The Way We Were: 9 Years Ago in the New York Times

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

September 5, 2013

This week marks the 9th anniversary of the New York Times feature article “Waking Up Cape Charles.”  The story is a useful and interesting benchmark of how far the town has come, how much things remain the same, and how history repeats itself.  Although a 10th-anniversary retrospective would be the most appropriate, we just couldn’t wait another year.  So here are excerpts from the article published September 3, 2004, by Tim Neville and annotated (in italics) by the Wave for today’s reader:

In 1991, houses in this town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia were so cheap that when Barbara Brown found one just four blocks from the Chesapeake Bay, she bought it with a credit card. The house — two stories and 1,500 square feet with three bedrooms — was in terrible shape, said Ms. Brown, who paid $15,000 for it. . . . Ms. Brown, a psychotherapist, gutted the place, rehabbed it and sold it in 1996 for $65,000. . . . Today it might sell for $250,000 or more.

That house, 123 Peach Street, has a tax value of $156,800 today. Barbara Brown has remained faithful to Cape Charles, and last year opened a new office on Mason Avenue, as reported by the Wave (click here to read).

[T]he economic boom is hard to ignore. Houses and commercial buildings that stood falling apart five years ago now sell for $250,000 or more. New homes boasting breezy British West Indies architecture — many approaching the $1 million mark — pop regularly out of the sand. McCarthy’s Hotel, closed for decades, is scheduled to reopen by Thanksgiving under a new owner who is restoring it to its 1930’s roots.

The “restoration” at 235 Mason Avenue, known as Cape Charles Hotel, looked nothing like the 1930s penny postcard pictured above. The Cape Charles Hotel ultimately failed, was sold by the bank, and underwent another extensive remodeling, opening in 2012 as Hotel Cape Charles. [Read more…]

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EDITORIAL: Conflict of Interest

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

September 4, 2013

This editorial should not have to be written, because the issue should be obvious.  Sadly, that is not the case in Northampton County – or especially Cape Charles, where conflicts of interest are more common than September hurricanes. (Click here for an egregious example five years ago.)

Resident in Cape Charles is a remarkable individual known to all as Bob Panek. Once the acting town manager, he now prefers to be the assistant.  He was the chief consultant for construction of the Town’s wastewater treatment plant.  He is president of Citizens for Central Park.  At candidate debates before the last three elections, Mr. Panek decided which questions were asked and to whom, despite his unconcealed partisanship. And finally, which is the point of this editorial, he is chairman of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Public Service Authority, whose purpose is to study, implement, and operate water and sewer systems.

Mr. Panek was appointed by Cape Charles Town Council to represent the Town on the PSA. This was wrong, because it violates the principle of separation between a paid public employee and an elected or appointed official.  One might have hoped that Town Council understood that principle, after two town employees ceased to serve on Town Council. A paid town employee should not be appointed or elected to a town board or commission and should not be the town’s representative on a county board or commission. [Read more…]

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Town Won’t Reveal Route 13 Monthly Sewer Rates

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

September 3, 2013

Two public meetings are scheduled this month to provide information about plans for mandatory sewer hookups and a nearly doubling of County land taxes in an area along Route 13 north and south of the Cape Charles traffic light and along a portion of South Bayside Road. But property owners’ burning question won’t be answered at the meeting. That is: How much will my sewer bill be?

Cape Charles residents pay a monthly charge of $60.85 for up to 2,000 gallons of sewage treatment. They also pay a separate charge for water, but at this stage only sewerage is proposed for Route 13 area customers.

The Town’s water consultant and assistant town manager, Bob Panek, has been coy about how much County customers might have to pay. “I have no idea what the rate would be,” Panek told the Cape Charles Business Association July 23.

Panek is also chairman of the Public Service Authority, the County entity that is proposing sewerage on the highway. The Town and the PSA are supposed to negotiate a sewer rate. Since Panek cannot negotiate with himself, he has turned over the calculation of a rate structure to other Town employees.

