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From The Northern Virginia Daily dated Wednesday 20 Oct 2010.

By Linwood Outlaw III - loutlaw@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- A public hearing will be held next month on a rezoning proposal from town and Warren County officials that seeks to preserve land containing remains of the historic Robert McKay Jr. house and free up the rest of the property for future commercial development.

The Warren County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Nov. 10 regarding a request to rezone the 9-acre property near the intersection of Reliance Road and U.S. 340-522 (Winchester Road), from agricultural to commercial.

The property contains ruins of the charred McKay house, outbuildings and spring. The rest of the site is vacant. The town and county each own a respective portion of the McKay Spring site and jointly own another portion of the property. Officials acquired the property that includes the McKay house in order to open the historic home to the public and create a safety buffer for the spring area.

They also wanted to clear the way for the town to convey to the county sufficient land for widening and realigning the intersection of Reliance Road and Winchester Road, County Administrator Douglas P. Stanley said.

A statement of justification for the rezoning request submitted by officials says the intersection will be reconfigured over the next two years to line up with Rockland Road. The McKay house, which was recognized as the oldest home in Warren County, was destroyed by a fire last year and is a total loss.

Officials say the site also is located within an area identified as part of the Battle of Front Royal during Stonewall Jackson's 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War.

Within 60 days of receiving approval, officials plan to record a perpetual preservation easement on at least a quarter-acre of land surrounding the ruins of the former McKay house, outbuildings and spring "to ensure the preservation, restoration and/or interpretation of the site and structures, and to incorporate the remaining elements into the eventual development of the site, to respect and recognize the historic value and significance of the remains of the house," according to a rezoning proffer furnished by town and county officials.

The proffer also seeks to limit the property to specific commercial uses, such as general retailing and wholesaling, restaurants, indoor theater, and personal service establishments, among a host of other potential uses. Upon the issuance of each building permit, officials also will contribute 10 cents per gross square foot of floor area for the North Warren Fire Department to help out with its capital improvement program, the proffer states.

From The Northern Virginia Daily dated Saturday 11 Dec 2010.

FRONT ROYAL -- The Warren County Planning Commission has again delayed action on a rezoning proposal from town and county officials seeking to preserve land containing remains of the historic Robert McKay Jr. house and make the rest of the property eligible for commercial development.

Last month, the commission decided to table the request to rezone about 9 acres near the intersection of Reliance Road and U.S. 340-522 from agricultural to commercial after holding a public hearing on the matter. The McKay house, which had been recognized as the oldest home in Warren County, was destroyed by a fire last year. The property contains the ruins of the McKay house, outbuildings and a spring.

The commission chose to table the request last month in order to give town and county officials time to develop a more detailed presentation for their request. Town officials were unable to attend the commission's meeting Wednesday, and the panel decided to table the request until January.

Commission members said they want to be assured that the spring, a significant source of water, will be protected. County Administrator Douglas P. Stanley has said the specific area that officials are looking to rezone does not include the spring.

From The Northern Virginia Daily dated Wednesday 20 Oct 2010.

By Linwood Outlaw III - loutlaw@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- A public hearing will be held next month on a rezoning proposal from town and Warren County officials that seeks to preserve land containing remains of the historic Robert McKay Jr. house and free up the rest of the property for future commercial development.

The Warren County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Nov. 10 regarding a request to rezone the 9-acre property near the intersection of Reliance Road and U.S. 340-522 (Winchester Road), from agricultural to commercial.

The property contains ruins of the charred McKay house, outbuildings and spring. The rest of the site is vacant. The town and county each own a respective portion of the McKay Spring site and jointly own another portion of the property. Officials acquired the property that includes the McKay house in order to open the historic home to the public and create a safety buffer for the spring area.

They also wanted to clear the way for the town to convey to the county sufficient land for widening and realigning the intersection of Reliance Road and Winchester Road, County Administrator Douglas P. Stanley said.

A statement of justification for the rezoning request submitted by officials says the intersection will be reconfigured over the next two years to line up with Rockland Road. The McKay house, which was recognized as the oldest home in Warren County, was destroyed by a fire last year and is a total loss.

Officials say the site also is located within an area identified as part of the Battle of Front Royal during Stonewall Jackson's 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War.

