Phase 3 of the trail project encompasses South Peach Street, from Central Park to Mason Avenue. he architect is developing two designs for the Town’s consideration. The first would align the trail from Central Park on both sides of Peach Street, per the original master plan. The second would align the trail in the existing median in the two residential blocks, and then shift to both sides in the Randolph Avenue to Mason Avenue block. A designated parking median would be provided in this commercial area.
On Thursday, the Town of Cape Charles held a workshop to receive citizen input on Phase III of the Community Trail Project. With Phase 2 nearing completion (about $40k left of work), project lead Bob Panek and the design firm of Land Studio was hoping to gauge what features stakeholders would like to see in the next phase.
The town probably wasn’t expecting to walk into hornets’ nest of angry homeowners.
Much of the pushback stemmed from the notion that the folks that live on the section of South Peach between Tazewell and Randolph don’t want the block altered in any way—essentially, they want to opt out of the trail project.
The civic center was at capacity, which should have been a red flag for town representatives—in Northampton or Cape Charles, nobody shows up unless they are angry about something–and this crowd was noticeably agitated.
After Assistant Town Manager Bob Panek finished an overview of the project, lead engineer Bill Spivey of Land Studio attempted to go through a slide presentation, but found himself constantly interrupted by citizen questions, most of which were so off topic and inappropriate, it left him stunned and speechless. Despite numerous, increasingly desperate pleas that the models presented were only mockups meant to spur discussion, and that the purpose of the workshop was to, well workshop ideas, the meeting nonetheless degenerated into an angry urination contest.
The general ignorance was strangulating, and eventually sent several citizens running for the door. Citizens seems generally confused about concepts such as ordinances, setbacks, right-of-way and VDOT specifications. One citizen, after asking her 27th question, aggressively addressed town representatives, “I just want to say to town representatives, we keep hearing about VDOT, but there isn’t a representative from VDOT here so that we can challenge some of their ideas.” She probably didn’t get the memo that VDOT publishes what’s called the “red book”, or the Road and Bridge Specification Book. You don’t challenge what is in that book, you adhere to it.
At this point, Mayor George Proto attempted to establish order in the room, but to no avail. Despite more desperate pleas that this was a workshop, the members of the audience continued to thrust their hands in the air and shout questions above the din.
The evening reached new comic/tragic heights when Joe Fehrer, Chairman of the Historic District Review Board (HDRB), slowly stood, pushed his chair from the table, and addressed Mr. Spivey. Seemingly on the verge of tears from either rage or despair, it was hard to tell, Fehrer lamented the models that had been presented, mainly that any landscaping work might damage his plaster walls. He mentioned several times that as chairman of the HDRB, he understood the concept of historic integrity.
Note: the HRBD just approved a mega-hotel, we mean, massive home at 8 Bay Avenue that is so inappropriate and out of historical context that citizens are jokingly referring to it as the Red Roof Inn.
The irony of the Peach Street discontent was not lost on those familiar with the town’s recent history. The core cadre of malcontents included several who fought tooth and nail to ensure that the town could sell the old high school to developers for $10 and shut down the only basketball courts in town, courts that were extensively used by African-American youths. It should also be noted that HDRB Chairman Fehrer was a member of the board when the old school debacle took place.
Town Council plans to hold a work session in the future to address the Peach Street problem.
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Consensus takes time and effort to build – but it’s essential that Cape Charles educate and involve the residents in change. Based on the outcome of this meeting, I would hope that the town would hold more, not less meetings to gain citizen input. There are long-term strategic benefits to engagement of residents.
My only question – how is it the the “professional design firm” did not proof their spelling? What does the word “sence” mean?
Wayne, as always I appreciate reading the mirror every Sunday, but in this case phase 3 was supposed to be Bay avenue which was by public input, staff took it upon their self to recommend the change to south Peach to council and council approved the recommendations without public input. The beach is the towns cash cow, not the park. Spend the million on something that will continue to bring people to town and spend money on vacation rentals, hotels, B&B’s, local businesses and restaurants.
As a resident of North Peach who has recently experienced approximately 14 months of having major construction completed on the street in front of my home, I can tell you exactly what will happen if this project proceeds as planned. Your street will be closed for over 14 months and there will be no way possible for you to enter your home from the front door, so you better have a back door. All sidewalks will be torn up and there will be black plastic tarp placed against the front of your house making it impossible for you to go through your front yard. There will be mounds of dirt, stone and debris in your front yard which will turn to mud when it rains. You will have enormous piles of stone placed in front of your home for months. ALL trees on easements where the sidewalks are located will be cut down. You will have concrete poured outside of your front door leading up to your house and if something goes wrong, the concrete will be torn up and replaced again and again and again. There will be no parking available in front of your residence or anywhere even remotely close to your home. There will be no way for you to even WALK on the street to get your home so do not even try or you risk falling down and injuring yourself. There will be porta-jons placed in random places stound the perimeter of your torn up street and you will experience wonderful odors coming from them on warm days. Construction noise, dirt, dust and foul language will permeate your home Every. Single. Day. And if you are good looking, you will receive all kinds of cat calls and requests for your phone number. You will be tepeatedly told that construction will only be for a few short months, even after a year has passed and you still cannot get into your house. And when it rains, prepare for a massive flood because oops, because no one thought about drainage so the sidewalk and street have to be torn up again to fix the lack of drain holes. Oh, and just when you thought the construction nightmare was over, it starts again because there must be lines painted, street erected, trees planted in your front yard whether you want them there or not and street lights put up. And forget about trying to figure out where to put your trash because your trash can left months ago on it’s own and the garbage collectors will not even attempt to come close to your home. BUT– when all is said and done and your sanity and patience have been worn down to nothing and your trash has piled up in your living room and you have had to come up with very creative ways to enter your house, you will have a beautiful street with interesting plants and enormously wide sidewalks and street lights that do not work and tiny little parking spaces to look at for the rest of your life if you are lucky to make it through the construction stage. Enjoy Phase 3!
“She probably didn’t get the memo that VDOT publishes what’s called the “red book”, or the Road and Bridge Specification Book. You don’t challenge what is in that book, you adhere to it.”
Jawhol!!! Your betters have spoken and no objections are to be voiced!!!! Bow down before your masters!!!!!!!
Geez, Wayne……..at least wait for their boots to get dirty before you start licking them………
BTW, GREAT job on those slides………..can someone please tell me exactly what a ‘SENCE” of arrival is, please?
No, really………even spelled correctly it makes no sense……….um, a “sense of arrival” is affected upon seeing the sign on 13 welcoming one to Cape Chuck?