BY ROBIN KNEPPER
The Orange Town Council has accepted changes in the proffers for the Round Hill development, a strategic move that is expected to jump-start the design of a parallel alternative to North Madison Road.
The council approved Carl Owens’ Round Hill project two years ago. It had taken more than 10 years to secure that approval, and many expect it to be another decade before substantial work is completed on the 135-acre mixed-use development.
Part of Owens’ proffers for the rezoning of the property that was once his farm was his offer to pay half of the town’s cost for what has been called the May–Fray Connector, an extension of May–Fray Avenue from the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing north three-tenths of a mile to American Woodmark’s manufacturing plant.
The second phase of the connecting road, which will parallel heavily trafficked Madison Road (U.S. 15), will continue from American Woodmark to the entrance of the Round Hill development, near the existing Holiday Inn Express.
The change in the proffers will relieve Owens of the responsibility to pay anything for the new road. In exchange, he will provide the town with the design, engineering and construction plans and right-of-way plats for the road by Sept. 1.
The two-lane road will have on-street parking, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. The total cost has not yet been determined.
Although the town will be responsible for obtaining the necessary rights of way, Owens has agreed to advance the town up to $150,000 for the acquisitions. The town will have to repay the advance when construction begins.
A resident expressed concern at Tuesday’s council meeting about the town’s taking responsibility for the road-construction costs, but the town has adequate reserves that can go toward meeting the match required by the grant money already accumulated.
According to Town Manager Greg Woods, Orange has received several transportation-related grants and will apply for a second year of revenue-sharing money from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Getting more grant money from either the state or federal government will be a lot easier, according to Woods, if the road project is “shovel ready,” which will be the case if the design and engineering plans are ready to be executed.
Although grant money requires a local match, the town has more than $3 million in reserves, Woods said. How to allot that money for various town projects will be the topic of discussion at the council’s strategic-planning work session scheduled for Feb. 6.
Councilman Kent Higginbotham asked Owens’ architect/planner Frank Cox on Tuesday if some of the road-design work could be done by this spring. Cox said he would find out.
Higginbotham, owner of Virginia Equipment Distributors and a local building, construction and engineering professional, abstained from approving the proffer modifications to avoid a conflict of interests.
Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
rknepper@earthlink.net
