The Warren Sentinel

May 27, 2010

EDA discusses Royal Phoenix

By Angelle Barbazon

Line by line and item by item, the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority recently delved deep into the restrictive covenants for the Royal Phoenix site in hopes of finding ways to open the property up to new types of businesses.

The EDA met May 19 to review the site’s development guidelines, which are overseen by a group of stakeholders.  Current restrictions prohibit certain land uses on the property, including schools, packing plants, homes, meeting halls and other businesses.

The 161-acre property is part of the former Avtex Fibers site located on the northeast side of Kendrick Lane.  The rayon manufacturing plant shut down operations in 1989 after pollution was discovered in the area’s groundwater.

There is no clear reason why some uses, like schools, are prohibited, EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald said.

“We have an assumption that they thought this site would never be as clean as it’s going to be,” she said.  “In 1999, it was very contaminated.  They didn’t know how clean it is going to be, so they went through and said if this is a contaminated site, we do not want an educational facility here.”

James Madison University is interested in using space at the Royal Phoenix site as a satellite campus for its adult degree program.  The properties restrictions have halted progress for the project until the covenants are revised.  Warren County Attorney Blair Mitchell said the EDA would like to open the property up to several types of uses, especially schools, restaurants and offices, while keeping some restrictions in place.

The EDA plans to seek input from town and county officials and meet with the Environmental Protection Agency in July to discuss the changes.  The amendments would them go to the Department of Justice for final review.