Spotsy govt.-the odds & ends
By Dan Telvock
VRE Vote In January?
Nov. 20, 2008 9:36 am
Hap Connors had his community meeting last night and said that the Board of Supervisors will likely take a vote in January on joining Virginia Railway Express. Connors and supervisors Benjamin Pitts and Gary Skinner support the county joining VRE. But where is that fourth vote coming from? Emmitt Marshall and T.C. Waddy are not going to vote to join VRE. That leaves Gary Jackson and Jerry Logan as the swing vote. The last time I interviewed Jackson he said he hasn't seen any new information that would change his mind. Logan may be the true swing vote on this, and being that gas prices have dropped by about $2 and the fact that there is excess revenue from the 2 percent gasoline levy that the county can use for transportation projects, 2009 might be the year that Logan, a Republican, votes yes on VRE.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1227191782
Tags:
VRE
Purchase of Development Rights Open Thread
Nov. 19, 2008 1:58 pm
Larry Gross, community gadfly, wants a blog just dedicated to the Purchase of Development Rights Program. Here it is. I hope he is not the only one who comments. Supervisors are welcome. Before I open this for comments, let's review what the program is: Here is the executive summary on the program Here is the ordinance amendment language Here is the approved resolution from last week And here are some Board of Supervisors minutes And to start the debate, here is Larry's last comment on the program: We need a separate blog for this but here's the
problem with PDRs and it's the same problem
with getting tax credits for Conservation
Easements and that is how do you properly value
the property AND does the property itself have
some important attributes that make it an
appropriate preservation.
If the property has significant cultural, natural or
historic significance then it would be appropriate.
Then the second category would be if the
particular parcel has some specific strategic
attributes that are of value to county taxpayers.
Seeing aside a 500-acre forested tract that is
located in deep rural parts of the county is not
appropriate.. in my view.
We would have limited funds to start with and
we'd have to prioritize according to very specific
criteria that do benefit taxpayers in general.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1227121096
Tags:
PDR
Missing Portrait Update
Nov. 18, 2008 12:40 pm
Pamela Rigsby called me back today and said she is positive she saw the portrait of T. Stokeley Coleman at the old Goodwill store on U.S. 1. That store closed a few years ago and moved to a store on State Route 3 by PepBoys. She asked me if it had a nameplate and I told her I was not sure if it did. She said the nameplate was missing but it looked like there was a spot for one. Promising. My heart was racing. Could it be? Is the hunt over? I was excited, until I got to the Goodwill and stared at a bunch of execrable pictures, frames and paintings, none of which were of Coleman. I spoke with two employees who said they usually do not keep items there for more than a week. After that, they go to auction. If Rigsby really saw this portrait, then it very well could have been purchased by someone at auction, maybe in a box of paintings, pictures and frames. Rigsby said the frame was very nice, and I know artists often find cheap auction paintings just for the frames. At first, I believed the portrait was gone for good, accidentially thrown away. But now I am starting to wonder...someone bought this at an auction. I want to find this thing so bad it hurts.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1227030047
Tags:
T. Stokeley Coleman,
portrait
The Missing Portrait
Nov. 18, 2008 9:17 am
If you haven't read this story, please do just to jog your own memory. I knew I had a story when Dickie Coleman approached the Board of Supervisors last week to ask members to help him find the portrait. Deputy County Administrator Doug Barnes had told me at the time that he had employees look everywhere for the portrait of the late T. Stokeley Coleman. They searched high and low for it and they could not find it. I told him I could find it, rather maybe not me, but I might help someone remember where they saw it last. I report to you today that we may have a clue--and I stress MAY. This morning Pamela Rigsby called to tell me she could have sworn she spotted this portrait at a thrift shop in Spotsylvania County. She could not remember which one, so she was going to think about it. "It was such a distinguished portrait," she said. "I almost bought it."
