The Cape Charles Mirror recently received this response from a town resident, which made us go back and revisit (again), the Town of Cape Charles’ Annexation Petition, the Brown & Root annexation agreements with the Town and the County as well as the decisions reached by the Special Annexation Court:
“Please make sure you don’t buy into the bullshit about the town supposedly NOT pressing BayCreek to pay for sewer upgrades. The town really did sue somebody (Dicky? BayCreek?) to get funding for the project, but the suit was rejected. The annexation agreement stipulates that Baycreek will pay for ADDITIONAL TREATMENT CAPACITY THAT IS CAUSED BY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT in Baycreek. This scenario DID NOT HAPPEN. Although the state was offering CC twice as much legal discharge capacity at the time of construction, the town council voted to keep the existing 250 M gals per day (check number), thus losing forever the right to discharge twice as much. The bigger plant would have cost more money, and it was an austerity vote NOT recommended by Panek. So CC did not build additional capacity, and Baycreek is not liable to pay for upgrading the existing capacity. Fini. If Deborah Bender doesn’t believe it, or doesn’t understand it, tough luck. She’s wrong.”
This response worried us, as this delusional scenario seems to have been become gospel for many residents. Goebbels may have been right, if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. First, as far as we could find, the Town never sued anybody (we asked an independent person to verify, and they could find no record of Cape Charles suing over the water and wastewater treatment plants, neither Dicky nor Bay Creek). They may have looked into it, but at the time, there may have been little or no Foster or Bay Creek assets to go after – all were obligated to banks and other entities.
For some time now, the term ‘expansion’ has been used to muddy the ‘intent’ of the Annexation Agreement Order Terms and Conditions, noting that ‘the build out’, per se never occurred (this of course was a shell game, shutting down Marina Village East and the commercial activities at the Marina Village vs. all the while developing the Fairways condos). However, page 65 of the Terms and Conditions to the Annexation Order by the Special Annexation Court specifically states that the purpose here is also to protect the Town, that the firm (Brown & Root) should ‘commit’ to helping Cape Charles upgrade the plant, and that this should include all costs, ‘including tertiary improvements’. The Annexation Court noted that the DEQ would soon be forcing the Town to meet stricter effluent standards–these upgrades would benefit the developer. Besides, what would they have to hook up to?
Note: The Town did pay to the engineers the full cost of designing a 500,000 gal/per day Plant.
A critical aspect is that the Town, by Agreement had to ‘reserve’ capacity for Bay Creek. These ‘improvements’ were not an option for Cape Charles, and the reserved capacity was to be paid by the Brown & Root/Bay Creek investments in the utility systems. See text (note section d) in documents below:
Of course, those investments were never made, and the Town, in response, raised fees for water/sewer connections. See then Mayor Dora Sullivan’s letter below:
The Town also attempts to draw a line in the sand, by not to approving any more subdivisions without an expanded plant (873 platted for Bay Creek – out of 3,000 authorized or ‘permitted’). See then Town Manager Heather Arcos’ letter to Paul Galloway:
It is also important to note that the Marina Villages complex with Kings Creek Marina and the Oyster Farm are subject to the PUD, though not subject to the Bay Creek POA Declaration and Covenants of the lot and home owners. What this means is that the new owners of the Oyster Farm get to use and potentially demand future water and sewer treatment services without having to fund any additional infrastructure costs. Except for inflated connection charges. Brown & Root, Foster and Sinclair are on the hook for the infrastructure and required upgrades.
Why is this important? The obligations handed down by the Annexation Order – Law No. 27 are not contractual, not gentleman’s agreements, but are basically law. Mainly, annexations are handled by a body called an Annexation Court, and although they are judicial in nature, the finalized agreement becomes a ‘legislative act’ of the Legislature of Virginia. All terms and conditions are valid, and they never expire, except by legislative acts.
Brief History
The Virginia Constitution of 1902 provides an absolute separation of cities and counties, towns and municipalities by providing for a distinctive ‘Top Down’ governmental organization. In line with the Saltville doctrine it draws a clear distinction between cities and towns, and provides that future extensions (annexations) and contractions of corporate boundaries shall be accomplished by general legislation. Of additional importance is the fact that the Constitution of 1902 falls short of assigning towns a clear position in top down governmental structure.
