Work session: Town reviews inclement weather policy, new Sheetz project

FRONT ROYAL — Following a closed session to interview town manager candidates, members of the Front Royal Town Council during their January 21 work session reviewed proposed changes to the Town’s inclement weather policy, as well as a new Sheetz Inc. project, signs at the new hospital on Leach Run Parkway, and a water-sewer connection fees waiver request from a local nonprofit.

In an intersection improvements agenda item brought before the Town Council by Front Royal Planning and Zoning Director Jeremy Camp, it was recommended that the Town accept a donation of funds from Sheetz and approve the company’s planned store and gas station project, which will be built on the site of the shuttered Shenandoah Motel.

Sheetz has purchased the motel lot where it will build and this summer open a station with 10 fuel pumps and a roughly 4,900-square-feet store, along with parking, landscaping and an underground stormwater management facility.

A full entrance has been proposed on N. Shenandoah Avenue and W. 17th Street for the Sheetz store and gas station project, which recently received approval from the Front Royal Planning Commission.

However, planning commission members expressed concerns during the site plan review process about general traffic congestion, as well as the narrowness of the intersection on W. 17th Street.

In response, Sheetz has offered to pick up 100 percent of the tab by donating a total of $23,322 to the Town to add a slip-lane that would improve the level of service of the intersection by separating right-turn movement from left-turn movement, said Camp, who also included a draft cash escrow agreement between Sheetz and the Town in the agenda packet.

“The purpose of this agenda item is to present this to Town Council to determine if it would like to accept the funds and complete the project,” Camp explained during the work session. “Per the offer from Sheetz, the improvements would need to be completed with two years.” Photos and video by Mike McCool, Royal Examiner.

After Town Councilmen William Sealock and Gary Gillispie noted their own concerns about the project’s start date and the subsequent impact on traffic, Town Mayor Eugene Tewalt told Interim Town Manager Matthew Tederick to place the item on the Town Council’s next consent agenda for action so that the project can get going.

Camp also presented another work session agenda item regarding a Town Code amendment request from Valley Health, which has submitted an application for an ordinance amendment to the Town’s sign regulations, primarily for public safety.

The Town’s planning commission previously reviewed the Valley Health request, held a public hearing, and then approved it.

Specifically, Valley Health’s requested amendment would change existing Town Code regulations to define what a medical center is and modify existing standards.

For example, the maximum sign size requirement would change from a maximum sign size of 60-square-feet to 200-square-feet for wall signs; to 150-square-feet for public ground-mounted signs; and to 75-square-feet for private ground-mounted signs, according to the work session agenda form.

Camp said that such standards are comparable with the standards that Valley Health uses at other new hospital facilities, such as the one in Winchester, Va. And the changes would apply only to medical centers that include medical facilities as part of an integrated development on at least two acres, he said.

Town staff, which does not object to the planning commission’s approval recommendation, on Tuesday recommended that Town Council hold a required public hearing along with a first and second reading for a Town Code amendment.

In another work session agenda item, Tederick discussed changes to the Town’s inclement weather policy for council members to consider.

Tederick said he’s “trying to change the culture” among Town employees, and he said he considers all employees to be “essential employees.”

Thus, the interim mayor provided policy and procedures outlining the responsibilities of essential and non-essential employees — to be referred to as Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees, respectively — during inclement weather.

Tier 1 Employees are those whose job functions require that he/she report to work, regardless of environmental factors, to provide essential services to the public, or provide direct leadership or support, according to Tederick’s outline. These employees would be in a department that typically operates on a 24-hour-a-day rotating schedule or would play a critical role in maintaining the safety and services of the Town.

Tier 2 Employees are those whose job functions are not considered critical for maintaining the safety and services to the Town, and who are not required to report to work during an inclement weather event.

Tederick then described procedures for employees, as well as their pay, when Town offices are open and when there’s a closure or delayed opening.

For example, Tier 1 employees who don’t report to work as scheduled during inclement weather conditions will not be paid, he said, nor granted the use of accumulated leave for time missed from work. Such employees also could be subject to disciplinary action.

It’s also important to note, Tederick said, that employees on vacation, sick, or personal leave, or otherwise not scheduled to work during the affected time period, are not eligible to be paid under this policy.

The other work session agenda item was a request from Habitat for Humanity of Warren County for the Town to waive the water and sewer tap fees totaling $15,068 for a new duplex at the corner of Brown Avenue and Cherrydale Avenue.

The nonprofit organization, which provides affordable homes for area families in the median income range who can’t qualify for conventional bank mortgages, relies heavily on donors and volunteers to construct homes, according to Jessica Priest-Cahill, executive director of the local Habitat for Humanity.

“Receiving this waiver will help lower the mortgage payment which will make the home more affordable for the chosen family,” Priest-Cahill wrote in a January 3 request sent to Tederick.
However, instead of issuing the waiver of the tap fees, Tederick recommended to Town Council members that an agreement be made with the property owners to place a lien on the duplex for the water and sewer connection fees.

Tederick cited a similar agreement executed in 2014 between the Town, Habitat for Humanity and a Cannon Street property owner for a waiver of planning permit fees and a waiver for the water and sewer connection fees, according to information Tederick provided to council members on Tuesday night.

Lastly, Front Royal Director of Finance B.J. Wilson presented the fiscal year (FY) 2021 revenue forecast for the Town, summarizing totals from taxes for real estate, personal property, bank stock, sales, lodging, communication, and meals, for instance, as well as expected revenue from water and sewer sales, among others.

Front Royal Director of Finance B.J. Wilson presented the fiscal year (FY) 2021 revenue forecast for the Town.

Wilson said for FY 2021, the total projected Town revenue is $42,128,597. This would be an increase over both the projected FY 2020 revenue total of $41,586,920 and the actual FY 2019 revenue of $40,814,872, said Wilson.

Councilman Jacob Meza was absent during the January 21 work session, which was attended by Mayor Tewalt; Vice Mayor Sealock; and council members Gillispie, Chris Holloway, Letasha Thompson, and Lori Cockrell.

The Town Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for January 27 and the council has another work session planned for February 3.

Watch the entire Town Council work session on this exclusive Royal Examiner video: