COMMENTARY: On a Come-Here Meeting Born-Heres

By SHER HOROSKO

June 12, 2013

Outside my window, a fleece of gray wool covers the sky. A white ibis with her pinky-orange beak prowls the ground while a blue bird stands atop his new cedar house. The wheat field has gone golden. I came here a couple of weeks ago to fall into the arms of wonder. I haven’t been disappointed.

The stories of the “born-here’s” captivate me. Your language is filled with color and sound. You may not even know this is so, because you’re steeped in a lifetime of conversation that draws from the storm and bounty of the land and water, that is tuned to the rhythms of harvest and migration.

But I know a living language when I hear it. I came to Cape Charles with ears used to listening to the thin, plain, read “dull” language of people who live as far away from the natural world as they can be. They don’t know when the flounder is running or the sweet corn will be picked. They buy food from six grocery stores, not one. [Read more…]

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ANALYSIS: Huge Sewer Bills Due to Town Council Missteps

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

June 11, 2013

NEW MINIMUM USAGE UTILITY RATES 07/01/13  $107.92.

So reads the message at the bottom of this month’s utility bill sent to every household and business in the Town of Cape Charles.

Technically, the message jumps the gun, because Town Council has not yet voted for the increase or even held the required public hearing.

But Town staff and elected officials have made clear that the rate increase is a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, an analysis by the Wave finds that the increase continues a years-long pattern of hiding the true cost to Town residents of sewage treatment.

The Wave analysis further reveals that Town Council and staff manipulated utility billing in the run-up to the 2012 Town elections, spending Town reserves to avoid increasing utility bills in an election year.

Finally, Town records disclose a disturbing pattern of cutting utility connection charges even as the Town planned an expensive new sewage treatment plant. In addition, the Town miscalculated badly in assuming that the new treatment plant would be partially paid by the developers of Bay Creek. [Read more…]

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Town Plans $7 Million Budget; Public Hearing June 20

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

June 10, 2013

The Town of Cape Charles proposes to spend almost $7.2 million in the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

Estimated income and expenses are shown in the table below.

The Town Council will hold a public hearing 6 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at St. Charles Parish Hall to receive written and oral comments on all proposed disbursements.

The budget will be discussed and brought to a vote a week after the public hearing at a special meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, June 27, at Town Hall.

Following are proposed tax rates and user fees:

Vehicle Tax: $31 per state registered vehicle, (Trailers $18, Golf Cart Decal $31)

Real Estate Tax: $.2759 per $100; Personal Property Tax $2 per $100; Boat Tax $0.01 per $100

Transient Occupancy Tax: 3%; Meals Tax: 5%; Admissions Tax: 3%; Short Term Rental Tax: 1%

WATER RATE:
Residential 0-2,000 gal.: $34.50 minimum;  2,001 to 5,000 gal.: $2.63 per 1,000;  5,001 to 10,000: $3.75 per 1,000; 10,001 to 15,000 gals: $5.00  per 1,000;  Over 15,000 gals: $7.50 per 1,000;

Commercial 0-2,000 gal: $34.50 minimum; 2,001-10,000 gal: $2.50 per 1,000; 10,001-15,000 gals: $3.75 per 1,000;  Over 15,000 gals: $5.00 per 1,000

SEWER RATE:
Residential 0-2,000 gal.: $60.85 minimum; 2,001 to 5,000 gal.: $4.11 per 1,000;  5,001 to 10,000 gals: $5.85 per 1,000;  10,001 to 15,000: $7.80 per 1,000; Over 15,000 gals: $11.70 per 1,000;

Commercial 0-2000 gal: $60.85 minimum; 2,001-10,000 gals: $3.90 per 1,000;  10,001-15,000 gals: $5.85 per 1,000; Over 15,000 gals: $7.80 per 1,000

GARBAGE: $12.57 per month

COMBINED MINIMUM MONTHLY WATER BILL (water, sewer, garbage): $107.92

[Read more…]

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CAPE CHARLES BY THE BAY: Tourism Website Debuts

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

June 9, 2013

The long-awaited website promoting Cape Charles as a tourist destination went live Thursday at http://www.capecharlesbythebay.com.

The $15,000 website was funded by the Cape Charles “Our Town” project through grants and contributions.

The website banner proclaims “Cape Charles by the Bay – Harbor for the Arts.”  A visitor to the website sees a succession of five billboard presentations, each for three seconds.

First is “Love Your Harbor (Relax in Cape Charles),” with a photo of a sunset over the Bay. (Curiously, the Town Harbor is not shown.)

