The more things change

November 19, marked the tenth anniversary of Goochland on my mind. Thank you,  faithful followers for continuing to visit and read posts.

On November 13, for the second time, the first was in 2015, the Goochland School Board generously nominated GOMM to the Virginia School Board media honor roll. This undeserved recognition is humbling. It is an honor to share even a morsel of the good news coming out of our school system.

Surprisingly, there have been relatively few comments in response to posts. Any comment that is civil, polite, and pertains to the subject matter at hand, will be shared. 

The comments were interesting. In the beginning,  people submitted ad hominem attacks on public officials rather than take issue with specific viewpoint. Quite a few have been submitted in foreign languages,  including the Cyrillic and Arabic alphabets. One took the form of an eight digit number. Some seemed to have been random words selected from an English dictionary.

Feel free to chime in, you can do so anonymously.

The first post dealt with the announcement that Hospital Corporation of America would build a “hospital” in West Creek. The hospital turned out to be a free- standing emergency room with vague promises of more to come. Nevertheless it was a good first step.

Lots of things have followed, most since 2012. Today, steel girders reach toward the sky as the Sheltering Arms rehabilitation hospital takes shape on West Creek’s north shore. We have apartments, an Audi dealer, many purveyors of potent potables, and other kinds of economic development unthought of a decade ago.

Goochland Schools are top notch. Our real estate tax rate has stayed 53 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, no small feat during the drastic economic downturn.

In 2009, when the economy was still in freefall and county finances tight,  a helicopter was hired to dry off the GHS football field after heavy rains. The tab allegedly paid by a booster group—that was before the school division learned how to spell the word transparency. This year, games were moved to drier field during playoffs. Go Bulldogs!

The first six months or so of GOMM chronicled the melt down of county administration following the discovery of uncashed checks in the utility office. Looking back, it is hard to believe that  Goochland government was ever that  bizarre, but it was.

Along the way, there were  sighting reports of the Devil Monkey, Goochland’s own cryptozoological phenomenon. Those who claimed to have seen it were firm in their contention that it exists, others scoffed. It did spawn the short lived Devil Monkey ice cream shop in Courthouse Village.

In a November 8, 2010 post, GOMM presciently observed that Eric Cantor, then U. S. Congressman for the 7^th District, who won reelection by a hefty margin on his way to becoming House Majority Leader, could find himself in the loser column if he failed to deliver on campaign promises. Cantor was defeated in a 2014 primary by Dave Brat, who was himself defeated this year. Term limits are unnecessary if citizens vote.

Land use was and is a regular GOMM topic. In 2010, a B3 zoning district was created to attract hotels to interstate interchanges. Our first hotel, opposite the Wawa on Broad Street Road, seems to have finally broken ground, or as the result of the recent rains, mud. It is not zoned B3.

There have been a few high profile controversies. The relocation of Benedictine Preparatory School from the museum district of Richmond to the Abbey on River Road, just east of Rt. 288 caused a stir both among neighbors of the east end property and alumni of the school. The issue generated  several lengthy standing room only public hearings and a few trips to circuit court. The move was made and the sun still rises in the east.

A former treasurer served prison time for embezzling from county coffers.

In 2011, the earth moved in August and the electorate moved in November to replace the entire school board and four of the five supervisors. Things changed radically.

Another high profile case was an application filed by the Orapax Hunting Preserve for a sporting clays shooting range. This too generated disagreement; the public hearing before the supervisors ended well after 1 a.m. The Board approved a conditional use permit that pleased neither side, but ended the contention over the matter that had festered for years.

The new board got to work after taking office in 2012. Its most pressing task was to deal with the Tuckahoe Creek Service District debt, which threated to swamp the county’s economy. Thanks to a great deal of effort, as much of the outstanding obligation as possible was refinanced. New construction in the TCSD, which generates connection fees and new ad valorem taxes to service the huge debt, has drastically lessened the threat. The county went from having a bond rating lower than that of Detroit, to earning highest bond ratings from both Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s, among the smallest population counties to do so. Excellence in fiscal responsibility is the new normal.

Goochland is a land of contrast populated by wonderful people. There have been  many changes in the past decade and more are waiting in the wings! While GOMM concentrates on county government, it opines on other topics from time to time. There are many stories left to tell.  Stay tuned.