The Mathews County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 last Wednesday, June 18, to hold a public hearing on a proposal to sell the Hole in the Wall Waterfront Grill on Gwynn’s Island. The decision came after a closed session following the regular meeting. Casting the dissenting votes were Dave Jones and Mike Walls.
Supervisor Tom Bowen, who made the motion, said his idea was that the sale would include only the land under the building’s footprint, while the public boat ramp and piers and the adjacent parking lot would remain county property. He suggested further that the property be sold as-is, subject to any planning and zoning or building violations, and that the purchaser would be responsible for pump-and-haul and anything that might be wrong with the septic or the building. He said the sale should be subject to the current lease, with the restaurant retaining the same access to parking it has now.
“It would get us out of the restaurant business, and we could collect taxes on the propert...