Barring a Change of Tone From Supervisors, a Change of Direction Looming in the SVGC Rezoning

Following a delay of two months (from Aug. 22 to Oct. 24) being granted out of three months he requested the public hearing on his rezoning request to facilitate development of 286 age-restricted over-55 housing units on a 104-acre portion of his 195-acre Shenandoah Valley Golf Club (SVGC) property in the Rockland area of Warren County’s Shenandoah District, we contacted golf club owner (SVGC’s 18 and Bowling Green’s 36 holes) Richard Runyon about the requested delay and what it implies on the status of his rezoning proposal.

A life-long county resident, as he has pointed out, as well as a Rockland area homeowner, Runyon told us that he perceived the tone of the August 15 board of supervisors meeting discussion of his requested delay as signaling a final closing of the municipal door in the face of his planned rezoning development.

During a March interview with the Royal Examiner, SVGC owner Richard Runyon was upbeat with what he thought was a plan that would be mutually beneficial to the county government, Rockland residents present and future, as well as him and his family from a diversification of uses for his now 45 holes of golf on two adjacent courses. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

“After watching the board of supervisors meeting and after I was given a gentleman’s word and a handshake, and to have that trust violated publicly, I’ve done all I can to do the right thing. So, after hearing that trust was violated by that individual board member and knowing that not at one time have our elected officials or staff expressed any of the benefits of this project, I’m done unless the board of supervisors contacts me and says, ‘Stay in it,'” Runyon told Royal Examiner.

“It should have been given a good look-at with both pros and cons looked at. And instead, they let a few people come in and try to make it all negative, put up a bunch of signs and not even listen to anything else and just scare people away,” said a SVGC staffer involved in the development process, who added, “We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to figure out any of the negative impacts and what is the best way forward. And they don’t want to listen to it; nobody wants to listen to it. They see a sign, and they think that’s it.”

Have the county supervisors examined his plan with an open mind and consideration of all involved variables from an objective perspective? Runyon believes not and will alter his plans unless notified by the county supervisors of a more balanced perspective in their and staff’s review process.

As for one supervisor’s comment to him that they “didn’t want to hear any more” about his proposal, Runyon said, “I don’t want to sound bitter, but if you don’t want to hear it, resign. It’s your job as an elected official to hear ‘it’ when county business is brought to you!”

“This project is bigger than 40 or 50 signs,” Runyon says of what he believes has been a majority of county officials siding with the negative public reaction fueled by what he believes is some disinformation or exaggeration on actual impacts versus potential community and county-wide benefits regarding increased county tax revenues, public expenditures in the commercial sphere, and the addition of Bowling Green’s two 18-hole courses into Rockland Conservation Easements.

“I haven’t seen one in town, I haven’t seen one on (Route) 340, I haven’t seen one on Chester Gap,” Runyon said of the negative signage that greets you along Rockland and other nearby roads approaching the Shenandoah Valley clubhouse complex. “You go past the low-water bridge, you don’t see it, you go past the railroad tracks, you don’t see it — you don’t see it. And it affects 12 houses that I was going to take care of,” he noted.  How, we asked. Runyon replied that he had planned to offer corresponding 75-foot stretches of his property to those neighbors to buffer with as they saw fit.

How different was SVGC’s property really going to look to the vast majority of existing homeowners? Runyon noted that only 12 existing residences would have directly abutted new residential construction and he was poised to offer all 12 corresponding 75-foot stretches of his property to buffer with as they saw fit.

Runyon and his staffers produced a “Fiscal Impact Analysis” of the project prepared by Real Estate consultant S. Patz & Associates that predicted at build-out an annual net gain of nearly a million dollars, $983,190, to the county government. Of that amount, $783,220 was in tax gains on the home properties, with the expectation there would be no financial impact on public schools due to the age restriction of over 55 on the SVGC residential development. Another $199,970 was estimated in annual net gain from tax revenue from the planned quality restaurant in the commercial space section of the development proposal in the clubhouse and banquet facilities area of the club. It is a restaurant-anchored commercial space that would be available to all Rockland residents. And it is a restaurant-anchored commercial area which new age-restricted development residents were planned to be able to access, weather permitting and so inclined, by golf carts across the SVGC property without the use of public roads.

