Can't never could

A night of new beginnings

After years of impotent shrugs from county officials on matters like the Tuckahoe Creek Service District debt and dearth of Broadband in Goochland, our new supervisors rolled up their sleeves after taking office and sought new answers for old, and seemingly un-answerable, questions.

During the evening session of its October 2 meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to authorize the sale of new bonds to finance part of the debt and heard the report of the Goochland High Speed Internet Committee (GHSIC.)

Both of these agenda items are the product of a new way of addressing the challenges that face Goochland. Neither initiative offers a magic bullet solution, but each is an important piece of a large and complicated puzzle.

County Administrator Rebecca Dickson explained that the new bonds will go to pricing on October 25, before the election, which is critical to take advantage of the current favorable interest rates. She said that the plan is “the very best transaction on the table.” This is a long term solution that is expected to reduce out year costs by 30 percent.

Board vice Chair, Ken Peterson, who is a key member of the county finance team, said that the initiative is a pivotal piece of solving the TCSD problem. He expressed appreciation for the cooperation of the new management at the Virginia Resources Authority for its willingness to cooperate in the plan.

Details of the plan are included in the October 2 board packet, which is on the county website.

Compared to broadband deployment to the entire county, complicated financial matters seem straightforward.

In the past decade or so, the internet has changed our world. The low population density of rural areas is unattractive to private sector providers who need high numbers of customers per wire mile to be profitable.

The GHSIC, which was created by the Supervisors in April, was formally disbanded on Tuesday. Working subgroups will continue to play a part in ongoing tasks. These include compiling requests for information, which has the side benefit of letting providers know that Goochland is a potential customer; and requests for proposals to obtain some realistic costs for possible solutions.

All members of the GHSIC are to be commended for their generous donation of copious amounts of time and expertise to the project. GHSIC vice chair Marshall Bowden, who presented the report to the supervisors, pointed out that many members of the committee have broadband access in their homes, making their efforts a true community service.

Included in the report, which is available at: http://www.co.goochland.va.us/Home/GoochlandCountyBroadbandeffortsinformation.aspx, are cost estimates for countywide broadband deployment.

Please note that these numbers are for information only. They range from $14.5 million for fiber to home to $1.4 million in construction costs for seven new towers that would make wireless options accessible to most homes in sparsely populated areas.

Relax. Aside from that fact that Goochland has no money for such expenditures, the supervisors have given no indication that they believe the county should get into the broadband business.

Bowden explained that success in rural broadband deployment is related to access to large sums of money like tobacco settlements or collaboration with existing utility infrastructure. Goochland has neither. To further complicate matters, we have too many people and too much wealth to be eligible for rural broadband initiatives.

GHSIC recommendations include adopting a multifaceted approach. That means that some places will be able to connect to Comcast, others have increasing alternative options including Verizon wireless and satellite providers. The drawback on the last two methods is that they do not provide consistent speed. Wireless connection speeds fluctuate dramatically depending on the number of users accessing a particular tower and weather conditions.

The GHSIC began its work by reviewing the Broadband study of 2008, but worked to compile its own list of existing communications assets. Mapping the location of fiber in the ground was more difficult. In the past few weeks, committee members discovered high capacity fiber lines throughout the county. They are still trying to figure out who owns them. Curiously, the county has no record of these lines, but VDOT right-of-way permits may offer clues.

While there is fiber running along Rtes. 250 and 6, access to this is very restricted. Bowden compared this fiber to an interstate highway with no on ramps. Finding ways to gain access to this fiber will be a delicate, and ongoing, task.

Bowden said that the county needs to create an environment that encourages collaboration with local businesses and private sector providers as well as find and actively pursue grant and other funding opportunities to “be bold and innovative” regarding broadband.

The county’s role in extending the reach of broadband to the entire county is that of a catalyst. This could include short term funding of some towers, or simply easing the rezoning process to ready a tower site. Anything to encourage and attract the private sector to invest in Goochland should be actively pursued.

In the past few years, several subdivisions have successfully negotiated to bring Comcast to their neighborhoods. Every time this happens and lines are extended, it raises the possibility of adding other users in a sort of capillary action.

The county can act as a clearing house for information sharing about broadband options throughout the county to help citizens find the best solution for their area.

Going forward, the county, with help from GHSIC working groups, will be open to the possibilities provided by changes in technology and an improving economy.

Light at the end of the tunnel

At a special called meeting on September 24, Goochland’s supervisors considered a plan to refund the Tuckahoe Creek Service District debt. There finally seems to be a light at the end of the TCSD tunnel and it is not an oncoming train.

Unlike the previous regime’s “it’s not our problem” approach to TCSD development and debt, this board understands that the TCSD will be either the county’s salvation or downfall, and prefers the former option.

County Administrator Rebecca Dickson explained that, since taking office in January, the supervisors put the highest priority on finding flotation devices for the TCSD debt anvil.

To that end, a complete set of fresh eyes were put on the problem.

This team is comprised of: District 5 supervisor Ken Peterson, who brought extensive high level professional experience in negotiating debt restructuring to the task; county staff including Dickson and John Wack, deputy county administrator for financial affairs; bond counsel, Kutak Rock; and financial advisor Public Financial Management.

New VRA members receptive to Goochland’s efforts to deal with its debt also made the proposed financing changes possible.

In a major attitudinal shift from the old regime, the new board has embraced a full speed ahead approach to economic development that includes: hiring Matt Ryan as economic development director; dedicating resources for a Goochland-centric economic development website, which is expected to be in operation by Thanksgiving, and working closely with the state, major landowners and anyone else who can bring businesses to Goochland.

Dickson said that other initiatives to mitigate TCSD issues are being explored by the county. These include selling water to “another party” to increase water usage, and increasing the size of the TSCD. Adding land and users to the TCSD will spread the cost of operating and maintaining the county’s utility system.

Taming the enormous debt, however, will go down as one of the most significant actions of this board.

For reasons lost in the mists of time, and conveniently forgotten by those involved, the county entered into an unusual, some might say peculiar, agreement to borrow $62.7 million from the Virginia Resources Authority (VRA) in 2002.

Dickson characterized the 2002 TCSD financing package as “quite unique,” depending on a large amount of economic development, which “never came.”

Among the many problems with the initial deal, was that the county failed to comply with a requirement that the maximum annual payment, $9 million, be set aside in a reserve. Goochland never had that, said Dickson.

High level discussions about the existing bonds and ways to reshape the debt have been ongoing for most of 2012. Several scenarios, said Dickson, were “developed, vetted, altered and vetted again” before the final proposal emerged.

The proposed restructuring will extend the life of the debt for five years, but reduce the annual payments to around $6 million. Portions of the debt are callable and will be replaced with newly issued bonds taking advantage of the currently favorable interest rates.

West Creek principal Tommy Pruitt congratulated the supervisors on the debt plan. “None of you were there at the creation of this unique mess,” he told the Board. “You were elected to solve problems.”

Pruitt explained that uncertainty about the ad valorem tax discouraged business activity in West Creek because it was impossible to provide long range tax cost projections. He noted that the proposal has Peterson’s “fingerprints all over it” and, while not the total solution, is a great start.

Board chair Ned Creasey District 3, commended the team for its efforts. “You did the undoable,” he said.



Dickson said that the restructuring will spread out the debt payments, providing time for the TCSD to grow. She said that they hoped this would make it possible to hold the ad valorem tax at 32 cents. No mention was made of a reduction in water and sewer rates or the ad valorem tax, although that may happen as both the value of the TCSD and number of utility customers increases.

Creasey also said that, because Goochland is morally obligated to pay off the debt, he could not promise that the entire county would never be saddled with debt service costs.

This is a good indication that the board is basing its decisions on factual, current data, not wishful thinking. The use of conservative growth assumptions also bodes well for its success.

The strategy that will be used to accomplish this feat, which many believed was impossible, is quite financially sophisticated. Details may be found on the supervisors’ section of the county website www.co.goochland.va.us.

A resolution on this initiative will be voted on by the board tomorrow evening, October 2, during the evening portion of its regular monthly meeting. The session will also be available via live streaming over the internet.

Although there is ample blame to lay at the feet of those who created the unique mess of the TCSD, this board has chosen to fix the problems it inherited and work toward a better future. Other levels of government could learn from events in Goochland.

Marathon

The September 20 meeting of the Goochland County Planning Commission was the longest session for this group in quite some time. The meeting began at 6 p.m. and adjourned approximately six hours later. (An audio recording and live stream of the meeting is available on the planning commission portion of the county website: www.co.goochland.va.us)

Placing two emotional and contentious public hearings on the same agenda shows callous disregard for the citizens. This ignorance of the passion that land use matters can stir in Goochlanders is a consequence of decisions made by people who do not live here or understand the dynamics of our community.

Zoning laws provide a mechanism to ensure balance between property rights of a land owner and the health, safety and welfare of the community. As an advisory body to the Board of Supervisors, which rules on land use matters, the planning commission is charged with investigation of land use changes and making recommendations on pending applications.

Attendees at the public hearings filled the board meeting room and three other viewing rooms.

An application for a conditional use permit to allow operation of a sporting clays shooting course on Orapax Plantation, which is just west of Courthouse Village south of Rt. 6, was deferred pending completion of some sort of sound test.

This is at least the third time in more than 20 years that Orapax has sought the county’s blessing for a sporting clays course. That path wound its way past the board of supervisors, which repeatedly denied permission for the shooting range, and through Goochland Circuit Court. The last attempt, in 2007, included a tie vote at Board of Zoning Appeals upholding the county’s denial, which seemed to have been carefully orchestrated by the former county attorney. During the last trip to Circuit Court in 2009, the BZA appeal was dismissed.

Even before the public hearing began, it was quite clear that the application was not ready for planning commission consideration because it did not contain any objective information about the impact of sound and vibration on the immediate area. The applicant, said Coleman, declined to provide a sound study demonstrating that the noise generated by the proposed course would not exceed 60 decibels at the Rt. 6 entrance to Orapax.

Tom Dykers, son of applicants Andrew and Nancy Dykers, spoke on behalf of his parents. He said that the proposed range is much farther away from Rt. 6 than the previous range and that his parents received a request for a sound study from the county on September 15.

For almost three hours, people spoke for and against the CUP. Although comments were limited to three minutes, many speakers rudely ignored the rules and continued to talk.

Longtime neighbors of Orapax told the commission said that when Orapax operated a shooting range without a county permit, about twenty years ago, it generated unbearable and constant noise that could be heard miles away.

One Dogtown Road resident stated that her husband, a military veteran, suffers from post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD,) and operation of a shooting range nearby would be devastating for him.

Gun enthusiasts generally supported the CUP, contending that responsible shooting is a rural pastime and should be allowed. A gentleman from York County said that he lives quite close to an active shooting range there and said that he and his neighbors have grown accustomed to the noise.

Although there was much discussion of the loudness and distance the sound of gunfire carries, no one mentioned that, depending on atmospheric conditions, train whistles can be heard miles from county railroad tracks.

County assessor Glenn Branham said that noise from shooting ranges has a negative impact on property values and that he has reduced valuation of some properties on Lee Road, which are near the Department of Corrections shooting range.

Happily, the hearing did not degenerate into a pro and anti-gun debate. All speakers acknowledged that the main issue is noise. The application did not include any information about the intensity of noise expected to be generated by the range, which will be farther away from Route 6 than the previous range.

The Commissioners ultimately determined they were unable to make a ruling on the application without an objective way to gauge the intensity of the sound and vibration generated by the proposed range.

Although commission chair Courtney Hyers, District 5, contended that the county should pay for a professionally conducted sound study, her fellow commissioners agreed that taxpayers should not pick up the tab. Thomas Rockecharlie, at large, who is an experienced engineer, said that a consultant report couched in in terms of decibels, would have little meaning to him.

A real time demonstration of the proposed course in operation with the commissioners and public in attendance will be scheduled. At least one commissioner should be stationed at the home of the veteran with PTSD. Others should be stationed neighboring homes to judge the impact of the noise and vibration for themselves. Staff and Orapax will work out other details.

The Orapax CUP application must receive fair treatment. The supervisors must judge the application objectively and on its merits. They must also be willing to take heat for the consequences of their decision, whatever that may be.



It was well after 10 p.m. when the commission addressed the last matter on its agenda, a rezoning application for land at the entrance to the Bellview Gardens subdivision. This is the same site where the landowner wanted to locate the Goodwill facility, which is currently under construction near the Broadview shopping center.

Coleman’s presentation of the application seemed a tad vague. He replied “I don’t know” to several questions posed by the commission. He should be able to anticipate queries from the commission and have pertinent information at his fingertips.

The rezoning application proposes a one story medical office park with two buildings totaling 19,000 square feet and an appropriate number of parking spaces. The application includes the usual elevations of attractive well landscaped buildings.

Access to the project would be from Mills Road, the two lane residential street that provides the sole access to Bellview Gardens.

Thomas Kinter, speaking for the applicant, contended that the proposed use is very compatible with a residential development and that it would be in use during business hours when the residents are at work.

Residents of Bellview Gardens, some of whom sat through more than four hours of public hearings on other matters with their children, once again pleaded passionately for their neighborhood.

They pointed out that Bellview Gardens residents include retirees and stay at home mothers, who are around during the daytime.

They contended that the proposed office use would bring a great deal of unwanted traffic into the neighborhood. The specter of Mills Road, the entrance road to the subdivision, becoming a major, and heavily trafficked, entrance into the large and undeveloped parcel of land just north of Bellview Gardens loomed large over the proceedings.

Hyers commented that the issues in this matter are the same as they were with Goodwill. She labeled the proposal as the worst kind of spot zoning. She said that an incursion of commercial use into a close knit neighborhood is not acceptable.

District 4 commissioner Joe Andrews, observed that the proposal is consistent with residential office zoning. He said that it fits and was the only planning commissioner to vote against the recommendation for denial.

 Rockecharlie  said that he agrees that the application is not consistent with the comprehensive plan but cautioned that there will be future attempts to place commercial development of some sort there.

Derrick Murray, District 3 commended Bellview Gardens for its organized resolve to oppose this rezoning application.

If the ultimate goal of placing commercial development on Mills Road is to pave the way for an entrance road to the parcel behind Bellview Gardens, developers should channel their energies elsewhere. The people who live in Bellview Gardens are smart, energized and determined to protect their little slice of heaven. If the owners of the front parcels, whoever they may be, really want to develop this land, they need to work closely with the homeowners and come to a mutually acceptable conclusion.

Given that the parcel of land on the north side of Broad Street Road just east of Rt. 288 is for sale and zoned for commercial use, the repeated attempts to rezone land on Mills Road lend credence to suspicions that a hidden agenda is in play here.

The Board of Supervisors, which makes the final decision on the application, is expected to vote on the matter on November 7.

White smoke

Following a search done with all deliberate speed, Goochland has a new superintendent of schools.

At its September 11 meeting, the School Board voted unanimously to appoint James F. Lane, Ed.D. the current superintendent of schools in Middlesex County, as superintendent of schools. A four year contract with him was also approved. Lane’s salary will be $130,000 and he will report for duty on December 12.

According to a statement read by School Board Chair Beth Hardy, District 4, Lane was among 45 applicants and seven finalists from 13 states who applied for the position.

Hardy cited Lane’s expertise in the areas of finance, student achievement and innovation as factors that propelled him to the front of the pack. His experience also includes a stint as a middle school band director, which should bode well for Goochland’s music programs.

In a brief statement, Lane said that he is excited about moving to Goochland with his wife and three year-old son and becoming part of the community. He said that he has been drawn to Goochland and that being superintendent of schools here is his “dream job.”

Providing further evidence that he does not plan to hunker down in the central office, Lane said that he plans to do a listening tour before he starts work to find out what makes Goochland special and learn the community’s expectations of its school system.

Dr. Pete Gretz, assistant superintendent since 2008, has served as interim superintendent since late spring and will be Lane’s second chair.

“We express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Gretz for his hard work. His focus and leadership skills have been a critical part of managing through this transition, and he will continue to lead us in many of these areas even after Dr. Lane officially assumes his role,” said Hardy.

Board vice chair John Wright District 5 echoed Hardy’s sentiment thanking Gretz for his “insight and professionalism.”

The selection of Lane was the culmination of a thorough, yet speedy search for a new superintendent. The School Board actively sought, received, and incorporated community input during the selection process. This was yet another new way of doing things in our school system.

Middlesex, whose county seat is Saluda, has about half as many people and public school students as Goochland. Its school budget for fiscal 2012 was just under $12 million.

Lane’s appointment bodes well for the future of public education in Goochland and confirms the wisdom of county voters who replaced the entire school board last November.

To be sure, our school system still faces many challenges. Funding is perhaps the most serious concern. Until real estate values rebound and aggressive economic development policies generate additional revenue, doing more with less will be the new norm.