Importantly, on March, 1904, the General Assembly passed an act, (Code of 1904, title 16, chapter 44, section io4a) which stated that annexation by municipalities becomes a judicial function. While the actual proceedings are still basically judicial in character, the current statute as well as past statutes are at the same time legislative in character.
At the core, the Legislature began to take into account the financial burdens often imposed upon all parties in annexation proceedings, as found in section 15.1-1041sub-paragraph (b), “The court shall determine the necessity for and expediency of annexation, considering the best interest of the county and the city or town, the best interests, services to be rendered and needs of the area proposed to be annexed, and the best interests of the remaining portion of the county …” With focused attention on the cost factor; and therefore, a great deal of significance and importance is attached to the “terms and conditions” of annexation. That is, the financial ability of the city or town to serve the area “after annexation” appears to be the Commonwealth’s approach to annexation.
Early arguments by Northampton County against annexation went along these lines, that Cape Charles could not meet its obligations, which is precisely why the Annexation Court crafted the terms and conditions as they did. That is, it was expected that the developer would play a significant financial part in the process. Given the uniqueness of this annexation, that was to be expected. Most annexations involve a city and a county, say Portsmouth wanting to annex portions of Norfolk County in order to meet its growing urbanization needs. In this case, the town was not growing, but a developer had purchased a big chunk of land initially designated for oil work off the coast (leveraging the new harbor that had been built out during the CBBT construction). With those plans laid bare, Brown and Root now needed to dump it on somebody. In order to fulfill its ‘vision’ for Accawmacke Plantation, including 34 subdivisions, it would need to have the Town annex the adjacent farmland.
When the Annexation Court approved the annexation, the terms and conditions became an act of the legislature of Virginia; its obligations must be met, and they do not expire. Certainly, Mr. Foster understood the obligations when he bought the property; however, whether Sinclair knew it was also taking on the obligation from Foster is another matter. Either way, the obligations set forth the by Annexation Court now belong to Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The Town was also aware of these obligations, which must have led then town manager Joe Vaccaro to send a letter to Steve Bennett at Bay Creek, asking for payment of $21.1 and $8.9 million. Then Mayor Dora Sullivan, who also contacted Mr. Foster via post, also understood Bay Creek’s obligation to pay the cost of the new wastewater plant. Why the town would buy into Mr. Foster’s ‘expansion’ argument is still a mystery; however, those persistent questions on the part of town manager Vaccaro may have eventually led to his ‘resignation’.
While Panek and Sullivan, and the Town Council have touted the creative financing used for the new plant, a large part of the construction was financed through a federal grant and state interest free loan (which is why your bills are now so high). However, the federal grant was from stimulus funds, perhaps from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the question is, did the Town disclose that the obligation to upgrade and expand the plant was in dispute with Mr. Foster and Bay Creek? This may be critical, as failure to disclose could open up the question as to inadequate disclosure requirements, and severe federal penalties.
Route 642 Project
The same holds for expanding the right of way; the developer is obligated to pay for all of it, not the state, county or town. Page 65 of the Report on the Local Commission identified this and in the Terms and Conditions of the Annexation Agreement required this commitment by Brown&Root. The Special Annexation Court duly noted this in the Order Law No. 27.
It also noted that no costs for the road connector are to be borne by Bay Creek subsequent property owners, meaning no federal, state, county or town taxes would be used and therefore paid by Bay Creek lot owners.
While the County Administrator may be taking the lead on land acquisitions, not informing the State that someone else is obligated to pay for the road work, again begs the question of who knew what and when? As a note, Ms. Nunez and the county must be aware of all this, as current County Attorney Bruce Jones was the County Attorney when the annexation agreement was finalized–he should be somewhat aware of who is obligated to do what in regards to improving Route 642.
Why Cape Charles, and now the County choose to bury their heads in the sand, and not enforce the obligations in the agreement, is some question citizens should be eager to find out.