Panek told the Business Association that doing a rate analysis would be “about a day’s work.” But his estimate was optimistic. Town Council had scheduled a September 5 work session to review a proposed rate structure, but last week the work session was postponed until September 25. It seems that, without Panek’s involvement, the financial analysis will require about a month instead of about a day to accomplish. [Read more…]

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Broadwater Grads Reunite after College as ‘Fat Tuesday’

By SARAH GOLIBART
Cape Charles Wave

September 2, 2013

With music as delectable as their name, the local band Fat Tuesday and the New Custards has been playing gigs around Cape Charles all summer. Fat Tuesday has delivered dynamic and danceable music at Kelly’s Gingernut Pub, the Cape Charles Harbor Party, the Clam Slam, and the Harbor for the Arts Festival.

All members of the band graduated from Broadwater Academy in Exmore, and went to their respective colleges, reuniting in 2010 to seriously begin playing music together. According to lead guitarist Cole Newsom, “they [the rest of the band] were on the JJV basketball team when I was on varsity. They asked me to sit in and play for a New Years show and the rest is history.”

Fat Tuesday draws many influences from the classic and funk rock genres with favorites being the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Led Zeppelin. But lead singer and rhythm guitarist Austin Riopel attributes “everyone and everything” within the musical realm to their unique sound. Bassist Philip Simpson laughingly said “someone once described our music as ‘Hippie Heehaw.’” Cole named Led Zeppelin as their favorite band to cover. “Zeppelin’s music really allows us to stretch our musical legs. We can play good music and put a little of ourselves into it too.”

Asked about the evolution of the band’s music, Austin answered, “It’s all self expression. As you change, the music is going to change also.” Restaurant owner Gene Kelly has hired Fat Tuesday to play at Kelly’s Gingernut Pub about five or six times in the past year. Gene expressed his appreciation for the band, saying, “They all definitely have individual musical talent. They are exceptionally good musicians developing a great sound.” Gene is no stranger to good music and has been choosing bands to play at Kelly’s since 2006. “Their original material is really good. They play great covers and have a remarkable energy.” [Read more…]

Town Responds to ‘Red Tide Rising’ in Harbor

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

September 1, 2013

Hours after a “Gossip” item entitled RED TIDE RISING appeared August 30 in the Wave, the Town of Cape Charles issued a special edition of the Gazette to address the issue of a red liquid being discharged into the Town Harbor.

On Friday afternoon, the Town Police Department delivered copies of the Gazette to local businesses for distribution to their customers.

The Gossip item noted that “now that floating docks have been installed next to the Coast Guard Station where the yacht repair facility is being built, people can walk along the bulkhead at the water line. There they can see an underwater pipe capped at the end. If they time their visit just right, somewhat like viewing “Old Faithful” at Yellowstone National Park, they will be treated to an eruption of red liquid spewing out into the harbor. Word has it that the pipe hooks to the new sewage treatment plant, and the discharge comes when plant filters are backwashed.”

The Gazette confirmed that the discharge is from backwash, “but we want to assure you that the discolored water is from the water plant not the wastewater treatment plant.” The Gazette further noted that the Town is working with the state Department of Environmental Quality “regarding corrective measures to alleviate the discharge of the discolored water.” [Read more…]

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Bing Recognizes Cape Charles Wave As Local News Source

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

August 31, 2013

Heard of Bing? It’s Microsoft’s answer to Google, albeit a very weak voice against the Google powerhouse.

A year ago in August, Google News accepted the Cape Charles Wave as a source of local information. Google News readers who search “Cape Charles” get a listing of online news from local sources. Typically, 9 out of 10 of the news articles are from the Wave.

To be accredited as a Google news source, the Wave had to demonstrate that it publishes information that would normally be found in a newspaper, such as news reports, feature stories, opinion columns, obituaries, classifieds, and letters to the editor. The Wave was also required to have a public “face” — meaning that its editors and reporters are clearly identified by name.

