Council overturns BAR Afton Inn vote; tables renter protections

After two years of failures on renovation proposals and despite a late jump into the game with a new one, the town council has Okayed demolition as a path to redevelopment of the Afton Inn site at the head of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District. Photos/Roger Bianchini

During a heavy agenda on Monday evening the Front Royal Town Council unanimously voted to:

• Overturn the unanimous Town Board of Architectural Review recommendation to deny the town-county Economic Development Authority request to allow the demolition of the 149-year-old Afton Inn, formerly Montview Hotel, to facilitate a redevelopment plan at the site. The building, perhaps the oldest remaining in downtown Front Royal, has sat derelict and deteriorating for perhaps two decades at the head of the town’s Historic Downtown Business District;
• Tabled a decision on adoption of a property maintenance code in a portion of the downtown area related to the Historic District targeting residential rental properties. The tabling came after a public hearing at which council heard a mix of emotional statements from renters suffering from what one might term “slumlord” abuse of the living conditions provided to the community’s most economically vulnerable citizens, as well as a critique of the language of the proposed ordinance by landlords who claimed, and it was agreed by tenant proponents of the change, are “good” landlords.  The mayor and council appeared receptive to the idea broached by one landlord-attorney, of immediate enforcement of a higher standard upon the worst landowner offenders – the one named repeatedly as “Mr. Batouli” owner of Mt. Vernon Apartments at 122 South Royal Avenue – by other legal means, including prosecution for creation of a public nuisance;

Theresa Gill, right, who said she had escaped the abusive conditions imposed by one downtown landlord, helps another who has not, Holly Javaid, present her case. Gill explained that Javaid was fresh out of the hospital and was having trouble speaking due to a respiratory condition – one she believes was exasperated by Javaid’s living situation.

• Unanimously approved an ordinance change allowing Fridays to be added to the days of operation of flea markets in town. The code change also alters the fee structure from either $10 a year or $1 a day for individual vendors, to $500 per year paid by the proprietor of the flea market;

During a work session prior to the meeting, council developed a 5-1 consensus (Vice-Mayor Tewalt dissenting) to proceed with construction of a new headquarters for the Front Royal Police Department.  At issue was a new projected total project cost of $10,327,257 – and 88 cents.  After initially discussing a “construction cost” of about $5 million several years ago, it was established by staff that virtually all peripheral costs, including site work and engineering had been excluded from that first estimate.  With construction-related costs estimated to raise that initial estimate to about $7 million, council had hoped to see total project costs to come in at about $9 million.  The new two-building design planned for Kendrick Lane, across the street from the Royal Phoenix-Avtex site, is projected to accommodate department needs at least 25 years into the future.  FRPD currently rents the old WCSO headquarters on Jackson Street at a cost of just over $4,000 a month.  The town police moved into the 7000-square foot-plus space from the 4000-s.f. former headquarters in 2013 due to a combination of space and contamination issues discovered during work on the West Main Street headquarters.

Representatives of the town police listen to work session discussion of whether or not to finance a new police headquarters.

During the work session council also agreed to forward approval of plats to accommodate the proposed Criminal Justice Training Academy in the Happy Creek Technology-Industrial Park off Shenandoah Shores Road.  That authorization was also unanimously approved at the Monday night meeting.

Further detail on council’s major Monday-night decisions will be forthcoming.