Keep your fingers crossed. If she calls me back and gives me a list of thrift stores, I will hit them all to see if it is there.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1227017879
Tags:
T. Stokeley Coleman,
portrait
3-acre zoning and the PDR program
Nov. 14, 2008 11:31 am
Have you ever met Marty Work? If not, but you watch or attend Board of Supervisors meetings, then you've likely seen him. Mr. Work often spends 3 minutes at every board meeting on the second Tuesday of the month. He is often critical of someone when he speaks, and for years he was upset with the developer who constructed his home, and the retaining wall on the side of his house. That wall started to crumble, and Work refused to fix it. He sued the developer, won, and still did not fix the wall. He said the money he won was not enough to fix the wall. Then his HOA took him to court, and won. A judge ordered him to fix the wall. Now, Work may lose his home because of the court order against him. But that's not the subject of this blog report. Usually when Mr. Work speaks, he can do so in "code." What I mean by that is sometimes you never fully understand what he is trying to say or even prove. But during this past meeting, he connected some dots to make a picture. I've been writing a few stories about Supervisor Emmitt Marshall's proposal to allow a person to divide 3 acres off in the A-3 and A-2 10- and 5-acre zoning classes. Marshall has long said that people in his district are struggling and the 10-acre lots are too high. Someone with a home on 19 acres would have to lose more than half of their land to make some cash. The Planning Commission public hearing is approaching and finally we will get to meet some of these people who are struggling to make ends meet, right? Because, I tried to find them. I called Mr. Marshall, Mr. Waddy, and several longtime county employees and elected officials to get me in touch with one person who fits the example Mr. Marshall is using. Too personal, I was told. They don't want to talk about it. So I wrote a story about a guy who had some land that he planned to use as a nest egg and when the downzoning happened in the early part of this decade, he lost that nest egg. It was the best I could do. But Mr. Work connected the dots to the changes proposed for the Purchase of Development Rights program. This program uses tax money and other sources to buy the development rights of rural land to protect it from development. This program was very controversial in Loudoun County, and when a conservative group of Republican supervisors took control of that Board of Supervisors in 2003-04, one of their first actions was to kill the program because they did not think public tax money should be used to pay someone not to develop their land. Of course, Loudoun's sparse rural land had far more value than the vast rural land in Spotsylvania County, which means those rural landowners in Loudoun had a goldmind if they owned acreage there. Not so true here in Spotsylvania.
On Wednesday, with a 7-0 vote, supervisors amended the PDR ordinance to eliminate the fixed $20,000 cap for each development right. Instead, the program will use a market-based approach to determine the value of the land. They also changed the enrollment period to allow for additional flexibility. Mr. Work pointed out that before the ordinance was changed, 80 acres would make up eight parcels or $160,000 from the PDR program. Work says if Mr. Marshall's proposal is approved, a parcel is now 3 acres with an approved division. "If I were to reapply to Spotsylvania County's Property Development Rights Committee, aka the Agricultural/Forestal Committee, by week’s end I could realistically be looking at $500,000 or more, for turning over my 80 acres to Spotsylvania County to be held in perpetuity for the next 20 years," Work said. "This is what I call a good night's work. For $500,000 I could build a home anywhere in rural America, and live out the rest of my days on interest income and still have my 20 acres." What do you make of all of this?
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1226680285
Tags:
marty work,
PDR,
Emmitt Marshall
Randy Wheeler Resigns
Nov. 13, 2008 12:26 am
At about 11:30 p.m., the Board of Supervisors accepted the resignation of County Administrator Randy Wheeler after a nearly nine-hour meeting that contained votes on several hot-button issues. Supervisors met briefly in closed session and when they came out, Wheeler gave a brief speech. He touched on the successes of the county under his leadership, specifically mentioning the Spotsylvania Medical Center, which opens in 2010, the three new fire stations that recently opened, the economic development growth here, the library expansions, Patriot Park, and the citizen satisfaction surveys that show continuous increases in the grades residents gave for quality of life. "And most of all I am very proud of the over 800 men and women that I have had an opportunity to work with as a fellow employee of Spotsylvania County," Wheeler said. "I came home to Spotsylvania County five years go because I love this community and I thought I could make a difference, and I think I have. But now after five years I think the time has come for me to pursue other opportunities."
