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Old school decision suspended, again
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
WARM SPRINGS - The fate of the Old Millboro School continues to hang in limbo after a two-hour public hearing Tuesday night.
The board of supervisors, faced with limited choices for the aging structures, directed county administrator Bonnie Johnson to solicit firm bid prices for abating the asbestos in the buildings. The asbestos removal will be required no matter what option the board later chooses for the buildings.
In addition to bids for handling the asbestos, the board asked Johnson to get bids for demolishing only the 1960s section of the building complex, and a separate price for demolishing and removing all of the structures.
The cost of demolishing the buildings is estimated to be $300,000 more than partial demolition and turning them over to Spectrum Design for conversion to apartments. Supervisors indicated they would make a decision based on the estimates and comments from the public hearings.
The majority of those who spoke Tuesday and at previous hearings favors total removal of the buildings with the county retaining ownership of the nine-acre parcel.
"It boils down to those two options," John Garland of Spectrum Design said. Garland and his partner, William Huber, propose to convert the older buildings into apartments if the county will pay to remove the asbestos and the 1960s section.
The other option is to demolish all the buildings and convert the space to open park land.
Garland and Huber made two presentations in Millboro - one in July and another in August - about their company and the proposed adaptive reuse of the school buildings as 18 apartments.
Because there were nearly 60 people attending, the board moved upstairs to the circuit courtroom. Garland was not able to use any visuals during his presentation, but everyone seemed to be familiar with the Spectrum plan.
One new twist arose when Millboro resident Kaye May read from the board's summary documents. A letter dated June 5 outlining the Spectrum proposal, May said, indicated the property would be turned over to a limited liability corporation owned solely by Huber and Garland.
"I can't see turning over more than three-quarters of a million in assets to two gentlemen," May said. "We have been misled."
Garland replied there was no intention to mislead. The ownership was put plainly in the letter, he said. Spectrum, as an architecture and engineering firm, does not own real estate, he explained. The ownership of the property by an LLC is the original intent and is still the intent, Garland said.
Those opposed to the Spectrum plan were concerned about additional traffic and noise in the neighborhood, the nature of the tenants, and the proximity of those tenants to the pool, and the loss of a county asset to private ownership.
Hot Springs resident Terry Kershner spoke from her experience with her children playing sports and from working in real estate. "To me, this is a no brainer," Kershner said. "They are not making any more land." Millboro's site is a "prime piece of level real estate," she added. If the county turns the property over for conversion to apartments, she told supervisors, "You are asking for a whole spectrum of problems."
Kershner pointed to the lack of sanctioned fields in the county for baseball and soccer. In addtion to more playing fields, the county needs a track, she said. She encouraged the board to develop a long term vision for recreation, using the Millboro site after the school buildings are removed.
Mary Barnes was one of the few who favored Spectrum's proposal. "Our county is very cheap," she said. "We want to spend as little as possible, and letting the buildings deteriorate over the past 18 years is an example."
Like many of those on both sides of the issue, Barnes said, "You cannot not do something."
Barnes pointed out Spectrum's proposal is the only solid plan the county has ever had for the buildings.
Bacova resident Pat Haynes wondered what citizens of Bath County had against people who live in multi-family housing. "What's wrong with living in apartments?" he asked. He recounted how excited he was to have his first apartment when he moved to Bath County. "Who's going to be running on those tracks? What's the fuel that's going to run the economic engine? Jobs. These people have to live somewhere."
Haynes owns one of the few other apartment complexes in the county - 16 units on Klondike Hill in Warm Springs. "We need places for people to start out," he stressed.
Supervisor Richard Byrd said, "This board is not going to do nothing." He said many people told him they thought board members had made up their minds before the hearing. Byrd assured them the board would consider the concerns of the public as well as the cost to the county.
Supervisor Stuart Hall and chairman Cliff Gilchrest thanked Garland and Huber for the time they have spent on the proposal and the trips to Bath County for meetings.
"The general consensus from Millboro is, you don't want apartments," said supervisor Jon Trees, adding he believed the county does need good affordable housing. While residents have made it clear they don't want apartments he said, he wondered how much each person was willing to have taxes raised.
Trees said an additional nickel per $100 of valuation would pay the $800,000 estimated to demolish the entire building complex.
No decision on the fate of the Spectrum proposal or demolishing the buildings was made, nor was any additional hearing scheduled.
The board expects to have firm estimates for the two options by the next meeting Oct. 9. Now that hearings have been held, the board may vote to take action at that meeting.
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