Rotary gets the lowdown on plans for downtown Front Royal from Vice-Mayor Cockrell

Vice-Mayor Lori A. Cockrell, in a speech before the Rotary Club of Front Royal, shared a Town of Front Royal list of accomplishments with Rotarians over recent years, followed by a “to do” list of tasks needed to be completed in the years ahead.

So, what do we need and what have we got? These are some of the items discussed at Rotary’s regular weekly meeting at the community center last Friday, July 22:

Tourism appears of major interest to Cockrell, who listed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the county government to fund “Discover Front Royal” that will help the Town and County to focus on bringing visitors to the area. She mentioned the recent hiring of a special events coordinator, Elizabeth Lewis, who, for example, planned and executed the town’s Fourth of July celebrations, the most recent community event that Cockrell said “many citizens are (still) talking about.”

File photo of Vice-Mayor Lori Cockrell

Along with this, Cockrell, who is the lone mayoral candidate on the ballot in this November’s election, remarked on the “new look” Main Street with its murals and colorful store displays. She reported that a new event policy for Main Street has been “firmed up”and a new pavilion completed last year is in use.

Establishment of the Front Royal Economic Development Authority (FREDA) is off to “a really amazing start,” the vice mayor asserted. She reported briefly on a retreat the FREDA board had a week or so ago, guided by a facilitator “who really helped us discuss our vision and what we’d like to see accomplished in the area of economic development for the town.”

Among other accomplishments she mentioned was the completion of the Stonewall Drive Bridge project and the final sale of the Afton Inn. She said completion of the Afton Inn project is anticipated for the fall of 2023.

Some things “on deck” or in the process of completion include:

• Finalization of land acquisitions that will allow a backup water supply (Redundant Waterline project) to serve downtown  businesses. Cost: $11 million, possibly more.
• Completion of the town’s Comprehensive Plan by February 2023.
• Blighted buildings in and around town, remain, after years of discussion and enabling ordinance passages without action, a priority for Council, Cockrell claimed. Perhaps aware of the Town’s slow move towards enforcement within its boundaries, she cautioned that: “This is a community issue, not just a Town concern.”
• Shenandoah Rail Trail: a 50-mile Broadway to Front Royal former railroad section converted to a hiking trail, still under discussion.
• Support for a new Drug Treatment Court, planned and approved for Warren County.

Regarding this last item, the council’s Vice-Mayor, a veteran school teacher, said: “Too many of our youth and loved ones have been taken away due to drugs and we must provide a healthy, vibrant and substance abuse-free community.”