The September 11, meeting, the first regular meeting since school started on August 20, was a textbook example of conducting the people’s business. (Meetings are streamed live. Recordings are posted under the school board tab of the website: www.glndk12.va.us, which is well worth a visit.)

Gone are the mute bobble heads of yore, replaced with elected officials who are engaged and informed about the matters at hand.

The school year began with a new attitude.

Sekou Shabaka, President of the Goochland NAACP, told the board that he was “overjoyed” with the new order in the high school, where students are expected to be ready to learn and sagging pants unacceptable. He thanked the board for implementing a “new way of doing things” in our schools.

Shabaka also wanted to know why, in the 18 years that Goochland has participated in the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, we have sent just two African American students to this prestigious institution. He asked the school board to put a clear and transparent system in place to illustrate how decisions about who goes to the Governor’s School are made and who makes them.

During last year’s campaign, Kevin Hazzard District 2 proposed creation of volunteer advisory committees to address matters including grant writing, energy conservation, and community and minority involvement.

Of particular importance, contended Hazzard, is a committee to secure grant money to supplement the school budget. To date, only two people have stepped forward to join this group.

Hazzard likened the grant writing process to a machine with many parts working together for a particular outcome.

These “parts” include: hunting and gathering to identify grant opportunities; working with teachers to understand and identify resources they need to meet a particular goal; determining if Goochland schools can deliver demonstrable results after a grant been obtained, and compiling supporting data for the actual grant application.

To find out more, go to: http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/index/site/news/advisory_committees/

This school board is working hard to ensure that each student in our school reaches their full potential in spite of fiscal challenges. The good news is that the board has just gotten started.

On a perfect Tuesday morning

Eleven years ago ordinary people went about their business on an ordinary Tuesday morning. Before the day was over, many were dead and America forever changed.

Thousands of people in New York, Virginia, and a field in Pennsylvania made the ultimate sacrifice, casualties in a war few knew we were fighting.

In the days, months, and years following the 9/11 attacks, America came together. During the immediate aftermath, we watched, numbed by horror, as abominations of the attack were revealed in dreadful detail. Our hearts beat as one in grief for the dead, for our country, for our future.

The wanton slaughter of ordinary people and the firefighters, police officers, and EMS providers, who tried to save them, will forever be etched on our consciousness. Our generosity shined bright as we collected money for the survivors of the lost, knowing too well that money cannot fill the hole in a life left by a departed spouse, parent, or child.

Flags were everywhere. We went out of our way to thank firefighters, EMS folk, and law enforcement officers across the country. We understood that they stand between us and calamity every day.

We wanted revenge. Our most valuable treasure—the men and women of America’s military—was sent to foreign lands in pursuit of an ethereal enemy. There was a measure of retribution, but the cost was enormous.

During the ensuing years, we’ve adjusted to a new normal. We’re not quite as free as we used to be, but rationalize that this is for our protection. We remove our shoes and watch our carry-ons searched as we go through airport security, praying that no fellow passengers have secreted a bomb in their checked luggage. Some of us “close our eyes and think of America” as we are pulled aside and “patted down” by TSA officials.

As a nation trained to expect instant gratification, we’ve grown weary of an extended shadow war with few battles and too much maiming, whose justification we’ve forgotten, if we ever knew.

We wonder if the absence of terror attacks since 9/11 was luck, or the result of hard work by people who toil in obscurity to foil the bad guys.

As an inherently good people, we argue about locating a mosque near Ground Zero rather than prohibiting it outright. We want to think the best of everyone, but cannot squelch suspicion when a young couple, she in a head scarf, chat in a foreign language as they point and smile at lower Manhattan.

We pause to remember the fallen, and pay homage to the police, firefighters, and EMS responders, who see us at our worst and always give us our best. If we cannot rekindle the spark of unity forged in grief and anger eleven years ago without the catalyst of catastrophe, what has America become since that perfect Tuesday in September?

A parade to the future

Goochland’s new supervisors seem to have hit their stride as they settle in for the long haul. Following its budget sprint in the first few months of 2012, the board is now working its way through a very long and complicated to-do list.

Although there are many matters that seem to require the supervisors’ attention, they move quickly through their monthly meeting agendas.

