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Culpeper town and county have agreement

Culpeper town, county agree on boundary, utility authority

BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

Date published: 7/25/2008

BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

In a landmark decision, the Culpeper Town Council and the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors last night agreed on a memorandum of understanding that will ultimately lead to both a town boundary adjustment and create a regional water and sewer authority.

Although the joint meeting began on a contentious note, it ended with a solid agreement that will be signed at a special called meeting of both government bodies on Monday night.

Under the agreement the town will get essentially all county land inside the U.S. 29 Bypass, Ira Hoffman Lane and the yet-to-be-built western loop that will extend from Ira Hoffman Lane to St. Jamison's Road and U.S. 522 (including the Harlow farm and the Powell property).

Definite exceptions include the Culpeper Farmers' Coop, Culpeper Petroleum Cooperative and County Farm Service property on or near James Madison Highway. A likely exclusion would be the Comstock property, a 17-acre industrial tract in the southwest corner of State Route 3 and the U.S. 29 Bypass.

Also at issue is Northridge, a development near Culpeper High School on the north side of Ira Hoffman Lane. Although it is part of the working map, the town does not want this residential development because of services it would have to provide.

Most of the town's new land would be either industrial or commercial parcels that would logically belong under an urban government.

In exchange for the boundary adjustment, the town will turn over all its water and sewer assets to a regional water and sewer authority. This will essentially open much of the county--especially on the eastern edge of the town--to future commercial, residential and industrial development.

Both the town and county brought separate agreements to the table last night, but in the end it was the county's memorandum of understanding that was refined and will be adopted.

While several Town Council members voiced opposition to the document at first, relatively few changes were needed to make the agreement acceptable to all.

Initially, the county had demanded that if it agreed to this boundary adjustment the town would not seek further annexation for a period of 25 years.

That time frame was reduced to 15 years with a stipulation that both governments would, for that period of time, discuss possible boundary adjustments every five years.

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Date published: 7/25/2008