Archives for June 2016

Special Report to the Cape Charles Mirror by Ken Dufty

Supervisor Duer opened the session by listing the many accomplishments this new Board has enjoyed (using that term loosely!) in their first 6 months on the job. The list includes an amended and more balanced zoning ordinance (a work still in progress), a reasonably balanced and restrained 2017 budget, an expanded EMS budget and staffing, closure on the USDA obligation of nearly $600,000, project permitting and deliberation, and many more issues that were previously unresolved by the former board. True to form, Supervisor Duer explained that he is a man of few words (but as we all know by now, a man of action) and he turned the opening remarks over to Chairman Murray.

Chairman Murray then expanded on the Board’s accomplishments over their first (1/8 of their term) half of this year. He expressed concern about the next election, saying that in one year, candidates would have to be certified to run for county supervisors, and the balance of the Board is at stake. He expanded on the debate over the zoning ordinance, explaining that the Board had taken many of the good points of the 2015 proposed ordinance and melded them into the 2016 adopted ordinance, and also informed us that tweaking of the ordinance is still in the works. He said the increased setbacks for poultry houses and the expansion of working waterfronts were two highlights of the new ordinance, also explaining that while there still COULD be a poultry house or two on very selective and isolated parcels, chicken houses are “not a good fit” for Northampton County. [Read more…]

This orange and blue combination was mentioned during the meeting (Cape Charles Mirror Photo)

With more and more people buying houses, mainly as second homes or vacation rentals, the paint colors chosen to ‘re-do’ homes in the historic district have been dubious at best, and in many cases appear to be weak, failed attempts at mimicking the ‘jelly bean’ cottages of Marina Villages. Disturbed, frustrated and generally fed up by the general lack of taste and regard for the Historic Register, the Historic District Review Board aims to take matters into their own hands by coming up with some form of color palette that would provide a foundation for acceptable use for the historic homes of Cape Charles. Also, the color proposed for “new buildings or additions should be compatible with those in use on historic buildings in the historic district”.

Currently, the Historic District Guidelines do make an attempt to define the types of colors to be used in the Town’s Historic District, however there is quite a bit of leeway. That said the “Board is empowered to place specific colors in the Guidelines”.
[Read more…]

The Historic District Review Board received an Application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for 439 Mason Avenue to add a handicap ramp, front stoop removal, window shutters, new front gable, roof cupola and signage for a Dacha-style Russian Tea Room. The applicant requested the façade changes for the existing 1970s-era, vinyl-clad Ranch style frame dwelling so as to create the impression of being in Central Europe or Russia. According to staff, this will not be a home occupation; there will have to be a change of use to commercial.

While this board generally defers to Chairman Joe Fehrer’s knowledge, experience and expertise, this application created a bit of a mutiny. Fehrer found the entire idea somewhat ridiculous, “I just don’t see it…to take a rancher like this, and try to make it look like something else. They were old houses, the way they were built–I just don’t think it’s right. The ornamental domed cupola, is just too much for a 1970s style rancher.” [Read more…]