Now, a year later, Bing News has also accepted the Wave as a local news source. But using Bing News is trickier than using Google. First, enter bing.com/news in your browser, and then search for “Cape Charles.” Be sure to use the quotation marks – otherwise you’ll get stories about Cape Town and Prince Charles mixed in. Finally, choose the option “Past 7 days” or you might find news stories up to 10 years old.

[Read more…]

Cheriton Town Council Endorses Mandatory Sewer Hookups
To Cape Charles Treatment Plant

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

August 30, 2013

Cheriton Town Council agreed August 28 on language “supporting the PSA [Public Service Authority] to introduce sewer service from Cape Charles,” adding that “the Town of Cheriton is willing to require mandatory sewer hookups in the agreed upon sewer service area.”

Cheriton Town Council authorized Mayor Joseph Habel to send a letter to Willie Randall, chairman of Northampton County Board of Supervisors. The support for hooking up to the Cape Charles sewer treatment plant gets only a small mention in the letter, which focuses on a proposed boundary adjustment that would nearly triple Cheriton’s land area and increase seasonal population by 75 percent.

Mayor Habel’s letter states that “due to soils with severe limitations for septic drainfields in approximately 41 percent of the undeveloped area [of Cheriton], new residential development is difficult for 20,000 square-foot lots without central sewer facilities.”

“The viability of the Town of Cheriton’s central business district and existing residential development . . . will also be strengthened by provision of central sewer facilities,” he wrote. [Read more…]

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County, Cheriton Urged to Rethink Cape Charles Sewerage

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

August 29, 2013

Speakers at two public meetings this week have urged officials to rethink their endorsement of extending sewage treatment to Route 13 from the Cape Charles treatment plant.

Speaking at the Northampton County Board of Supervisors meeting August 26, Supervisor Rick Hubbard said the County needs “a better understanding of what we have set in motion.”

Last night (August 28), Cape Charles resident Deborah Bender addressed Cheriton Town Council, warning them “not to get involved with the Cape Charles Wastewater Plant.” Bender is a member of the political action group CAPE-C: “Citizen Advocates Promoting Effective Change.”

SUPERVISOR HUBBARD’S LETTER TO THE COUNTY

After reflecting on our Board meeting of 13 August, I feel we may have overlooked some things or at least need a better understanding of what we have set in motion. I believe the entire Board truly believes that it is necessary to develop infrastructure in the area of the Cape Charles stop light and has no desire to harm the economic development of the town.

1) Before further engineering studies or plans are done for the project, we must have in place an acceptable, long term fixed rate cost for treatment of waste water to be used by the project.

2) We also need to be sure that the current Cape Charles treatment plant is on sound financial footing and the PSA could not be held responsible for “new” unexpected costs associated with that plant. [Read more…]

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EDITORIAL: The Developer’s Wife

August 28, 2013

An earnest commenter, upon reading the Wave’s story about the developer who plans to convert the Old School into an apartment building, wrote, “I don’t think it’s fair to smear someone’s name just for “knowing” another person. . . . Mary [McCormack, wife of developer J. David McCormack] is one of the kindest, sweetest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and I am sure there are lots of people here on the Shore that would agree with me that her name should not even be brought into this mess.”

Indeed, it’s a journalistic axiom when reporting the actions of a public figure that family members’ privacy should be respected. But what about when the public figure himself brings up his wife’s name?

In this case, developer McCormack, addressing a meeting of the Cape Charles Planning Commission, noted that his wife, Mary, “just by sheer coincidence realized that she had a relationship with Heather [Arcos, the town manager].” The Wave videotaped McCormack’s statement (to the discomfiture of the Planning Commission chair), and the video may be viewed by clicking here.

Why is it newsworthy that the wife of a developer “had a relationship” with the town manager? Because what the Town did with the Old School property was highly irregular. When authorities decide to divest public property, it is unusual to give it away, and even more unusual to pay a developer $41,000 to take it – especially when the property was valued on the tax rolls at $900,000.

If a municipality wants to sell public land, it normally would advertise for bids, and then sell to the highest bidder. That didn’t happen in Cape Charles. Instead, Town Council met secretly with McCormack. No one else knew that Town Council was considering selling the building (much less paying someone to take it). Most people still thought the Cape Charles Christian School was going to lease the building. [Read more…]

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Historic District Board Approves Old School Requests

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

August 27, 2013

Petersburg developer J. David McCormack appeared again August 20 before the Historic District Review Board, and this time the Board approved five requests that they had deferred at their June meeting.

Last December the Town of Cape Charles gave McCormack the Old School, basketball court, and playground parking lot at Central Park plus $41,000 to pay utility connection fees. McCormack has applied for federal and state tax credits totaling 45 percent of his costs to convert the property into a 17-unit apartment building.

In order to receive the tax credits, however, the developer’s plans must be approved by both the National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. And under Town code, any significant alterations to the property must be approved by the Historic District Review Board.

 “I do not believe that a Certificate of Appropriateness should be provided to the developer.” 
– Chairman David Gay

McCormack requested permission to clean exterior walls and repair mortar and masonry; replace a rubber membrane roof with a PVC roof; restore historic windows and replace aluminum frame windows; replicate historic front doors, restore and replicate transoms; insert compatible new doors where historic doors are undocumented; and install two canopies on fire escapes. The Board approved all the requests.

However, the developer still needs to receive a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Board, and Chairman David Gay said it is unclear to him how the Board will proceed, because questions remain about the site plans and parking for the apartment building. “I do not believe that a Certificate of Appropriateness should be provided to the developer,” Gay said.

A major issue is the location of a proposed parking lot. The Town’s Historic District Guidelines do not allow a parking lot in front of a building in a residential area. McCormack plans to build a parking lot in front of the main entrance to the Old School, which until recently contained an ellipse with a flagpole in the center. [Read more…]

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A-Tisket, A-Tasket, Who Took the Baskets?

OK Then, How About a Game of Softball?
.

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

August 26, 2013

Eight months ago to the day — December 26, 2012 — Town of Cape Charles staff returned to work after a four-day Christmas break. Town Manager Heather Arcos was still on leave, so Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek was in charge. The previous week on December 20, just one day before the holiday break, Mayor Dora Sullivan had given a Christmas present to developer J. David McCormack and his company, Charon Ventures. McCormack received the Old School in Central Park, the adjoining Park basketball court, the Park playground parking lot, and $41,000 to be used for water and sewer connection fees.

The property was valued on the tax rolls at over $900,000. When McCormack offered to “buy” it for $1 (later raised to $10), Town Council was so impressed by the offer that they declined to request or entertain any other bids.

McCormack was known to Arcos, who, according to McCormack, “by sheer coincidence had a relationship” with his wife, Mary. (click here to watch McCormack video ).

But McCormack and his Echelon partner, Edwin Gaskin, explained to Town managers Arcos and Panek that despite the expectation of federal and state tax credits totaling 45 percent of their development costs, they still could not afford to convert the Park property into a 17-unit apartment building. The sticking point was the water and sewer connection charge of $12,350 per unit.

As residents paying a minimum $108 monthly water bill are painfully aware, the Town recently raised sewer charges over 80 percent because connection fees have not been sufficient to cover debt service on the Town’s new sewage plant. Nevertheless, Town Council reduced connection fees from $20,000 to $12,350. Then, to accommodate developer McCormack, Council further reduced fees to $6,175 for one-bedroom units.

But that was still not enough for McCormack and Gaskin. So Panek persuaded Town Council to give them a special rate of another 50 percent off Town connection fees. McCormack’s one-bedroom units would pay only $3,087.50 per unit tap fee. [Read more…]

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