County approves Sanitary District CIP’s; associated fee authority

At its May 16 meeting the Warren County Board of Supervisors approved Capital Improvement Plans for two Sanitary Districts; and gave two newer Sanitary Districts – Shangri-La and Lake Front Royal – the authority to collect “user fees” to help support capital improvements.  The CIP’s were approved for the sprawling Shenandoah Farms District and Lake Front Royal.

While no annual “user fee” amounts were approved at the meeting, submissions from the heads of the two sanitary district advisory boards requested fees on the high end of a list of existing sanitary district user fees.  Those amounts were $2,500 for Lake Front Royal and – hold on Shangri-La property owners, $3,500 for you.

Existing fees range from $1,000 on the low end for Shenandoah Shores; to $2,500 on the high end for High Knob and Shenandoah Farms. Other existing fees referenced in the board agenda packet included $1,500 for Blue Mountain and Linden Heights and $2,000 for Skyland Estates.

Lake Front Royal Sanitary District Advisory Board President Charles Gornowich supported the CIP plan and requested a $2,500 road “user” fee. Photos/Roger Bianchini

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Both Lake Front Royal advisory board Chair Charles Gornowich and Shangri-La “Sanitation District” and POA President Garrett R. Miller cited the number of buildable lots remaining in their districts that could create additional traffic strain on their respective internal road systems.

Miller cited “approximately 12 lots” yet to be developed at Shangri-La; and Gornowich was slightly less specific, citing “numerous vacant lots … that can be developed and the new construction could cause damage to our approximately 6.5 mile road system.”

Prior to the votes on the two CIP plans, speakers from the Farms and Lake Front Royal District advisory and/or POA boards spoke in favor of the plans.

Farms CIP Plan

Farms POA Chair Ralph Rinaldi and Vice-Chair Patrick Scully both noted the level of improvement to “the Farms” road system and the value being a sanitary district has brought to Farms residents.

“If you can trade a chicken for a buffalo, why wouldn’t you?” Scully said most colorfully of that value.  Scully explained, as Rinaldi had before him, that value at 75-cents on the dollar for the residents of Shenandoah Farms on all projects that qualify for Virginia Department of Transportation Revenue Sharing Programs, particularly Rural Addition Programs.  That is because of a funding formula in which locals pay only 25 cents of every dollar spent on those projects.

As did Shenandoah Farms POA Vice-President Patrick Scully, POA President Ralph Rinaldi lauds the proposed CIP plan for the Farms Sanitary District and the bang for the buck the district has brought for road improvements.

In fact, during the discussion it was noted that VDOT had absorbed some of those improved Farms roads into the state system once they were brought up to state standards.  That means state revenues, rather than solely local fees, will be used to maintain and clear those roads in the future.  And for a large Sanitary District with numerous roads connecting to existing state roads such an arrangement makes a lot of sense.

The county staff summary of the Farms CIP plan notes that it includes 20 road projects, 10 proposed for inclusion as VDOT Rural Addition projects.  That means state VDOT revenue will fund 50% of those 10 projects, Warren County will fund 25%, and the Sanitary District the remaining 25%.

Deputy County Administrator Bob Childress may be pondering a salary bump request after all the accolades he received from officials of two sanitary districts on May 16.

The total cost of all 20 projects is $6,113,338.  The 10 non-VDOT funded projects must be paid for by Sanitary District budgets “and other sources” according to the County staff report.  Staff added that there is currently $567,105 set aside and available for those other 10 projects.  No estimate of the total cost of those 10 non-state funded projects was included in the packet.

However, for the 10 Rural Addition Revenue Sharing Projects the total cost was cited at $5,540,313, with the Sanitary District share at $1,645,560.

Lake Front Royal CIP

The Lake Front Royal plan includes 10 total projects, two of which would be included as VDOT Rural Addition projects.  Estimate total cost was cited at $1,398,500, with “approximately $200,000 available for the first priority …” – That priority is the Lake Front Royal Road project that is one of the two VDOT-aided projects.  Lake Front Royal Road is the entrance road to the mountainous subdivision that accesses the subdivision common area and lake from which the development gets its name.

“Other projects will be addressed as future budgets and revenues allow,” the staff summary states.  In his letter to the county administrator suggesting the $2,500 user fee, Gornowich stated there was currently no “New Construction Road Use Fee” for the Lake Front Royal Sanitary District.