Second is “Love Your Sweet Dreams (Stay in Cape Charles),” with a close-up of rocking chairs on the porch at the Town’s oldest B&B, Sea Gate, owned by Vice-Mayor Chris Bannon.

Third up is “Love the Charm (Shop in Cape Charles),” featuring a smiling Meredith Restein, proprietor of Moonrise Jewelry on Strawberry Street.

The fourth rotation is “Love Your Drive (Golf in Cape Charles),” with an overlook of Bay Creek’s Jack Nicklaus course facing the lighthouse.

Last comes “Love the Adrenaline (Play in Cape Charles),” depicting wetsuit-equipped kite boarders on the Bay. [Read more…]

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PLANNING COMMISSION:
Outlet Mall, Holiday Inn on Route 13?

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

June 7, 2013

Cape Charles Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek briefed the Town Planning Commission June 4 on wastewater treatment and development-related possibilities on Route 13 near the Cape Charles traffic light.

“One of the things this area needs is a hotel,” Panek said. “Something like a Holiday Inn, a Hampton Inn. To my way of thinking it’s no threat to the B&Bs or Hotel Cape Charles, it’s a completely different market.”

Cape Charles could attract a lot of people who “don’t want to pay $200 a night in a B&B,” Panek said. “There is a market for that $80 a night [room].”

Panek noted that the Ultra Triathlon which had been scheduled in Cape Charles for September 7 had been canceled, which he blamed on lack of hotel space. (However, Town Manager Heather Arcos told the Wave that organizers canceled the Triathlon after learning that a similar event would take place elsewhere the same weekend.)

Another development the assistant town manager envisions just outside Town limits on Route 13 is “a little outlet mall like Tanger Outlets up in Ocean City or Williamsburg, that type of thing,” Panek told the Planning Commission.

“One of the complaints I’ve heard from people vacationing here is that some of them get pretty bored,” Panek observed.

Town Council and Planning Commission member Joan Natali agreed: “There’re not enough places to shop,” she said.  To which Panek responded, “You can’t buy a pair of underwear in the Town.”

But Commission member Andy Buckholtz worried that Route 13 development “would be driving people out of town or keeping people from driving into town. The whole purpose of this Planning Commission is to drive people into this town,” Buckholtz emphasized. [Read more…]

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Town Council Votes 3.2% Real Estate Tax Increase

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

June 4, 2013

Cape Charles Town Council voted last night to raise real estate taxes 3.2 percent over last year. The new tax rate is 27.6 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value.

The tax is expected to generate some $1.07 million in revenue, based on collecting 95 percent of tax owed.

Council voted twice on raising the tax rate. The first vote raised the rate to the amount needed to receive the same amount of revenue as last year.

Town property values dropped 35 percent this year from the previous assessment made in 2008. If the tax rate were the same as last year, Town revenues would decrease by almost $300,000.

To obtain the same revenue as last year required an increase from last year’s 18 cents to a rate of 26.7 cents. All Council members voted for that increase.

The second vote was to increase the tax rate an additional 3.2 percent, to 27.6 cents. Four Council members voted yes: Steve Bennett, Tom Godwin, Joan Natali, and Mike Sullivan.

The two council members voting no were Chris Bannon and Frank Wendell — but for opposite reasons.

Wendell said he was voting no because he favored cutting spending instead of increasing taxes.

Bannon, on the other hand, voted no because he didn’t believe taxes were high enough. “We’ve never had money in this town. We have nothing in our contingency fund,” Bannon noted to justify his contention that taxes should be raised the full 8 percent advertised for the public hearing. [Read more…]

Local American Legion Post Gets National Exposure

By JOE VACCARO
Special to the Cape Charles Wave

June 2, 2013

The oldest American Legion Post on the Eastern Shore was chartered on February 13, 1922, and originally located in Cape Charles. Older veterans recall it as a lively location where WW I veterans and their families frequently met to dance, attend diners and march in parades.

Over the years it became one of the most desirable meeting spots for WW II and Korean Veterans on the lower Shore until a fire completely destroyed the Post some five decades ago.

In 2007, Post 56 found a new home in Cheriton, and another chapter for this 91-year-old organization began.

Since 2007, the Post has boasted bragging rights as having the highest state membership, Commander of the Year, Legionnaire of the Year, Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, an ongoing Boys and Girls State program, a Law Enforcement Junior Cadet Program and an Oratorical Contest.

All of this is in addition to a thriving and highly successful Sons of the American Legion and an American Legion Auxiliary program.

