The Warren Sentinel

Article date: June 23, 2005

 EDA reviews ups and down of Royal Phoenix/Avtex

CPV remains optimistic, seeks contract extension

By: Roger Bianchini

The reclamation and transformation of the 467-acre Royal Phoenix\Avtex site was discussed at the most recent meeting of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

EDA Executive Director Paul Carroll described what he called “positive movement” in site marketing and road plans, as well as in scheduled meetings with potential investors in the 160-acre park.

That park is currently envisioned to host a combination of service and tourism-related businesses, as well as a center for innovative business technologies.

Among potential uses being considered are a hotel./conference center, a Virginia Wine, Arts and Crafts Center, and a culinary institute.  Carroll has described the park’s other projected focus – innovative business technologies – as benefitting from the site’s proximity to Dulles International Airport and from the increasing attention of international business on the Washington D.C. Metropolitan areas.

Carroll said discussions with Taiwanese economic development officials seeking a location for an east coast business incubator have been initiated .  Those discussions, he said, will take on a more substantial tone once an investment developer becomes committed to the site.

The marketing plan for the site, being developed by the New York-based North American Realty Advisory Services, is moving about two months ahead of schedule, Carroll reported last month.

Carroll also acknowledged the cooperation of the federally mandated cleanup partner and lone surviving former site owner FMC Corporation in conducting site tours for potential business park clients.

FMC Site Manager John Torrence, in his monthly review of cleanup work at the site, said work included the processing of 3.41 inches of May rains through the site’s wastewater treatment plant.

Responding to a question from EDA board member Patty Wines, Torrence reported that all the trees planted in the southern most portion of the former basin area have died.

The trees, planted during a well publicized event that involved community school children, were part of the first step in reclaiming a portion of what will be a 240-acre Conservancy Park along the Shenandoah River.

Torrence theorized that the planting may have failed because it occurred prior to the end of a lengthy drought that affected the region several years ago.

Torrence said the lack of water combined with a beating sun on the clay-rich soil had effectively baked the young saplings.  As a result, he said FMC is rethinking both the type of indigenous trees and spacing that will be used when the area is replanted.

Torrence also reported that both U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Opstal and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Bonnie Gross visited the site the previous week to view work on the final phase of decontamination of the massive power plant building.

Torrence said officials are determining whether additional personnel will be required to complete the work in time for the announced Sept. 19 implosion of the building  – the last major structure standing on the site – by the Army Corps of Engineers.

“Time is not on our side,” Torrence said. However, he added that FMC is proceeding optimistically to see that the building’s four sections – the bag house, boiler house, powerhouse and compressor room – are clear of environmental contaminants prior to implosion day.

Earlier in Friday’s meeting County Administrator Doug Stanley told the EDA the first four soccer fields of a planned seven-field complex on 33 acres at the site’s southeast corner off Kerfoot Road at West Main Street, are scheduled to be ready for play next spring.

CPV optimistic

The board also heard that Competitive Power Ventures remains optimistic about the potential of obtaining contracts on power distribution and investors that will move the CPV-Warren gas-fired electrical generating facility project forward.

Local government is anticipating nearly $2 million in projected annual commercial tax revenue from CPV.

CPV’s current emissions permits with the state will expire on October 2007, and CPV has estimated an approximate 18 to 24 month construction window.  If the plant is not under construction by October 2007, CPV will have to resubmit to the complex and lengthy state emissions permit approval process.

“We are fairly confident we’ll be able to begin construction by then,” Project Manager Peter Pawlowski told the board.

Pawlowski appeared to give the EDA an update and to seek an extension of CPV’s option on the four acre parcel in the Kelly Industrial Park upon which the plant will be built.

Pawlowski told the board Dominion Power’s move into the PJM (Pennsylvania-New Jersey- Maryland) regional marketing group was a key step in allowing CPV-Warren to move forward in acquiring a distribution contract.

Dominion is the largest supplier of power in Virginia.

Following a closed session, the board authorized the EDA staff to move on renegotiation of the CPV contract.  CPV has received four extensions on its original contract, entered into with the EDA on Sept. 21, 2001.  CPV paid a $5,000 deposit upon signing the original $125,000 contract.

The first nine-month extension, signed on Dec.31, 2002, included a renegotiated price of $142,500, and the EDA received another $5,000 deposit at that time.

The ensuing three extensions totaling 2-1/2 years included no further price increases or deposits.  Average prices on industrial property in the U.S. 340/522 North Industrial corridor is now around $60,000 an acre, staff members noted last week.

New Officers

Also last week the EDA Board elected officers for the coming year.  Elected by 4-0 margins (with Rick Novak absent) were Chairman John LaBarca; Vice Chairman Mike South; Treasurer Billy Biggs; and Secretary Patty Wines.