Let’s take a look at the picture:
1. The Town by Agreement had to ‘reserve’ capacity for Bay Creek.
2. The Capacity so reserved was to be paid by the Brown & Root/Bay Creek investments in the utility systems
3. Instead, the Town increased water/sewer connections to pay for the investments not paid for by Bay Creek
4. The Town moves not to approve any more subdivisions without an expanded plant.
5. Route 642 Reconstruction, on Page 65 of the Report on the Local Commission said the Terms and Conditions of the Annexation Agreement required this commitment on this by Brown & Root; the Special Annexation Court duly noted this in the Order Law No. 27
6. As far as 642, no costs for the road connector should be passed on to Bay Creek subsequent property owners (no federal, state, county or town taxes would be used and therefore paid by Bay Creek lot owners).
What is really going on around here? The fact that Dora Sullivan, despite the role she played in this seems willing to crawl out into the light and run for town council sums it all up. Somehow, all these players, the former mayor and town council, the assistant town managers and town planners, even Northampton County supervisors and staff, seem to think that the statute of limitations has run out. But they’re wrong—there is no statute of limitations for Order Law No. 27. It is forever. The question is, where is the prosecution? Where is the state police? Where are our state senators and delegates, even our Eastern Shore’s own Lieutenant Governor? The law has been broken and no one seems to care. Where is the outrage? It is time to take off the blinders, as well as the kid gloves and deal with this.
We have an election coming, and I would ask each candidate where they stand on this. I would ask Dora Sullivan to explain herself. I would ask every candidate what they knew about all this before casting a vote in anyone’s direction.
Do I really expect anything to change around here? Of course not. Like F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lost all hope on the little roads that led to Zelda’s hospital, I lost all hope for this place a long time ago. The same people will continue to vote for the same people, who will go right along doing the same things. Nothing ever changes, does it? Nothing changes…
Cape Charles Agreement 11 25 91 & NHC B&R 19911125proffer
Exhibit F AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT OF MARCH 13, 1990, dated 11-25-91 (amends Prior Agreement)
I don’t know who the town resident is that decided to throw my name into the above comment. I do know one thing if they want to throw my name around they obviously know where I live and they are welcome to come to my front door and kiss my ass.
There was a sparrow who refused to join his flock which was flying south for the winter. He refused to listen to the elders thinking he could make it on his own.
Winter came, it was too cold and the little sparrow froze and fell to the ground and waited for death under an onslaught of snow. A water buffalo happened by and crapped all over the bird. The pile of dung warmed the bird and brought it back to life. The young sparrow lay in the dung all warm and happy, and soon began to chirp for joy. A passing cat heard the bird joyfully chirping, took the bird out of the pile of cow dung, and ate it.
Moral:
1. Listen to people who have more experience than you.
2. Not everyone that craps on you is your enemy.
3. Not everyone that gets you out of the crap is your friend.
Sounds like a bunch of come here liberal. If they don’t like it here go back to where they come from.
It’s hard to tell what is correct on these issues, but one thing is clear….the guy who wrote this article has too much time on his hands.
Note: On the contrary, the guy that wrote this works in Norfolk in order to support his family, coaches soccer, follows his son across the state for track meets, writes, produces and directs (sometimes acts) for shows at Arts Enter, and in his spare time, writes for the Cape Charles Mirror. Oh, and feel free to challenge the facts of this article. If you have the time.
I would like to tell you what I think is perfectly clear. Without an in depth look at the dealings going on, both in front of public scrutiny and behind closed doors, a majority of the citizens of Virginia’s lower Eastern Shore would be bamboozled into paying higher and higher taxes, loss of taxable franchises, spoiled lands and waters and a litany of improper and possibly illegal dealings both in property dealings and tax expenditures. Folks like you may not like what you read, but you should thank the folks at the Mirror for at least bringing to light the issues that they do. I see more truth in the beginning of your small ten word comment then I have seen coming forth from either the Board of Supervisors for Northampton County or Cape Charles Town Council these past seven years, save for a few honest hardworking people on either council. It is difficult to tell what is correct – coming from Town Council. For the guy with too much time on his hands, I would say he has his hands quite full with all this mess going on.
I agree with Chas. In Northampton County and Cape Charles, the government works like “what can I get away with” rather than “what is the right and legal and moral thing to do.”