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Bath capital requests top $1 million
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
WARM SPRINGS - While everyone is talking about recession and lean budgets, the Bath County Planning Commission approved and sent to supervisors a five year Capital Improvement Plan with just over $1 million in capital requests for the coming fiscal year.
The request approved did not include debt service for the Bath County High School renovations, nearly $800,000 remaining to complete the renovation, or the night's most controversial topic - $600,000 for the old Millboro school. The latter two items were not included since they will be paid for by money borrowed by the county.
The commission does not decide whether the county will appropriate money for any of the project request submitted by county and emergency services entities. Only supervisors can appropriate money, and some or all of the projects may be cut by the county board.
State code requires the county submit all capital requests to the planners for review and compliance with the comprehensive plan. Compliance with the plan by the proposed Millboro school project was a sticking point for planner Lynn Ellen Black.
Black wondered how giving land away fit into the comprehensive plan. The present plan for the school, as negotiated with Spectrum Associates, calls for the county to pay for asbestos abatement and to remove the non-historic parts of the structure. The county would then give the land and remaining structures to Spectrum for renovating into apartments.
Black said a number of times she did not agree with giving away the land, and didn't see anything in the comprehensive plan saying preserving history or promoting housing required the county to give land away.
Chairman Mike Grist said the $600,000 request for the old school fit either one of the options for the property. Even if the buildings are torn down, as many citizens have requested, and the county retains the lot as open space, the money would be required.
The planners voted to include Black's concerns with the capital improvement plan sent to supervisors.
Concerns about the $50,000 requested by the school system for a sports facilities study will also be included. David Keyser, representing Valley Springs district, started the discussion on the $50,000 study along with $100,000 for bleachers at the high school. Keyser asked why the study would be done after the bleachers were built. Keyser also wanted to know what would happen after bleachers are built.
School superintendent Dr. David Smith told planners the Virginia High School League would require additional parking and bathroom facilities, too, before the field would qualify for post-season play.
Planners left the $150,000 bleacher/study request in the capital plan, along with all the other requests. The school system request alone totaled $1,418,042 for the next fiscal year. Of that, $789,413 has already been allocated for completing BCHS and Mertz renovations.
Smith said the school board is requesting replacement of three aging buses - one new bus with a handicapped lift, one regular bus and a larger capacity bus to replace the activity bus.
"Every year we don't get buses puts us further and further behind," Grist responded. "There will be a day of reckoning."
Grants obtained by the county will offset more than $200,000 in capital expenses. The county will only have to pay about $100,000 toward the nearly half-million cost of a new animal shelter if a grant sought by Animal Control Officer Robbie Chestnut is approved. "You're talking about getting a nice shelter built for $100, 000," he said. The old shelter is literally falling down, Chestnut told planners. Recently he found the door off the hinges and feared someone had broken in. Instead, he said, the building had settled so much over night the door had popped off.
The original kennel was built in 1976 and was parked on the private property of the animal control officer. It was moved to the Hot Springs landfill and added to, but the base building is still on wheels.
"My shelter is falling down," Chestnut said. His request is marked as urgent. He hopes with a commitment from supervisors he will be able to obtain the 80-20 grant.
"The county has done a good job over the years funding emergency services," Grist noted in the discussion of a request by Bolar Volunteer Fire Department for $250,000 over the next two years for a new pumper/tanker fire truck.
Bolar Chief Jed Thomas said he was working with emergency services coordinator Andy Seabolt to obtain a grant, but had been told previously his small department would not qualify.
Seabolt said once the department jumps through all the paperwork hoops, grant money should be available.
Bolar serves the northern section of Bath County. Thomas said the response area in Bath technically runs from Muddy Run Road at U.S. 220 north to the county line. In practice, Bolar can reach the area from Rocky Ridge north faster than Hot Springs because of the mountain grades.
Currently the Bolar department has an old oil truck converted to a tanker which is no longer in service. Thomas said the brakes were bad and beyond repair. The other equipment consists of a 1979 pumper and two pickup trucks. One of the pickups is outfitted for brush fires, the other to haul equipment including the small amount of extrication equipment the department owns.
Highland County pays the insurance for the department; the rest of the money is raised by the volunteers.
Warm Springs district commissioner Mary Lynn Riner said, "It does make me uncomfortable Highland is not giving anything" toward the new truck. But she and the other planners agreed with Grist the board should not penalize the volunteers and Bath residents because Highland did not have money to contribute.
Thomas said he has been chief for less than two years and in that time, the department has added five new volunteers. "We have a huge area to cover," he said. The department has not bought anything with county money to this point, he added.
Other requests approved included a new furnace and heating system for the sheriff's office building and for the airport terminal building. The airport project will be mostly paid for by a grant.
Grants for E 911 and 911 systems will also add to the capital projects without costing the county money. A grant application approved Monday by the commissioners and Tuesday by supervisors will provide $30,000 to study and recommend solutions for flooding in Millboro along Cabin Creek.
Supervisors will review the capital requests as part of the budget process. The public can comment on any budget item, including capital projects, during public hearings on the budget.
In other action:
¦ Grist agreed to meet with other county officials and the JMU Virginia Wind Energy Collaborative, which is preparing a wind study for Bath County. After commenting briefly on the recent action taken to draft an equine ordinance, Grist noted wind energy would be the next big issue for planners. No action was taken and nothing has been placed on the agenda pending information from VWEC.
¦ At the request of county planner and zoning administrator Sherry Ryder, planners voted to request supervisors adopt land use regulations as Chapter 18 of the Bath County Code. Enforcement of land use regulations has been problematic recently, and Ryder explained the process is complicated further because land use regulations are not part of the county code. Ryder cannot obtain a warrant from a magistrate for violations, but instead must go through a complex and time-consuming process with the county attorney and the circuit court. Once the regulations are Chapter 18, Ryder said, she can go to the magistrate, obtain a violation citation, and matters in district court. This is similar to the way the animal warden and other enforcement officials operate.
¦ The Bath County Planning Commission meets the fourth Monday of the month in room 115 of the courthouse.
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