This award-winning American Legion Post is featured in the June issue of  the national American Legion magazine. The article notes how Post 56’s membership fell to 22 members and the charter was in peril of being revoked. [Read more…]

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Public Hearing on Tax Increase: ‘Read My Lips’

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

May 31, 2013

Six residents spoke or submitted comments at last night’s public hearing on a proposed tax increase for the Town of Cape Charles. And while each resident spoke in his or her own way, each message was essentially the same: Don’t raise my taxes!

Town Council is proposing a two-step rate increase. The first rate hike would bring the amount of tax collected up to last year’s level, even though real property assessments dropped 35 percent on average.

Last year’s Town tax rate was 18 cents per $100 of property value. The first step would increase that rate to 27 cents – a 50 percent rate increase.

The second step would increase the rate an additional 8 percent, from 27 cents to 29 cents per $100.

The Town is required to advertise the proposed tax rates and hold a public hearing before voting. Under law, the rate voted by Town Council cannot be higher than the rate advertised, but it can be lower.

At last night’s meeting, Town Treasurer Kim Coates provided an updated proposed budget some $211,000 less than earlier projections.

The latest budget projection requires a rate of 27.6 cents instead of almost 29 cents.

That would be a 3 percent increase over last year instead of the advertised 8 percent increase.

Town property owners also must pay Northampton County taxes. The County also plans to increase its tax rate to compensate for lower property assessments, but unlike the Town, no additional tax increase is planned. [Read more…]

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Historic Review Board Denies Chimney Removal

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

May 30, 2013

The new Cape Charles Historic District Review Board met May 21, and quickly got to work on a request by the new owners to modify a house at 621 Jefferson Avenue.

Town Planner Tom Bonadeo (who retired May 28) described 621 Jefferson as “located in an area of town where the homes are in the most need of repair. At least two nearby homes have been abandoned for 6-10 years,” he said. He further noted that 621 Jefferson had been empty and for sale for two years.

The new owners, Matthew Hardison and Trafton Jordan, requested permission to extend a dormer; return the porch to its original open style; remove a non-functioning chimney; replace existing vinyl siding; and replace a rear window with a sliding door.

Bonadeo recommended approval of all requests, but the new Board was hesitant. They preferred French doors over a sliding door, but acknowledged that there was not sufficient space. Since the sliding door would include muttons resembling a French door, they approved that design.

The Board also was troubled over removal of the chimney. Even though Bonadeo judged it “badly deteriorated if not unusable,” the Board worried that a house without a chimney was not in keeping with the historic nature of the neighborhood.

The Board voted to deny permission to remove the chimney. The owners may need to repair it to prevent it from falling down, but they were not required to make it usable. [Read more…]

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Public Hearing Thursday on Tax Hikes: Will Anyone Come?

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

May 29, 2013

Cape Charles taxpayers will have a chance to speak their minds on a proposed property tax increase at a public hearing 6 p.m. Thursday (May 30) at St. Charles Parish Hall, 550 Tazewell Avenue.

Town Council is considering two rate increases: The first would “equalize” the amount of tax collected to be the same as last year, even though real property assessments dropped 35 percent on average.

A second rate hike would result in an actual 8 percent increase in revenues over last year.

Last year’s Town tax rate was 18 cents per hundred dollars of value. This year’s equalization rate would be 26 cents, and the additional 8 percent hike would bring the total tax to 28 cents per hundred dollars.

A second public hearing will be held June 20 on the complete Town budget, including a proposed 50 percent sewer rate hike.

At last year’s public hearing on the tax rate and budget, only two members of the public attended. No written comments were received, and the only speaker was councilman-elect Frank Wendell.

At both the 2011 and 2010 public hearings, no member of the public attended and no written comments were received. [Read more…]

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Town Ordered to Repay $18,000 for Library Computers

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

May 28, 2013

The Town of Cape Charles has been ordered to pay back $18,000 for computers purchased through grant funds.

The computers are now located in the Town’s new library in the former Bank of America building. Previously they were housed in the Cape Charles Christian School.

Town Manager Heather Arcos informed Town Council May 16 that “a citizen complaint” that the computers were not available to the public was made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last fall when the computers were in the Christian School.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) investigated, and instructed the Town to make the computers available to the public by December 19, 2012.

According to Arcos, the computers were moved from the Christian School to the new library building on December 11. The library had not yet opened, but “a computer class schedule was posted with pre-registration requirements until the relocation of the library.”

However, no one registered, and no classes were held. The DHCD made an unannounced visit and found the building locked.

As a result, Arcos said, DHCD ordered the Town to repay $18,000 of grant money. [Read more…]

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