Within 60 days of receiving approval, officials plan to record a perpetual preservation easement on at least a quarter-acre of land surrounding the ruins of the former McKay house, outbuildings and spring "to ensure the preservation, restoration and/or interpretation of the site and structures, and to incorporate the remaining elements into the eventual development of the site, to respect and recognize the historic value and significance of the remains of the house," according to a rezoning proffer furnished by town and county officials.

The proffer also seeks to limit the property to specific commercial uses, such as general retailing and wholesaling, restaurants, indoor theater, and personal service establishments, among a host of other potential uses. Upon the issuance of each building permit, officials also will contribute 10 cents per gross square foot of floor area for the North Warren Fire Department to help out with its capital improvement program, the proffer states.

From The Northern Virginia Daily dated Thursday 1 Sep 2011.

Some council members take issue with original plan to share costs of parcel purchase with county

By Kaitlin Mayhew -- kmayhew@nvdaily.com

View larger image Timothy W. Darr

FRONT ROYAL -- A seven-year-old document outlining an agreement between the town and Warren County regarding the purchase of land on Reliance Road raised issues with the Front Royal Town Council this week.

During a Monday work session, interim Town Attorney George M. Sonnett Jr. presented a memorandum of understanding that was drafted in December 2004.

The document outlined an agreement in which the town and county would purchase a parcel of land adjacent to two parcels -- one already owned by the town and one owned by Warren County. The property included the historic McKay house. The document called for the town and the county to split the cost of the third property equally. Purchase of that property did take place, and it is now jointly owned by the town and county.

Town Manager Steve Burke said that the ultimate goals for the property are to use the spring to create a water plant and to zone the rest of the property as commercial and develop it.

According to Mayor Timothy Darr, the town already owned the portion of the property that includes the spring in 2004, but needed more land to meet the requirements for a sufficient "buffer" for the water plant. The agreement gave the town the land it needed for legal construction of the water plant and the county the land it needed for a turn lane along the south side of U.S. 340-522.

View larger image Parker

Action has already taken place on some of these matters. The council voted to rezone parts of the land as commercial. Part of the property was also allocated to the Virginia Department of Transportation for the construction of the turn lane.

Darr said that the proposal was brought before the council Monday because the county, having finished the rezoning process, is ready to move forward with using the land commercially.

Sonnett said the proposal is "at the end of the day" an equitable one.

"It's a win-win [for the town and for the county] even though the acreage isn't the same," Sonnett said.

Councilman N. Shae Parker was unsure of whether the agreement was equal or not.

"What is the town getting out of this?" he asked. "We build a water plant to serve the county and then the rest of the land is sold off for commercial purposes so that more commercial growth can occur within the county. It looks like it's just a win for the county."
Sonnett said that the memorandum was meant for discussion purposes only to move the issue forward, and was not a legally binding document.

Councilman Thomas H. Sayre disagreed, and said that from what he could tell the document had all the necessary requirements to be a legally binding contract.

Councilman Thomas E. Conkey agreed.

Mayor Timothy Darr said that one of the goals of the agreement is to relieve some of the water use for the town. He went on to say that the agreement was made prior to a lawsuit that the town lost in 2010, which prevented the town from collecting a 4 percent meals tax in the corridor, which is located north of Interstate 66, and not part of Front Royal.
Prior to the lawsuit, the town had been collecting "pilot fees" or payments in lieu of taxes, said Darr, to help pay the cost of extending water and sewer services to the businesses in the corridor. The fees included all taxes that a business would have paid if located in town.

Judge Dennis L. Hupp decided the town did not have the authority to collect a meals tax as part of these payments, and because of this the town lost between $600,000 and $700,000 in yearly revenue.

Darr said that the town currently has no plans to begin construction on a water plant on the McKay property, and there is no strain on the current water plant.

"There is the potential for that to happen in the future," he said.

The original agreement concerning the property between the town and the county would have had more benefit for the town if the lawsuit had not been filed, according to Darr.

"[Before] the town would have generated revenue every time the county did in that area," he said at Monday's meeting. "By today's standards it looks like it wasn't a good idea but at the time it made sense."

Parker went on to say that he didn't have a problem with continuing as the council had already agreed.

"I just think that at some point as a council we need to sit down more often than we are to discuss" the issue, Parker said.

Darr also said that it would be a good idea for Burke and Sonnett to go over the document and bring it back to council at a later date.

Parker suggested that the water policy as well as the U.S. 340-522 corridor issue be discussed by council on a monthly basis.

"We need to try to put this to rest at some point," he said.