Mathews supervisors gave the go-ahead for the county’s broadband advisory board and Verizon to pursue grant funding for a $26 million-$28 million project that would bring high-speed internet to the entire county.

The Aug. 22 decision came after a presentation by Chris Debosier of Verizon, who spoke during the county board’s regular monthly meeting. Debosier reiterated to supervisors what he told the broadband advisory board a week earlier. He said that Verizon proposes to partner with the county on a grant from either the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) or the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) that would convert the company’s central office in downtown Mathews to all fiber and extend 250 miles of new fiber from that hub to all unserved and underserved parts of the county. This would provide up to 2,000 homes with transmission speeds as high as 1,000 megabits per second for both download and upload, he said.

Both the federal and state programs consider anything less than 25 mbps download and 3 mbps upload as “unserved,” said Debosier, while speeds less than 100 mbps download and 20 mbps upload are considered “underserved.”

Debosier said that VATI has $40 million-$50 million available for grants, while the BEAD program in Virginia has $1.5 billion available. He explained that the 2,000 unserved or underserved homes in Mathews represent 1.3 percent of all unserved or underserved homes in Virginia, while the outside capital Verizon would need to fund the project is about 1.5 percent of the total amount BEAD has allocated to Virginia, making the need “roughly in line” with the available funding.

Debosier flashed a slide on the screen with the numeral zero on it, saying that Mathews would not be required to contribute any money to the project.

Verizon became interested in doing such a project in Mathews when Debosier heard broadband advisory board chair Judy Rowe speak after she accepted an award for the recently successful VATI project that made service available to 600+ homes in the county.

“Mathews County is an interesting county for Verizon,” said Debosier. “The infrastructure would lend itself to the build, and we would love to be the broadband partner for the county.”

Supervisor Melissa Mason said such a deal would move Mathews away from “being locked into one service provider,” and she made a motion to approve moving forward with discussions on the project. The board unanimously supported the motion.

During public comment period, Tricia Stall of North claimed that localities accepting BEAD funding would be required to accept illegal immigrants. She offered no substantiation for her claim, but said, “Most of us would be opposed to having to house and feed illegal immigrants.”

Mathews Parks and Rec

Tom Robinson, chair of the Mathews Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission, spoke during public comment period, telling board members that the commission had been mandated by the board to improve lives through a comprehensive parks and recreation program, with a top priority “to assist the board of supervisors in establishing water access parks.”

“Our commission members take that mandate very seriously,” he said.

However, Robinson said, the commission’s efforts “have been hampered recently by inappropriate and baseless remarks made by a couple of board members at a recent meeting that caused two of our members to resign in frustration.”

“Words, especially falsehoods, do have consequences,” he said.

Robinson addressed the issue of whether the county should accept ownership of Mathews Heritage Park, a parcel located on Billups Creek waterfront that was donated to the Middle Peninsula Public Access Authority more than a decade ago to serve as a public park for Mathews. Robinson said that, having served as chair of Henrico County’s Parks and Recreation Commission for 10 years, he’s aware that there’s always initial opposition to every new park proposal. People always say they aren’t against parks, he said, they just don’t want one on their road. After a park opens, however, some of the most frequent visitors are often those that opposed it.

“I can only hope our board of supervisors will act appropriately for the greater good of all of our citizens,” he said, “and not be swayed by a handful of opposers.”

Controversy has surrounded Mathews Heritage Park, said Robinson, including a question of whether there is road access to the property. He said that an access road was established well over a century ago and was continually used by the property’s donor to reach his vacation home there until it was donated to the PAA.

Robinson urged the board to accept ownership of the 9-acre parcel and allow water access until the right-of-way issue is settled, either by negotiation or litigation.

“This will allow the dozens of volunteers who formed the Friends of Mathews Heritage Park, and the various kayaking groups to, at no expense to the county, begin working on the waterfrontage, trails, and infrastructure,” he said.

Also during public comment, Dave Thomas of Field Point Road, where the park is located, said the water access points on the property aren’t safe and contain “no more than broken concrete to drag kayaks across.” He also pointed to rising tide levels, saying “a third of Mathews County is slated to be underwater in the next 20 years.” Flooding carries such liabilities as having to clean up the debris afterward, including any effluent from a septic system.