Being proactive, the Board approved a parade permit ordinance. Sheriff James L. Agnew asked that the issue be addressed to ensure that large, mobile gatherings have adequate traffic control to keep people safe and minimize disruption for Goochland citizens.

Agnew explained that, because the Goochland Sheriff’s office is a relatively small agency it needs time to respond to request for law enforcement officers at an event. He said that the county needs to have processes and people in place to prevent problems. Regardless of the circumstances of problems, Goochland will be blamed if something goes wrong.

The proposed permit fee was reduced to $25 after discussion. The law enforcement cost is $40 per hour per officer with a three hour minimum, said Agnew. That expense is paid by the sponsoring organization.


In the afternoon portion of the September 4, routine matters were dispatched in fewer than 90 minutes. The board then entered closed session to confer with County Attorney Norman Sales “...regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice relating to meetings of the Board of Supervisors, as permitted by Section 2.2-3711(A)(7) of the Code of Virginia.”

Following the closed meeting, the supervisors and other county officials met with Goochland’s delegation to the Virginia General Assembly. As all of these legislators: Senator Tom Garrett and Delegates Lee Ware and Peter Farrell, have represented Goochland only since January 1, this session was a good opportunity for them to learn about challenges facing our county.

Items on the meeting’s agenda included revision of the composite index used by the state to determine the amount of tax dollars returned to Goochland. The method used to compute this index does not reflect the wide income disparity among our citizens.

 Let’s hope that our new delegation understands the need for reform. Whenever state Senator Walter Stosch, who formerly represented the eastern portion of Goochland, was asked about the issue his comments often referenced airborne swine.

Other issues scheduled for discussion with legislators included future use of Department of Corrections’ land and VDOT reform.

Except for District 4 supervisor Bob Minnick, this board campaigned together with a common vision for Goochland, something the county has never seen before. Once in office, the new supervisors, including Minnick, set about putting that vision in place.

This board promised to concentrate on a few core issues, including public safety and economic development. Items addressed in the evening session’s public hearing brought the supervisors’ resolve into focus.

They lost no time tackling an issue that the previous regime avoided like the plague — cost recovery for ambulance transport by Goochland EMS personnel.

During budget workshops held in the first few months of the year, the supervisors supported the concept of cost recovery to provide a non-tax dollar revenue stream to fund fire-rescue. On September 4, they voted unanimously to implement the program.

Cost recovery, which bills insurance companies for ambulance transport is an administrative procedure. There will be no change in the way that emergency medical services are delivered in Goochland. The important thing to understand is that NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED EMS CARE. This is a user fee plain and simple. Many jurisdictions in Virginia successfully use this system.

The program will take effect January 1, 2013. Based on information presented during budget workshops, the county expects to realize about $500,000 in revenue in the first year. An outside firm will be retained to handle the billing. The supervisors asked for periodic updates to measure the effectiveness and success of the program.

Cost recovery will allow the county to generate revenue to cover the cost of responding to a large and growing number of EMS calls on Interstate 64 and state route 288. Patients transported from these incidents tend not to live, or pay taxes in Goochland.

The previous board rejected the notion of cost recovery for many years. Sherwood Sackett, president of the Goochland Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association Board of Directors told the board that all of the county’s fire-rescue volunteers support implementation of cost recovery.

As a practical matter, few people will realize, or care, that the change has been made. Citizens give little thought to fire or EMS until they have an emergency. Then, they want an ambulance or fire truck at their door as fast as possible. Currently, fire-rescue is funded by a combination of tax dollars and citizen contributions to the county’s six fire-rescue companies. Paid responders have augmented the volunteer corps for several years.

Cost recovery will also help to ease the way as Goochland moves inevitably toward a fully career provider system. Delivery of EMS is physically, intellectually and often emotionally demanding. Our county is blessed with a dedicated corps of extraordinary individuals who give huge of amounts of their time and talents in the most vital of community services. Their numbers are dwindling and few new residents have the time or inclination to join their ranks.

Earlier in the evening, a conditional use permit extension granted to Markel Properties and the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club for a soccer complex in West Creek morphed into an economic development initiative.

The initial CUP was grudgingly granted five years ago in spite of citizen complaints about the county accommodation of a Richmond soccer club while Goochland kids were forced to play soccer on barely adequate fields built over an old landfill.