Wheeler did not say if he has another job opportunity available to him. Supervisors did not name an acting county administrator or mention anything about when they would begin a search for a new one. Supervisors agreed to pay Wheeler a lump sum of $114,885, which is in line with his contract. The contract states that if he is terminated or resigns following a "suggestion" by a majority of the Board of Supervisors, he will get a lump-sum cash payment equal to six months of his salary and benefits. Supervisor Gary Jackson voted against the motion to accept Wheeler's resignation. He did not say why, but after the meeting he walked over to Wheeler, shook his hand, and said "I'm sorry, man."
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1226554015
Tags:
randy wheeler
Vince Onorato Makes Appearance at Board Meeting
Nov. 12, 2008 4:27 pm
Former supervisor Vince Onorato made an appearance today and went through a laundry list of complaints he has with the current Board of Supervisors. Onorato won election in 2003, beating Mary Lee Carter. He lost after one term to current Supervisor Gary Skinner. Onorato reminded supervisors that in 2006 he asked Cafaro Company when it first proposed the Community Development Authority concept to pay for the Harrison Road Connector if any people would be forced into the CDA and he said the response he got was "No they will not." "Check the minutes," Onorato said. Onorato said it is wrong not to follow the opinion from Attorney General Robert McDonnell that the current CDA ordinance does not legally exist because it has a clause in it that allows for a property owner to exit the CDA before assessments start. Supervisors have another closed meeting to discuss this CDA opinion and "potential litigation." Onorato also mentioned something about holding secret meetings, but I didn't clearly understand what he was talking about. Onorato told County Administrator Randy Wheeler that he would be the "scapegoat." Onorato said he tried real hard to get a clause in Wheeler's contract removed that would allow him to seek employment without first telling supervisors he was doing so. Onorato made the request last year and the vote was 4-3 not to remove the clause. Last month, supervisors decided to remove the clause. He criticized Mary Lee Carter, who is now a planning commissioner. He applauded Supervisor Gary Jackson for being the only supervisor who is truly following smart-growth principles. Onorato said overtime in the Utilities Department is rampant and there should be an audit. And finally, he said naming rights to areas of Patriot Park should be left solely for Spotsylvania residents who died while serving this county or country, such as war soldiers, deputies and firemen. To do anything else would be disservice to those who already have their names attached to the park. The supervisors had a consent agenda item to name a field in the park after Michael E. "Bobo" Marshall Jr., a 32-year-old water treatment operator who died while at work. Supervisors decided to send the proposal back to the Parks and Recreation Committee for reconsideration.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1226525251
Tags:
vince onorato
Private Stormwater pond
Nov. 11, 2008 10:21 am
I've tried to get the other side of this story and it's just not working out, mainly because I cannot get anyone to call me back, but here is what I know so far: I got a call from a concerned resident who lives in Artillery Ridge II. She wanted to know more about the stormwater pond at the end of a road in the subdivision that is supposed to serve the community that was never fully built out and never established an HOA. I drove there to check it out and there was this pond, no fence, in the middle of two large homes. I went to one neighbor and asked her about it, and she said it was a real sore spot with her because she for years tried to get someone to maintain it. It appears that the old developer who owned the property went defunct and that left the pond unattended for years. According to the zoning director, it was a mess. In comes K. Hovnanian Homes which buys the remaining lots and proceeds to sell a lot that includes this stormwater pond. In other words, now a homeowners actually owns the stormwater pond. Under current county rules, a pond must be maintained on a regular basis and it must be fenced in. This pond was made before those rules went into ordinance. The zoning director said this is a rare situation that a private homeowner owns a stormwater pond. He also said KV Homes recently cleared the pond and cleaned that area up. I've tried numerous times to reach someone at KV Homes with absolutely no success. The story is not that important enough for me to drive over to their Northern Virginia offices and start grilling sausages in their parking lot until someone talks to me. There really aren't many people who live in that section yet. But the woman who called was concerned that a child might fall in there. And the neighbor I spoke with said she just wanted the darn thing to be maintained. Now that a private homeowner owns the pond it will be interesting to see what happens. I was unable to reach that homeowner yet, so stay tuned. The true moral of this story is I really do check out stuff people call me about. I feel as if I owe you that if you subscribe to this newspaper.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1226416914
Tags:
stormwater pond,
Artillery Ridge II
I am not affiliated with Rappahannock Red
Nov. 3, 2008 1:52 pm
Type in dantelvock.com and guess where it takes you? It brings you to a controversial conservative blog called Rappahannock Red. I found this out recently and felt obligated to make it clear that I am not affiliated with any political blog, campaign, party or politician. Eric Martin, a former candidate for Spotsylvania School Board, purchased the domain in December 2007 and it expires December 2008. Today, I asked Mr. Martin why he purchased the domain and why does he have it sent to his blog. "Why not?" was his reply.