“That park is a white elephant,” Thomas said. “I don’t want it in my backyard, and I live right there … I hope we will take care of what we have instead of building another something we’re not gonna take care of.”

During supervisors’ comments, Mike Walls said he would like to see the board allow Heritage Park to be used for water access only, which would open the county up to long distance kayakers and paddle boarders.

“That’s nine acres there the county has a right to,” he said.

No action was taken on Robinson’s request. The board did, however, vote to approve revised bylaws for the commission.

Eubank property

County Administrator Ramona Wilson told the board that, pursuant to the board’s direction, she had obtained three quotes on the cost of restoring structures that had been removed from the Eubank home on Gwynn’s Island. As of the date of the meeting, one contractor had not yet submitted a quote. The lowest quote of those already submitted was $14,395 and the highest was $22,840.

Board chairman Dave Jones said, “So we put the $260,000 fairytale to rest. This board will not be making a payment to Mr. Eubank for $260,000, OK?”

In December 2021, Mark and Candy Eubank of Gwynn and Doswell submitted an invoice to the county for $261,000, asking that the county cover the cost of “fees, expenses and damages” the couple said they incurred because of “Mathews County employees unethical and possible criminal actions, to obtain the Eubank’s property without justification or due process.”

Jones said that a 1966 survey showed that the Eubank home had been built outside of the RPA, and that a 1999 record of the property showed that, other than a triangular deck, the footprint was the same as it was when a porch and deck on the waterside were ordered to be removed. He said most of the property was “thrust into the RPA” by Hurricane Isabel. Jones repeated a claim made by the Eubanks to substantiate his charge that the county under the previous board and administration was trying to devalue the Eubanks’ property so they would be forced to sell. The claim was that a former county administrator had said that Tin Can Alley was no good unless the county could get the adjacent property.

“If we want public access, we need to go to the landowner and ask if they’re interested in selling,” he said. “All of this could have been avoided.”
Jones also said he could find no proof that Mathews County ever owned anything at Tin Can Alley.

“At what point do we have to make a decision on property rights,” he asked. “Some people seem to think it’s a good piece of property, let’s just take it.”

Jones said that the question is whether the Eubanks were made to remove structures illegally.

“Public access has gotten out of hand in the past,” he said, “and it will again if we’re not careful.”

Walls said the board had heard nine hours of information supplied by the Eubanks.

“I have no problem saying the county illegally removed the structure from that house,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what Mr. Bowen has to say. We’re in political season.”

As reported by the Gazette-Journal last week, Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Bowen spoke during the meeting, addressing the issues surrounding the Eubank case, including the fact that the structures under discussion were removed by court order.

On a motion by Walls, the board voted unanimously to table a decision on paying to have the structures rebuilt pending the receipt of additional estimates.

In other matters, the board:

—Unanimously voted to adopt the portion of the Virginia Maintenance Code that addresses unsafe structures. The vote followed a brief public hearing at which no one from the public spoke;

—On a 4-1 vote, with Paul Hudgins dissenting, adopted a text amendment that corrects language in the county code regarding the penalty assessed on delinquent real estate taxes so that the penalty can be assessed twice a year, on both due dates, instead of just once;

—Tabled action on a request for a conditional use permit for a home enterprise for dog grooming pending receipt from the owner of the health department’s approval of a wastewater characterization form;

—Heard a presentation from Henderson Incorporated and DJG Incorporated, both of Williamsburg, on the value of design/build projects rather than negotiating separately with an architectural design company and a contractor on a major build, and on the advantages of entering into such an agreement for the construction of the new fire station downtown;

—Heard a request from Mathews Board of Zoning Appeals’ chairman Sonny Fauver that supervisors reconsider providing the BZA with an additional $1,000 for attorney fees, something the county board denied at its July meeting. He said he realized that the reason the funding was denied was because of rancor between the boards, but that the BZA is facing an increase in cases and litigation. He asked that the board “put differences aside and get it done”;

—Unanimously voted to designate the week of Sept. 17-23 as Constitution Week in Mathews;

—Recognized HR analyst Barbara Read for 10 years of service and grounds manager Glenn Scatchard, who is retiring, for five years of service, and

—Unanimously approved the biennial State Performance Contract with the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck Community Services Board after a presentation by Executive Director Linda Hodges.