity), endorsed the project.
Odessa Sullivan said that “the town has not inspired trust that procedures are being followed.”
Debra Bender noted that the Town’s 2009 Comprehensive Plan calls for public space for public needs. “This plan would take away parking for the children’s playground. As a grandmother I use the parking to take my grandson to the park on a regular basis.”
Wayne Creed, president of Old School Cape Charles, LLC, said, “Town Council has ignored the advice of the Town attorney, who said there should be a buyback option and a performance bond. The developer scuttled our high-paid attorney’s advice.”
George Southern claimed the Conditional Use Permit application was “fraudulent,” because it contained a signed statement representing the owner of the property as Echelon Resources, when in fact the Town is the owner. The application also claimed to contain a “disclosure statement signed and notarized verifying ownership,” which was lacking. He also said no required survey had been done to determine where the property would be subdivided between the playground and the apartment building.
Newly elected Councilman Frank Wendell drew attention to extensive email correspondence between the Echelon Resources developers and Town staff members Bob Panek and Town Manager Heather Arcos, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Wendell took umbrage over Echelon’s Edwin Gaskin’s characterization of opponents of the development as the “idiots of the world.”
Wendell also contrasted the lack of requirements by the Town on Echelon Resources compared to those expected of Old School Cape Charles.
Following the meeting, Echelon developer McCormack spoke informally with residents. Some of them expressed unhappiness that the negotiations over the property had been done in secret, and that Town Council had refused to entertain other proposals and petitions. “You may be venting on me when I’m not the bad guy,” McCormack said.
2,000 Migrant Workers Missing from Local Economy;
Tomato Fields Not Planted
A Madonia field on Old Town Neck, conspicuously NOT planted with tomatoes.
By KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave
July 10, 2012
One family’s troubles echo through the entire community. At least, so it seems on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where East Coast Brokers and Packers have not planted tomatoes and more than 2,000 workers who normally would live here in the summer are not coming.
“They contribute to this economy,” said Jim Albright, regional coordinator for Justice and Peace for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, about the missing migrant farmworkers.
Tomato pickers buy food, gas and supplies locally, said Albright. They patronize laundromats, fast food restaurants and auto repair shops. Employees of at least 12 state, federal and county organizations spend part or all of their time working with migrants—which translates into local jobs. Farmworkers pay sales taxes — and all state and federal taxes are withheld from their pay checks, including social security payments.
“They’re not being paid under the table,” said Albright.
The local trouble started in Florida, focused on the family of Batista J. Madonia Sr. Madonia Sr.—a sometime Cape Charles resident–and his family own several companies, including East Coast Brokers and Packers, Stellaro Bay, Inc., and the Circle M Ranch in Lakeland, Florida.
According to the Tampa Tribune, the Madonias are known in Florida for their generosity. In his book, Tomatoland, Barry Estabrook says East Coast Brokers and Packers quit the powerful Florida Tomato Growers Exchange in the fall of 2009, and partnered with a group called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
In September of 2009, the Modonias convinced their client, Compass Group North America, to pay 1.5 cents per pound extra for their tomatoes, with 1 cent per pound passed directly to the field workers.
”Although it was probably not the most popular decision, it was a decision we chose to make for our workers and for our partners in business,” Madonia Jr. said in The Packer, a fresh produce industry newsletter. “If there’s a way I can give them (the workers) a better standard of living, they can have a better life and if this doesn’t adversely affect my business at all, there’s no way I could not let this happen.” [Read more…]
Larry Veber Set for Appointment to Vacant Town Council Seat
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 4, 2012
Former Town Council member Larry Veber, who lost his May 1 re-election bid, is the choice of the majority of Council members to fill the vacant seat created by the June 13 passing of Councilman-elect Donald Clarke.
At a July 3 Council work session, three members said they would vote for Veber on July 12 – enough to assure his appointment.
Veber’s appointment would last until a special election takes place. According to Town Clerk Libby Hume, a special election could be held November 2012, November 2013, or May 2014. To hold a special election, the Town must petition the Northampton County Circuit Court within 15 days of the July 1 vacancy. A draft petition is under review by the Town’s legal counsel, and the requested date for a special election has not been revealed.
Vice Mayor Chris Bannon, along with Councilman Mike Sullivan and newly installed Councilman Tom Godwin, said they intend to vote for Veber. Bannon said he thought Council should select Veber because he was the next highest vote-getter in the May election (after the three winners). Veber was “the will of the people,” Bannon maintained, and Godwin and Sullivan concurred.
Councilwoman Joan Natali favored former Councilman Steve Bennett as someone with “experience and an understanding of the details of the issues that Council has been working.” Bennett, like Veber, failed to win re-election May 1, but received fewer votes than Veber.
Mayor Dora Sullivan (who does not vote) said that in her opinion, one of the two candidates who ran in the last election should be selected to fill the vacancy.
Newly installed Councilman Frank Wendell said he felt the recent election was an unofficial referendum about the school and community center issue, and that the people had spoken by electing new candidates to represent them. “The results show that Town citizenry did not want business as usual,” he said – “People want to freshen up the intellectual gene pool.”
