Local week in review
Local week in review
Date published: 6/18/2006
Council approves Maury deal
The Fredericksburg City Council unanimously voted last week to sell Maury School to Richmond-based Echelon Resources Inc. for $300,000, plus a $50,000 contribution to the Fredericksburg Area Veterans' Memorial.
Their vote brings an end to more than 25 years of city officials going back and forth over various plans for what to do with the building.
Echelon will spend $7.5 million to convert the old school into 32 loft-style apartments. The former gymnasium will be reserved for public space. The city will use the proceeds from selling the building to renovate that space, probably as office space for the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center.
The city will rent that space back from Echelon for $250,000 over a five-year period, and will then have the option to buy it for a nominal fee when Echelon converts its apartments into condominiums, which is expected after five years. At that point, the city estimates the space will be worth between $700,000 and $800,000.
Water claims more lives
At least five people have now drowned in the Fredericksburg area over the past six weeks. Two men and a woman died in Lake Anna and the Potomac River this past weekend.
The two men who drowned at Lake Anna State Park on Saturday had come from Manassas to fish, officials say.
On Sunday, a 20-year-old Cheverly, Md., woman drowned in the Potomac River near the Harry Nice Bridge after falling off a raft.
Suit alleges illegal meetings
Some Stafford parents claim that three School Board members violated the state Freedom of Information Act by holding secret meetings and not providing all of their e-mails for public view.
The Support Our Schools political action committee made those claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in Stafford General District Court. Patricia Joshi, a lawyer and member of that group, will represent the PAC.
Her document points to e-mails between School Board members Robert Belman, Nanette Kidby and Doreen Phillips, and Supervisors Paul Milde and Mark Dudenhefer.
The group found messages that suggest all five officials met twice in February to discuss the county budget, according to court documents. And some officials provided e-mails that the others did not.
Date published: 6/18/2006
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