Amid Budgetary Concerns and Review of Items for Public Hearings, Town Council Maps a Strategy for Upcoming Liaison Meeting

Following a presentation by Chief of Police Brian Whited from which Mayor Lori Cockrell concluded that the speed cameras installed in school zones are definitely having an impact, the Town Council on the evening of Monday, April 7 conducted a thorough, point-by-point discussion of the budget for FY 2025/2026, reviewed several items for public hearings, and defined the topics they would like to introduce at the upcoming Town-County liaison committee meeting on Thursday, April 17.

The Town Council sits down for a work session on the evening of Monday, April 7. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

In addition to evaluating what type of rate increases might offset a deficit for the Town without overburdening the taxpayer’s pocketbook, the conversation about the budget branched off in many directions, allowing the council to touch down on key issues like the hiring of much-needed personnel. Councilman Glenn Wood emphasized the Town’s need for a civil engineer who could offset scenarios like the one involving a car wash whose presence is loud and somewhat tacky as it is close to the road and significantly tall. “Welcome to Front Royal, here’s our car wash,” Wood said ironically. A civil engineer could find a way to execute the project without sacrificing aesthetic values. Vice Mayor Amber Veitenthal pointed out that the car wash in question was built by right and that like the proliferation of vape shops, she may not like it, but there is no legal basis on which to regulate a business that conforms to Town ordinance. Nevertheless, a civil engineer who could come alongside the owner at an early stage of development seems like a good idea.

Chief of Police Brian Whited gives a report to the council on the revenue and various processes associated with speed cameras in school zones.

As for upcoming public hearings, one item considered was a special-use permit, remedial in nature, for Heritage Hall, regarding a nursing facility that was built in the 1980’s without first securing the permit, the absence of which makes the use non-conforming. The applicant desires to expand the facility and can only do so by first acquiring the permit that was never conferred. Another item considered was a request from Rappahannock LLC for a special exception to road width requirements on the development at Marshall’s Glen near the intersection of Happy Creek Road with Leach Run Parkway, reducing the width on prospective subdivision streets from thirty-six feet to twenty-nine feet with parking on one side. This item sparked animated discussion as Veitenthal expressed skepticism over whether the public would abide by the restriction to park on one side of the road and Councilman Wayne Sealock declared that emergency vehicles, specifically fire and rescue, would not have enough room to operate in a crisis. Wood underlined that this application was designed by developer Chris Hornung in part as a response to concerns about speeding expressed last August when the property was up for rezoning. The logic is that narrower streets will force drivers to go more slowly.

(Above) Deputy Zoning Administrator John Ware and (below) Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke present various items to the council that are headed for public hearings.

The intersection of Royal Lane with John Marshall Highway is a topic of ongoing conversation. It is in proximity to a proposed complex of apartments that many say will bring even more congestion to an already difficult intersection. Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke presented to the council a method of striping by which lanes could be designated in such a way that a left turn from Royal Lane back onto John Marshall Highway could be safer and easier. Councilman Joshua Ingram was doubtful of whether drivers with all their typical distractions would be able to apprehend the striping in time enough to comply with it. Kopishke explained that this method is cost effective insofar as if it does not work, the Town will not have sunk a vast amount of money into a false solution.

Before the council went into a closed meeting, Cockrell entertained the discussion of important talking points for the liaison meeting between Town and County. These included but were not limited to the prospect of a joint firing range, the potential sale of certain EDA assets, and the rectification of a boundary line to bring portions of Criser Road that lie outside Town limits into the Town. The firing range is a loaded gun in the sense that no one wants one in proximity to their neighborhood unless it is indoors, which may not be financially feasible. Thus, the Town and County have a great deal to discuss in that regard. The potential sale of EDA assets associated with Avtex begs an agreement between Town and County insofar as so much has transpired over the last quarter century in EDA history and there is an acute need for an agreement between the two entities that would determine the destination of those assets, whether to the Town or to the County, as prior agreements would suggest. Having mapped out a plan for April 17, the council went into their closed meeting.