I asked him what the purpose was of purchasing it and he said he could not remember, but that he has hundreds of domains that he has sent to his blog. Of course, it is not illegal to purchase a domain name of a person, but having it sent to a blog that makes controversial statements about politics, local politicians, and sometimes this newspaper was a bit troubling for me. Mr. Martin agreed to sell me the domain name for $9. That's kind of him, and I thanked him. If he can remember why he decided to buy it, then he can use this blog as an avenue to explain that. In a quick check, it appears I am the only FLS journalist who is affected.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1225738328
Tags:
eric martin,
Rappahannock Red
An Altercation
Oct. 28, 2008 8:09 pm
There was an altercation minutes ago between local Pizza Hut owner and major landowner Hugh Cosner and Tricord Company executive Mike Jones in the hallway of the Holbert Building here. Mr. Cosner is apparently upset about a drawing used in the Summit Crossing plans that depicts where a north-south road will run from the conceptual Summit Crossing Parkway to U.S. 17. The path of the road is just conceptual, said a Tricord spokesman. The road will run through industrial land Mr. Cosner owns. Mr. Cosner got in Mr. Jones' face and told him he was "not truthful" because the plans Tricord originally gave him were not the same he saw tonight during the joint meeting between the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. The two were face to face for a few minutes. Mr. Jones was vividly upset and left the room. Mr. Cosner followed him out and Mr. Jones continued out the door to his vehicle. I can still hear Mr. Cosner bellowing in the hallway. His voice carries very well.
The joint work session was just about Summit Crossing. Everyone decided to slow the project down because of the size and complexity of it. I will write more about the project and this meeting later. Also, apparently the Planning Commission is not meeting jointly with supervisors on the 3-acre zoning proposal. Everyone told me they were, but they just left after the Summit Crossing discussion. I will take the blame for that error.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1225238965
Tags:
Hugh Cosner,
Planning Commission,
Summit Crossing,
,
Randy Wheeler Says He Is Not Job Hunting
Oct. 28, 2008 2:19 pm
County Administrator Randy Wheeler never liked the clause in his contract that says he is an exclusive employee of the county, so he cannot seek another job without first informing supervisors. The clause is "extremely unusual" according to a professor I interviewed for this story. Last time, supervisors split on Wheeler’s request to remove the clause from his contract. But tonight, they are going to take it out. In a short interview last week, Wheeler said he is not looking for a new job, has no intentions of looking for a new job, and no one has told him to start looking for a new job. Wheeler has had three closed-session performance reviews over the past few months. This change in his contract is an obvious decision made during a closed session. Wheeler each year has asked for it to be removed, and now the supervisors are finally going to do it. The supervisors are removing the same clause in the contract for County Attorney Jacob Stroman. They will also change Stroman’s contract to accrue annual and sick leave at the same rate as Wheeler. The rate is not specified and the full contracts are not included on the agenda.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/dan/index_html?blogger_id=21&p=1225217961
Tags:
Jacob Stroman,
contract,
Randy Wheeler,
Detailed Agenda A Must
Oct. 23, 2008 2:46 pm
The Texas attorney general wrote an opinion this month that states government bodies must have detailed agendas before all meetings under that state's open meeting laws. You can read the opinion here. The attorney general says meeting agendas must include subjects that will be up for discussion. Items like "county administrator's report" is not acceptable because "the general and generic nature of the notice does not sufficiently notify a reader, as a member of the interested public, of the subjects of the update and reports to be discussed at any particular meeting." This opinion has no effect here in Virginia, but I found it interesting enough to share with you. The county agenda is usually pretty specific until you get to "report of the Board of Supervisors" and then it's a big mystery. This is the portion of the meeting when supervisors have come up with some pretty serious requests. For example, during this part of the meeting is when Supervisor Emmitt Marshall asked staff to provide options of ways to change the current 10-acre lot rural zoning to 3-acre lot rural zoning.
|
What do you think?
