Strasburg council OKs sale of land, water tank repainting

Below is an article that appeared in the Northern Virginia Daily on February 10th, 2021. 

STRASBURG – The Strasburg Town Council took a few actions and discussed the affordable housing proposal while honoring a regional business on Tuesday.

Also during its regular meeting, with all members in attendance, the council voted 7-1 to allow the sale of .12 acres of land across from the old Water Treatment Plant, 388 West Queen St., to Dennis M. Morris for $5,000. Morris is a member of the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors.

Councilman John Massoud was the lone dissenter, saying he had heard complaints from residents and people outside of town that the sale wasn’t made publicly enough.

The town had discussed the sale at the week’s prior work session and didn’t discuss it during a closed-door session, which is typically done, Town Manager Wyatt Pearson said.

The land is shaped like a puzzle piece, surrounded by property that Morris owns, and the town has no use for it, Pearson added. The town will keep a .13 right of way near the property for an underground water main.

Mayor Brandy Boise, Vice Mayor Ken Cherrix and councilmembers Emily Reynolds, Dane Hooser, Christie Monahan, Doreen Ricard, Paul Weaver and Taralyn Nicholson voted in favor of the sale.

Pearson attempted to have the property appraised by three companies, but they all rejected doing so, he said. The town had bought the property in 1930, and Pearson adjusted that sale price with inflation to determine the price. Pearson and Morris negotiated the final deal from there and began discussing it about a year-and-a-half ago, Pearson said.

The council rejected a motion to table the sale, 6-2, with Nicholson and Massoud in the opposition. Real estate sales are not governed to have a bidding process, like other town assets, such as a chair or police cruiser, Pearson said.

Other votes from Tuesday included a unanimous vote to repaint the Fort Hill water tank, which was previously discussed at an infrastructure committee and full council work session meeting.

The exterior of the tank was discovered to be chipping away and has about 80,400 ppm of lead. Anything with lead above 1,000 ppm requires mitigation efforts, Public Works Director Jay McKinley has previously said. “Welcome to Strasburg” and a flag can be painted on the tank as part of the project, but lighting for it would need to be through an additional project.

The $489,096, three-month project is expected to be done by Suez Water Technologies and begin around April or May. The town would pay bout $165,534 of the costs for hazardous material removal because of an existing maintenance contract the town has with Suez.

Billing can be spread over the span of five years and won’t begin until the next fiscal year, after July 1. The council instructed the town to figure out a payment plan for the project while approving it.

The council also voted unanimously to approve personal property tax write-offs for personal property in the amount of $5,292, or 1.53% of the total amount billed in 2015, and utility bills, in the amount of $14,079, or .27% of the total amount billed in the 2014-15 year. There were no real estate tax write-offs this year.

According to state code, the town has five years to collect personal property taxes and 20 years to collect real estate taxes. Utility bills are written off when a customer has left the community and their service has been cut off, with no way of recovering payment from them.

A public hearing was held on the special permit proposal to build one 48-unit building on the about 10-acre Mowery Family Property East of Rt. 11.

Four letters were submitted in advance of the meeting, with everyone speaking against the project, citing concerns about traffic in the area, the building’s size being incompatible with the surrounding area and danger with a cavern located there. Another letter from a property owner surrounding the area said they were told the area would be wooded and the development would bring down their property values.

Lucinda Erbach, who lives on nearby Thompson Street, was the lone speaker during the hearing, saying she would rather see more, smaller buildings with 12 units in them that would allow for green space around them than the one building.

The property was zoned multi-family-residential in 1987. The town must approve any development proposal that meets requirements for the property, which includes buildings not having more than 12 units.

Because applicant Jen Surber, of Pleasant View VA LLC, wanted to build two buildings with 48-units, she had applied for a special use permit. The Planning Commission last week approved the permit for one building after Surber agreed to only build one of them. She said she has no intention to build smaller-density buildings and has heard from other developers who are interested in doing so. The lower-density buildings could be constructed at lower quality standards, Surber has said.

The council later discussed the proposal, including working with the town’s attorney to include with the permit additional parameters for the future development of the site. Massoud noted it is not guaranteed that a second building will not be built. Surber said during a phone interview Wednesday the town could reject a second special use permit for a second building if it is applied for at a later date.

The council is expected to vote on the permit on Feb. 16.

The council also passed a resolution commemorating the Rockingham Cooperative Resolution for its 100 years of service to the area.

Contact Charles Paullin at cpaullin@nvdaily.com