Regret and a new direction

“If I have one regret, it’s probably ignoring the advice I was given about going door-to-door and getting things they (neighbors) were fearful of happening cleared up. — ‘Well, this neighbor heard that, and that neighbor heard this and that.’ — That’s probably my only regret in this whole process. But I’m a transparent person, I’ve invited everybody to my door,” Runyon asserted of communications on his and his engineering contractor’s projections on the finances, transportation, water/sewer utilities, and other impacts and dynamics of the proposed project.

It must be noted that as opposed to those projections on his side, there are contrary projections voiced by the organized opposition and neighboring residences featuring signs stating, “Stop the Madness” or “Keep Rockland Agricultural,” though those signs almost exclusively are placed in existing residential yards.

“I don’t understand the houses with the signs saying ‘Keep it Rural’ — their whole thing’s not rural. You going to knock down your house to make it a field, so it’s rural?” the involved staffer asked of the irony of residential homeowners demanding a seeming blanket return to “rural” uses.

However, critics of his plan point out that those existing residences usually rest on at least or near an acre or more of land, as opposed to the more tightly packed homes presented in his plan.

Runyon discussing the status of his plans on Aug. 18 in his office in the SVGC clubhouse. The below graphic shows the 12 existing residential properties, all to the left, above off Rockland Rd., below off Bowling Green Rd., that would have directly abutted new residential construction. As noted in the previous caption, Runyon was planning to offer those homeowners 75 feet of corresponding property of his to buffer with. The long straight section of proposed homes on the left abuts active farmland with no public roads or nearby residences.

An alternate plan

But rather than belabor the existing debate for a plan he sees as essentially a pre-public hearing-rejected by a majority of the county’s elected officials, we asked Runyon if he had an alternative game plan. He said he would take a short break before refocusing on a suggested path forward brought to him by North River District Supervisor Delores Oates. That path is exploring “Agra-tourism” for his property.

“It was suggested by Mrs. Oates that we aggressively go after Agra-tourism, basically by-right, which we currently do anyway,” Runyon explained, observing, “We’re a tourist destination, we have a wonderful membership and some great banqueting facilities. But it’s all Agra-tourism for the most part. So, in light of her suggestions, I’m going to aggressively pursue that in that it will allow me to increase my transient lodging to attract larger groups from Northern Virginia and D.C.”

Runyon said that while not his initial choice on diversifying the use of his property, if the door was going to be slammed in his face on what he still believes was a mutually beneficial plan for, not only the county as a whole but for existing Rockland residents as well, his choices have become limited. In perhaps a final pitch to resurrect his not-quite-dead horse, Runyon pointed to the planned Commercially-zoned aspect of his Agra-Residential rezoning, which would have brought not only a first-class dining establishment but also targeted pharmacy and other services that would have been available to all Rockland residents without mandating lengthier trips towards the Town of Front Royal to access such services.

The view looking southeast from the SVGC back porch would have essentially been the same other than to the upper right behind the golf carts and out-building, with the golf course area in that direction remaining undeveloped, as illustrated in the previous graphic photo. Below is a graphic of an Agra-Tourism golf course with extensive water hazards and guest accommodations. — Settle down, Rocklanders, just KIDDING, it’s a weather station photo of someplace where it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit that day.

We asked Runyon about his post “time-out” regrouping look into the Agra-tourism operations Oates suggested as an alternative to his Suburban Residential/Commercial rezoning plans he has spent considerable time and money developing. “It’s not something I wanted to do. But I have a family to take care of, and I also have a lot of employees to take care of. But I’ve seen the door shut on this practically since day one. I have had no cooperation since near the very beginning,” Runyon said. He said the last objective conversation he had with county staff was with recently resigned Deputy County Administrator Taryn Logan.

“I’ve spent a lot of money here (on this project), money I don’t have. So, I’ve got to regroup and,” here Runyon paused, searching for the right words, to which this reporter/editor offered, “see where it goes.” — “Yeah, essentially,” the career golf club manager/owner agreed.

And now, as Runyon awaits a call he doesn’t really expect to come telling him he has misjudged the supervisors’ negative judgment of his original proposal, we will all see “where it goes” from here.

Coming to terms with a future of unexpected turns and predictable needs – Richard Runyon discusses his SVGC 55-and-up residential/commercial rezoning proposal