Town, ITFed’s Tran remain at odds over drainage system costs

An October 19 photo of West Main extended road work just east of the first of three planned ITFederal buildings at the former Superfund site – a drainage line cap is visible at right-center in front of the building, see below/insert for closer view.

An impasse between the Town of Front Royal and ITFederal principal Truc “Curt” Tran over financial responsibility for installation of a drainage line through Tran’s Royal Phoenix Business Park site continues.

“It is at a standstill – Mr. Tran is holding true to his contention that it is not his responsibility,” Front Royal Town Manager Joe Waltz said in response to question from Town-County Liaison Committee and county board Chairman Tony Carter on Thursday, October 18.

The dispute related to the West Main Street site connector road project first publicly surfaced during a September 17 town council work session.  Waltz and Town Engineer Robert Brown briefed council on the disagreement related to drainage issues across the ITFederal phase one pad site where the first commercial structure is under construction at the former Avtex Superfund site (1989-2012) off Kendrick Lane. Related story here: – Town draws ‘line in the mud’ with ITFederal on stormwater drainage costs

Brown said Tran was referencing a December 2015 engineering drawing that was never completed or submitted to prove his point that the Town had agreed to pay for the drainage line across his property.  The referenced and incomplete 2015 plan was one of several engineering plans, including those completed and submitted between 2013 and 2018, that Brown presented to contradict Tran’s contention the Town had agreed to foot a bill now estimated between $120,873 and as much as $170,000-plus depending on the length extended across ITFederal’s 30-acre parcel.

Brown said that no additional documentation could be located to support Tran’s contention any town official had agreed to fund that peripheral aspect of the West Main Street connector road project.

Brown described the disputed project as a 500-foot stretch of 42-inch stormwater drain pipe at the initial $120,000 cost estimate, with an additional 700-foot channel that could add another $50,000 to costs.

Liaison committee minus one – from left around the table: Town Manager Joe Waltz, Mayor Hollis Tharpe, County Board and Committee Chair Tony Carter, Supervisor Tom Sayre and County Administrator Doug Stanley. Councilman Jacob Meza was absent. Photos/Roger Bianchini

No further details were discussed at the October 18 liaison committee meeting.  However, on September 17 council was told the drainage issues relate to natural flow across the property and a change in elevation to phase one of the West Main Street connector project.  Phase one goes from a Kendrick Lane entrance point past the ITFederal building now under construction behind the old Administration building housing EDA headquarters and the first rental properties at the site.

Brown was asked by Councilman John Connolly if the drainage issues related to a lowering of the connector road project’s elevation.  Brown replied in the affirmative, adding that a 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.

One of two huge piles of fill dirt further west on ITFederal’s 30-acre parcel near the planned phase two and three structure locations.

Two huge piles of fill dirt sit on ITFederal’s phase two and three pads west of current construction; however, it appears little, if any of that dirt was moved to elevate ITFederal’s phase one construction site.

After receiving a “get the former Superfund site redevelopment ball rolling” purchase price of one dollar for his 30-acre Royal Phoenix parcel, Tran committed $150,000 to infrastructure development at Royal Phoenix. However, according to Town Engineer Brown, that money was earmarked for the wastewater pumping station, rather than road-related infrastructure.