Liaison Meeting Between Town and County Addresses Youth Center, Transportation, and Water Conservation

On Thursday, October 19, at 6 p.m. in the Warren County Government Center, the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the Front Royal Town Council met for a Town-County Liaison Committee meeting to discuss issues of overlapping interests.

Aside from agenda items that were discussed briefly, like improvements to the Avtex site, the bulk of the discussion focused on three items: redevelopment of the Youth Center, transportation improvements in the Shenandoah Shores region, as well as the Route 340/522 corridor, and finally the increasingly urgent imperative of water conservation.

From left, this month’s FR-WC Liaison Committee representatives, Councilman Bruce Rappaport, Mayor Lori Cockrell, County Board Chair Vicky Cook, and Supervisor Jerome Butler. County Administrator Ed Daley is standing at the staff table. Royal Examiner Photo Brenden McHugh

Speaking from the gallery seating, Deputy County Administrator Jane Meadows updated the liaison committee on the progress at the old Youth Center building, a place where the non-profit “Reaching Out Now” (RON) has plans to provide young people from all over Warren County with resources and activities that supply them with a haven, enrich their development, and secure them on a path to a bright future.

“The asbestos and mold remediation has been completed,” Meadows said of two primary maintenance issues in the County-owned building. Due to issues with funding and licensing, it took longer than anticipated, she noted, adding, “Everything hinges on the election, so we can’t do any other demolition of the bathrooms until after the election. So, the day after, we will actually start ripping up the concrete floors and taking everything out of the bathrooms, and while the bathrooms are being remodeled, our HVAC is going to be able to come in and take care of the new unit. And then, once everything is done, the flooring will be the last thing because we don’t want to damage the new flooring.” It is expected the move-in date will come in advance of January 1.

The Town is in the position of funding the Reach Out Now program, while the County is responsible for building maintenance. Mayor Lori Cockrell emphasized the importance of the Town Council and Board of Supervisors going forward with an agreement, even though their obligations are different. This agreement would ideally be reached no later than November so that Reach Out Now can go forward with the operation. Board of Supervisors Chairman Vicky Cook agreed to draft a response to the Town’s Memorandum Of Agreement within that timeline.

Transportation issues

Speaking from the audience seating, county board member Delores Oates painted a picture of the challenges facing the Transportation Committee. As industrial growth in the Route 340/522 corridor expands, it will become increasingly important to provide transportation to people without cars, whether by trolley or otherwise. Another high-priority item for the Transportation Committee is the proposed East-West Connector, which would run parallel to Happy Creek Road and connect with Shenandoah Shores Road to the east and town road infrastructure around 8th Street to the west. “The long-term solution is being able to give people alternative ways out of the community,” Oates said.

Also under consideration is an emergency access road off I-66, which hinges upon a response from VDOT. It will take six months for VDOT to evaluate the data the committee plans to supply them. If the Town and County were able to go ahead with an emergency access option, there would have to be several easement agreements in the case that certain parcels are affected by the development. From Oates’ point of view, emergency access would be a short-term solution.

The effort to improve transportation in Shenandoah Shores has upwards of a thirty-year history. But councilman Bruce Rappaport has a potential solution that he believes could expedite the process. That would be the creation of a Community Development Authority (CDA). If the people who live in Shenandoah Shores petition the Town and the County to create such a body, proposed to consist of five members, the newly created CDA could then post bonds that developers or anyone interested could buy. That money would then be applied to the building of the East-West Connector and any other needed items like a hotel or a recreation center. This solution would take the burden off the taxpayers. Similar in concept to the sanitary district that already exists in Shenandoah Shores, the CDA would be a geographical authority that can only exist for up to fifty years or until the debt is paid, whereupon it dissolves and is given over to the locality.

Water Conservation

The conversation then turned to water conservation. Town Manager Joe Waltz spoke to this concern. “We have three water sources that are all surface water.” One such source, McKay Springs, is a parcel that the Town owns and intends to keep and is an essential source of water. “It is viable for us to continue exploring McKay Springs,” Waltz said, “not just for the springs, but we could also do wells for groundwater.” He went on, discussing the sources of water as an aggregate: “But I really do think that this is more of a regional thing because we live downstream and upstream from other communities that pull from the same source, as well as groundwater.”

As growth in the corridor amplifies, the water supply becomes more of a potential crisis. Board member Jerome Butler suggested that the water supply could be more of a town issue. However, as the discussion developed and the focus congealed around industrial growth in the corridor, it became clear that the issue is a County concern as well. “Any way you look at it, it’s a very fluid issue,” Butler jested.