Residents had their turn to speak out about the county’s FY2018-FY2022 Capital Improvement Plan Tuesday night, but only four took advantage of the opportunity to tell the Gloucester Board of Supervisors what they think are priority items.
The board, which conducted the public hearing during its meeting in the colonial courthouse, did not take a vote on the matter. County Administrator Brent Fedors will include some capital improvement items in his new fiscal year budget that he will present to the board on March 7.
Fedors said improvements at Gloucester High School and an expansion of the Social Services building are among priorities suggested in the five-year plan. The CIP has already been reviewed—and recommendations made for priorities—by a leadership team and the Gloucester Planning Commission, Fedors said, but he expressed disappointment that only a handful of people had chosen to take advantage of the Speak Up Gloucester interactive website to weigh in with their thoughts on the CIP.
Ann Burruss, a former Gloucester County School Board member, said that there’s been talk of building a community center here for many years. Burruss said she does not want the center constructed on the Page site, which she said should be reserved for future school space.
Perhaps the county should explore a second high school to be built on the Page site, Burruss said, where the trades would be emphasized. The original plan for the Page site was to have enough property to accommodate three schools, she said.
Other school needs include HVAC replacements at GHS and Peasley Middle School, Burruss said, as well as school bus replacements.
Gloucester Point District resident Howard Mowry said that some needs include computer software, HVAC improvements and replacement of school buses. A new twist for some school projects, Mowry said, would be for some high school students to use computer assisted drafting equipment to design truss systems for schools instead of having to pay for outside help.
“Debt needs to be restrained over the next five years at least,” Mowry said.
York District resident Don Mitchell said the supervisors should “consider the third leg of the county stool.” Mitchell said the forgotten part of the budget process is the taxpayers, with most people always talking about county and school needs.
Ware District resident Nathan Brown said the county should “put money aside every year” to help pay for capital improvements.
Brown questioned what HVAC improvements are actually needed at the schools and the expensive price tag.
In addition, Brown told the board that the Social Services building expansion seems quite costly. “Two hundred fifty dollars per square foot is an awful lot of money for a file room,” Brown said of at least a portion of the expansion.
Brown also said he is not sure how Gloucester County can pay for all the debt it might incur for capital improvement projects
Proffers
On a separate matter, planning and zoning director Anne Ducey-Ortiz presented a report about the use of cash proffers for CIP or Community Development projects. Ducey-Ortiz said that localities accepting cash proffers shall receive full payment of all cash has proffered by an applicant within 12 years or the money will revert to the state.
Proffers cannot be used for capital improvements to an existing facility that does not expand the capacity of the facility or for any operating expenses of that facility, Ducey-Ortiz said.
But such cash proffers made by an applicant could be used for things like park trails and sidewalks, Ducey-Ortiz said.
Fedors offered another example: a fire station. Although such a building would qualify under the cash proffers guidelines, Fedors said he has problems with the cash proffers going for that use because Gloucester has volunteer—not county-owned—fire and rescue squads and does not govern those groups.
Gloucester County has collected $104,700 total from cash proffers, Ducey-Ortiz said. York River Villas made a one-time payment of $25,000 for community improvements, Ducey-Ortiz said. So far, Gloucester has collected $26,100 from Dunston Hall, $8,000 from River Club at Twin Island, and $45,600 from Coleman’s Crossing.
Abingdon District supervisor J.J. Orth said he would like to see cash proffers made available, if possible, to help with costs of businesses having to bring sewer and water lines under Route 17 for hook up. Gloucester needs to expand its economic development, he said.