The Warren County Report

Article date: Early June 2008

Where would you like me to put this concrete, sir?

Over in that silent Royal Phoenix theater space next door, perhaps…

By: Roger Bianchini

How to dispose of broken up concrete so that it does not interfere with future building plans at the Royal Phoenix Business Park site became a time sensitive topic of conversation at a May 23 Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority meeting.

FMC Project Manager John Torrence told the EDA his company is currently using recovered concrete from its cleanup and excavation efforts at the site as deep backfill.  Torrence told the EDA,” We felt it was in the best interest [of remediation] not to leave it visible on the surface of the earth.”

However, after questions were raised by contract engineers Patton Harris Rust & Associates on the potential impact of such backfill on future building at the site, Torrence added, “If you believe that’s not true I suggest you contact EPA quickly because my marching orders are to put it in the ground and it is being done as we speak.”

Responding to questions about the backfill, Torrence said the size of chunks varied from smaller chunks a person could hold to the size of the EDA conference room table.  Torrance explained that concrete would be placed 10 feet below ground or more.  He also said that thus far all the concrete was confined to a 100-foot  x  400 –foot area near the railroad tracks at the eastern side of the Royal Phoenix Business Park site.  He also said the concrete was considered “clean”.

“How much is in the ground,” Torrence was asked.

“Not a lot-but if you believe it is not in the best interest of redevelopment now’s the time to pull the trigger or put the gun down,” Torrence said of the timing of a decision.  He added that the cost of crushing or transporting the concrete off site would not be cheap.  He estimated the volume of material involved was the size of the EDA’s office complex on Kendrick Lane.

EDA Board Chairman Patty Wines later said the board consensus seemed to be that if the concrete backfill was limited to the 100 x 400 foot area near the railroad tracks where the concrete now lies, the process would present no problems to the Royal Phoenix economic redevelopment efforts.

“If the ground sinks a little and there is a picnic table there, so what?—You fill it and raise it back up.  If you were going to put a building over that location that’s a different story,” one board member observed.

Quiet after the storm

If  anyone—this reporter comes to mind- anticipated a confrontation over the May 15 special meeting vote approving a $ 65,000 purchase of the bulk of  Wayside theatre’s capital improvements at Royal Phoenix they were sorely disappointed the morning of May 23.

Nary a mention of the theater assets or the vote of a four-member quorum just six days after an initial vote to delay the purchase was heard that day.  Several officials in both the town and county governments expressed some distress at a vote reversing the full EDA board’s earlier action.  However, the EDA board’s primary opponent to the purchase, town appointee and downtown businesswoman Mimi Ouakil was absent from the May 23 meeting due to previous personal commitments.  Ouakil was also absent from the May 15, 3-1 vote approving the $65,000 purchase of the Wayside theater and café capital improvements.

The major points of contention on the Wayside capital improvement purchase are:  1)  location of a performing arts center- why not downtown where existing business could benefit from additional walk around traffic”  Ouakil has asked;  2)  using EDA funds as “seed money” to enable a newly formed local group to continue to utilize the established EDA-owned theater and café sites for future performing arts venues; and 3), a second special meeting without the presence of the full board reversing the decision to delay that purchase.

Asked about the timing of the second vote, EDA board Chairman Wines said there were time constraints with Wayside on a decision that forced the EDA’s hand on the matter.  Wines also reiterated the argument of board proponents of the purchase that it is the EDA’s role to facilitate new businesses with seed money, tax breaks or loans.  She pointed out that the EDA now owns the Wayside capital improvements and wondered at the potential costs of trying to establish a similar use in downtown Front Royal where no such facilities exist.

Following the collapse of financial negotiations to keep a second Wayside venue in Front Royal past the one- year deal signed while Wayside’s Middletown theater was renovated, Wines had been instructed by the board, with only Ouakil initially dissenting, to negotiate the capital improvement purchase of some of Royal Phoenix’s first redevelopment assets.

Wayside had initially asked for $213,000 versus a $150,000 offer by the EDA for all the theater and café capital improvements.  When a compromise could not be struck on these numbers, Wines negotiated the $65,000 price on those assets minus the theater’s sound and lighting equipment.

“With all the discussion about price I wonder what it would cost to put a performing arts theater and café downtown where there isn’t even a location established for such a thing,” Wines said following the May 23 EDA meeting.  Absent from the May 23 EDA meeting were recent EDA meeting observers including councilmen Stan Brooks and Bret Hrbek and board of supervisors Chairman Archie Fox.  All have expressed reservations or outright opposition to the Wayside asset purchase.

 Town contribution

 Also on May 23, Front Royal Town Manger Michael Graham told the EDA the town’s proposed 2009 budget of $35 million reflected 7.6 percent in cuts to allow a balanced budget with no tax increases to be forwarded.

Town EDA board appointee Steve Sill asked Graham if the 7.6 percent in cuts included eliminating EDA operational funding from the town budget.  Sill’s question came in the wake of a may 12, 4-1 council vote to withdraw all operational funding due to unresolved and ‘ongoing issues” with the EDA over assets, procedures and board makeup.  The motion was made by Brooks and seconded by Hrbek.  Only Mayor elect Eugene Tewalt voted against withdrawing the EDA funding, Vice Mayor Tim Darr was absent due to his pending kidney transplant, which went off successfully on May 20 (see related story).

Graham responded that pending the second reading of approval of the final budget with suggested amendments, the EDA operational funding request of $30,917 was still a part of the town’s budget.

Asked if that was likely to remain the case, Graham replied somewhat vaguely, “I serve the will of council.”

What that will , will be was scheduled to be revealed at Council’s May 27 board meeting when that second reading of approval of the town budget was scheduled.  Following the May 12 vote of approval of his motion to withdraw operational funding of the EDA from the town budget, Brooks expressed a willingness to listen to arguments against that withdrawal.

Numbers & time

During presentation of his motion Brooks specified that any town financial commitment to EDA debt service would be paid as legally required.  The town’s share of EDA’s 2009 debt service is $37,484 compared to $149,894 from the county.  The EDA will cover $53,484 of its debt service, as well as $84,000 in capital expenses.

The total EDA funding request from the town for 2009 is $68,391.  That reflects a 37 percent decrease from the 2008 town funding of $109,462.  The EDA also asked the county for 27 percent less in 2009 funding.  The reduced numbers were achieved largely through increased contributions to its own funding by the EDA.  Those increases were enabled by additional income achieved through distribution of some of the EDA’s own land assets.

The EDA’s total operational funding request for the coming year is $506,196, $395,780 of which the EDA would fund.  The county-town EDA funding split of 72-28 percent includes $30,917 for operational from the town and $79,499 county funding for EDA operations.  The EDA’s total budget proposal for 2009 is $831,048.  That is a 3 percent reduction over the 2008 figure of 855,700.