Town draws ‘line in the mud’ with ITFederal on stormwater drainage costs

As noted in the lead to Royal Examiner’s accompanying September 17 Front Royal Town Council work session story on pedestrian-safety plans, This Related Story also discussed a dispute with ITFederal principal Truc “Curt” Tran over footing the bill for a 500-foot stretch of 42-inch stormwater drain pipe across the ITFederal property where the first of three planned buildings is under construction.

The drainage piping begins under Phase One of the West Main Street Extension project that will connect ITFederal’s first structure to Kendrick Lane.  Eventually the West Main Extension is designed as the main thru-street of the Royal Phoenix Business Park, connecting from Kendrick Lane on the north to West Main Street at its intersection with Kerfoot Avenue to the south.

According to original town staff estimates the cost of the disputed section of drainage pipe through the ITFed parcel is $120,873.  But at the work session Town Engineer Robert Brown said an additional 700-foot channel related to the disputed section could add $50,000 to costs.

Stormwater, what stormwater – is that remaining collected Wednesday, September 19 near the connector road construction and ITFed site from our Florence experience of maybe an inch of rain? Photos/Roger Bianchini

Brown presented a series of engineering drawings of the connector road and drainage project to council dated between 2013 and 2018.  One dated December 2015, Brown told council was never completed or submitted, but was included in his presentation as the plan Tran is referencing as “proof” the Town agreed to fund the drainage field through his property.

The dispute seems to revolve around changes to the elevation of the first phase of the West Main Street extension road at the east side of the ITFederal construction.

“This is all because the road grade is lower?” Councilman John Connolly asked.

“Yes,” Brown replied.  He elaborated that the lowering of the road level was “driven by the developer (Tran’s)” desire to reduce the amount of fill dirt necessary to make his first lot buildable.

Mayor Hollis Tharpe asked if the stormwater runoff flowed from the northeastern corner of the property across the ITFederal lot naturally.

Brown responded, “Yes,” noting the planned drainage line maintained the natural flow of stormwater heading west across the Royal Phoenix property through the ITFederal’s 30-acre parcel.

“You’ve got to either ditch it, trench it, or pipe it,” Mayor Tharpe observed of the stormwater flow across the Royal Phoenix property.

A perspective of road and ITFederal site work at Royal Phoenix.

Vice-Mayor Eugene Tewalt asked if ITFederal principals knew that both their building and the new road were shown on the finally-approved architect’s plan including the drainage piping.

“Yes,” Brown replied.

“That’s all I need to know,” Tewalt concluded.

“But they say they didn’t (know),” Jacob Meza observed of how the impasse on financial responsibility for the stormwater piping evolved.

Town Engineer Brown noted that most of town staff involved in the early road planning and negotiations with Tran were no longer with the Town.  But, he added that he could find no evidence of any agreement that the Town pay for a stormwater drainage system across the developer’s property.

“At this point, I guess we’re drawing a line” – if not in the proverbial sand, in the mud – that the Town would not be responsible for an unanticipated additional expense on Royal Phoenix infrastructure development, Town Manager Waltz told the council.  Waltz said he wanted council in the conversation as a final decision was determined.

The town manager acknowledged a $650,000 VDOT grant for the West Main Extension project, adding that the original estimated cost of $800,000 had already been exceeded.  ITFederal also committed $150,000 to the West Main Extension project after receiving a “get-the-ball-rolling” one dollar special real estate deal on the first Royal Phoenix parcel sold, a 30-acre lot originally priced by the EDA at about $2 million.

History

Hey, plans change – above, original artist’s conception of first ITFederal structure; below, what is going up today, a one-story, 10,000 s.f. office building. Courtesy Graphics EDA

ITFederal is the first company recruited to develop at the Royal Phoenix Business Park portion (147 acres) of the former Avtex Superfund site (467 acres).  Controversy has swirled around the ITFederal project almost since Sixth District U.S. Congressman Robert Goodlatte made a big splash June 2015 announcement about bringing the first commercial client to the former federal Superfund site.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency released the remediated property for development in September 2014.  The local EDA acquired ownership in 1999-2000.  And while the property has been marketable from that time, if not earlier – land was not approved for sale until the 2014 release by EPA.

Numbers quoted at the time of the 2015 Goodlatte announcement indicated a $40-million investment that would bring 400 to 600 high-paying tech jobs to the community.  The original construction timeframe announced on June 12, 2015, had phase one beginning in the third quarter of 2015 targeting a late 2016 completion date; with buildings two and three operational by the fall of 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Initial representation of ITFed’s final phase, including its 10,000 s.f. cloud data center, at left. This site, west of the old admin building parking lot is where most fill dirt was placed on ITFed site.

Over the intervening years the finger has been pointed in various directions concerning delays – those directions including the state DEQ on environmental permitting; the Town for lag time on finalizing road and other infrastructure plans necessary to finalizing ITFed work plans; Congressman Goodlatte for jumping the gun on announcing the ITFederal deal in the first place; and rightly or wrongly at the end of this blame chain, the developer for delays in utilizing its initial $10-million investment in this community.

That $10-million investment was pushed forward with the help of a bridge loan by the Town of Front Royal, and eventually a loan through First Bank with the endorsement of the town government and the EDA as a co-signer with project approval on the loan.

The initial development plan revealed with Congressman Goodlatte’s 2015 announcement ITFederal was coming to Front Royal was for a 67,000 s.f. mixed-use office complex.  That complex was forecast to include 37,000 s.f. of office space; 20,000 s.f. of retail space; and a 10,000-s.f. cloud data center.

What is under construction today as part of phase one is described as a 10,000 s.f. office building – but circumstances change with time, and from some perspectives, any development at the former Superfund site economically dormant for nearly three decades is a great positive for the community.

However, we can’t get agreement on who is going to pay for the infrastructure to get downhill stormwater flow across the Main Street Extension access road and across ITFederal’s 30-acre property.

Not to date myself, but as David Byrne of The Talking Heads once sang, “Same as it ever was; same as it ever was …”

Aerial file photo of the Avtex property – the initial ITFederal building is behind old Admin building at center-left of photo where trailers were located at the time. The second and third structures are plotted to the west of the admin building to lower left of photo. File Photo/Roger Bianchini courtesy of CassAviation