If you would like to post a comment about this blog, please log in.
You can use your FredTalk user name and password here. If you don't have one yet,
REGISTER Now...
About Dan Telvock:
Dan Telvock covers Spotsylvania County for The Free Lance-Star.
Contact
• Send an e-mail to Dan Telvock
About this blog:
News and Notes from Spotsylvania County. Not everything I want to write can get in the newspaper. So, this is an avenue for me to provide more information to the public about what the Spotsylvania government is doing.
Tags:
(12)
Randy Wheeler (4)
board of supervisors (4)
Hap Connors (3)
Summit Crossing (3)
Luck Stone (3)
FOIA (3)
Jerry Logan (3)
planning commission (3)
VRE (3)
Tricord (3)
PDR (2)
comprehensive plan amendment (2)
portrait (2)
Budget (2)
Emmitt Marshall (2)
T. Stokeley Coleman (2)
Spotsylvania farmers (1)
Jacob Stroman (1)
affordable housing (1)
Hunting with Hounds study (1)
Virginia Freedom of Information Act, County Attorney Jacob Stroman, PETA, Supervisor Emmitt Marshall, Code of Ethics (1)
Virginia Railway Express (1)
Sheriff Howard Smith (1)
Summit Crossing (1)
Germany (1)
Dr. Jerry Hill (1)
Rob Wittmann (1)
Game and Inland Fisheries Board (1)
economic incentives, Blue and Gray Brewery, Fortune 50, competition, Fredericksburg, planning commission, incentives, odd (1)
Appomattox County (1)
VRE (1)
Gov. Tim Kaine (1)
Rappahannock Red (1)
industrial zones (1)
Spotsylvania Technology Center (1)
Supervisor Emmitt Marshall (1)
Russell Seymour, incentives (1)
Chancellorsville (1)
Therma-True (1)
bears (1)
Artillery Ridge II (1)
retreat (1)
right-wing liberal (1)
fuel (1)
dog euthanized (1)
contract (1)
hops (1)
Matt Kelly (1)
Game and Inland Fisheries (1)
marty work (1)
tax increases, tax rate, 62 cents, budget officers (1)
Benjamin Pitts (1)
pandhandling (1)
last supper (1)
Planning Commission (1)
Wall Street Journal (1)
ZIP codes (1)
Cold War (1)
GWRC (1)
Hunt clubs (1)
PETA, Supervisor Emmitt Marshall, (1)
Waite Rawls (1)
County Attorney Jacob Stroman (1)
comprehensive plan (1)
eric martin (1)
Call Northside 777, James Stewart, journalism movies, Kathy Smith, Zodiac (1)
School Board (1)
Gary Skinner (1)
Texas attorney general (1)
walking to school, School Board, Associated Press, walk to school (1)
Museum of the Confederacy (1)
Jerry Logan (1)
Paul Milde (1)
special use permit (1)
stormwater pond (1)
Comprehensive Plan Amendment, Comprehensive Plan, by right, Cornerstone Homes, Primary Settlement District, rural, Jerry Log (1)
DJ McGuire (1)
Gil Seaux (1)
animal control (1)
Jacob Stroman (1)
Call Northside 777, All The President's Men, Spiderman 3, No Country For Old Men, Gentlemen's Agreement, inspiration, journalism (1)
Fort Monroe (1)
Blog stats (1)
jobs (1)
Hunting with Hounds (1)
vince onorato (1)
zoning amendment (1)
overtime (1)
cutting the budget (1)
Hugh Cosner (1)
|
Star Directory
