Thursday, the Town Council refused to vote on amendments to Cape Charles’ zoning ordinance allowing for General Business/Light Industrial H-1 on a parcel Coastal Precast Systems wants to purchase from Southport. The matter has been deferred for 30 days as some members attempt to glean more information from Coastal Precast. The sale of the parcel is contingent upon the approval of zoning changes.
Coastal Precast hopes to expand operations, which in turn should create more jobs for Northampton families. According to the company, up to 100 jobs could be created as more work comes online.
Council members Andy Buchholz and Steve Bennett were the lone members that wanted to move ahead and vote on the measure. Buchholz stated that nothing is going to change by deferring the process–nothing of any relevance will appear, and Town Council will have no reason not to approve this application. “You are not looking at the big picture…we can’t just be dependent on hospitality, we need jobs that last all year. We need to diversify our workforce…what are we doing? The concerns are so far out of scope, it is not what our job is here,” Buchholz said.
To Buchholz and Bennett’s point, the Zoning Administrator, the Town Manager, and the Planning Commission have so far determined that everything is legitimate. The area around the harbor has gone through similar zoning changes in the past, most recently for the area now occupied by the Cape Charles Yacht Center.
The Mirror has reviewed the changes. Nothing in the proposal seems extreme or out of order. These are generally very simple text changes that would allow for a continuation of work that has been occurring there for over 60 years. GBI H-1 already allows uses that could be far more problematic than allowing ‘light industrial’. The parcel is still guided by Town review and determination through Conditional Use Permitting.
Town Council will take up the pending motion at the next Regular Meeting in August.
Bring it on!!! Cape Charles needs the work, the revenue from taxes much more than it needs a large stand of scruffy vegetation that adds NOTHING to either the “view” or the tourist trade upon which we also depend.
Considering the 4 million dollar lawsuit that Farber brought against the town, Cape Charles should be looking into new sources of revenue. You can’t expect the full time Citizens to absorb all the costs of expanding the bloated town government and the narrow minded town council.
Only one eco-industrial business remains in Cape Charles since the original
case study. The town now largely relies on ecotourism and waterfront activities
to fuel their economy.
» Since 2005, the town has now more than doubled the municipal budget. In
2005, the budget was $3.2 million compared to a now $8.1 million budget.
» In 2018 alone, 14 new businesses opened.
» In 2020, Cape Charles was featured on the cover of Virginia Travel Guide.
: When reviewing the town’s municipal budget in 2005 compared to
this past year, it has more than doubled to a current $8.1 million. Larry DiRe attributes
this increase to funding for “capital projects that have been successful and are unique
to what [we] do in Cape Charles.” This includes funding from the Virginia Department
of Transportation for multipurpose trail projects, financing for a series of breakwaters
(structures constructed on the coast to control shoreline erosion), money from the
town’s Main Street Program for historic revitalization, the “Our Town” grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts back in 2012, and other sources. Cape Charles’
strategy has seen multiple payoffs: “buoyed by Cape Charles, the Eastern Shore has
been [Virginia’s] fastest growing tourist region for three of the past four years. Shorewide, annual visitor spending has risen by 22 percent since 2011—totaling $274
million in 2016. The influx has boosted tourism-related payrolls by nearly 30 percent
and created more than 500 new jobs.”6