In the interim, the county has acquired land for soccer fields and the Strikers have built an impressive eight field soccer complex in West Creek, on 38.7 acres of the old Motorola site, which includes extensive parking lots. A restroom facility uses, and pays for, TCSD water and sewer. Dire predictions that Goochland EMS would be overwhelmed by the complex never materialized. In fact, Strikers provides its own EMS coverage for events.

The Strikers simply requested an extension of the original CUP, which includes a prohibition on lighting. The board, realizing the economic impact of the thousands of people who visit the site annually for tournaments, amended the application to increase the number of tournaments allowed from six to a maximum of 12 per year.

According to Striker official Scott Turner, its events are the largest driver of hotel occupancy in the Richmond region, more than NASCAR. While there are currently no hotels in Goochland, Turner said that Striker events will fill any future hotels. That would mean full occupancy for 12 weekends per year.

He also said that the Strikers would work with the county to promote restaurants and other businesses in Goochland to tournament attendees who tend to head to Short Pump. Reportedly, Wawa has asked the Strikers for advance notice of tournaments so that it can be adequately stocked to handle tournament driven demand for items like bottled water.

Turner explained that, although extensive discussions about sharing Striker fields with GUSA were held, little happened. He did report that other community groups have used the facility for other purposes.

Marshall Bowden, chair of the Goochland Economic Development Authority spoke in support of the CUP and the increase in tournament days. He urged the board to consider dark sly compliant lighting because “there will be lights in West Creek.”

Jonathan Lyle, a Director of the Monacan Soil and Water District pointed out that sports tourism is a growth area in the region and an excellent opportunity for economic development.

The supervisors also asked staff to investigate the possibility of permitting the Striker fields to be lit, following dark sky protocols, to increase its use. County administrator Rebecca T. Dickson said that lighting prohibition for private school athletic fields could be a factor in this matter.

Staff will also pursue additional signage with VDOT to help tournament attendees find the place. Perhaps a numbered street address that could be plugged into a GPS would help there.

Same old, same old?

As the Benedictine issue, which seems to be more about settling old scores than educating young men, continues to fester, it’s hard not to compare the situation to the Paws Inn matter. In both cases, zoning regulations seemed to be used for purposes other than orderly development.

In the four or so years since the notion of moving Benedictine Prepatory High School (BHP) from its venerable, but landlocked, location Sheppard Street in Richmond to River Road first surfaced allegations of all sorts have flowed freely.

Those in favor of the move contend that the school will enhance property values in the River Road corridor. Those against the move contend just the opposite.

During many discussions of the move, representatives of BHP cited its traditions of honor and integrity and pledged to be a good neighbor.

Last December, an eighty percent lame duck board of supervisors voted 3-1-1 in favor of granting the conditional use permit that BHP needed to proceed with the move. That vote followed a lengthy public hearing before an overflow crowd. Current Board of Supervisors chair Ned Creasey District 3 voted against the measure. Former District 5 supervisor James Eads abstained, contending that an outgoing board had no business voting on a matter that would unfold after it was out of office.

Land use regulations are tricky. Ideally, they are applied fairly to protect all parties involved. The can also be extremely complicated to enforce or can be used as a cudgel.

As the BHP matter moves toward its second round in Goochland Circuit Court – the first was dismissed because the judge found that no one had yet been wronged - the details of the dispute grow more opaque.

If the sole bone of contention that prevents BHP from completing its move is indeed construction of access lanes, it should find a way to comply with county rules. During the public hearing, BHP representatives waved its honor code and integrity while pledging to follow county regulations. If BHP operated on the premise that once a CUP was secured it could do as it pleased, that’s not going to fly.

On the other hand, the county should not pick every nit of the zoning laws to prevent the BHP move. It looks too much like the new board is granting favors to friends, one of the reasons their opponents were voted out of office. However, the county is obligated to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the citizens. So, it must stand fast to ensure that BHP meets its obligations.

There is just too much about the entire situation that is not, and probably never will, be widely known. That vacuum of information is being filled with personal interpretations.

Both sides must come together and find common ground to end this mess.

The supervisors need to resolve this issue because it is a distraction from the more important matters they must address. They must remember that perception is not necessarily based on fact.

If BHP really wants to move to Goochland, it too must do whatever is necessary to resolve this.

Goochland cannot be taken seriously until the drama ends.