SPORTS: Regan Keys and the Liberty field hockey team are on the rise. Page 11 u
September 19, 2018
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GOP candidates question timing of Kavanaugh charges Unlike Stewart, Riggleman calls for investigation By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
Both Denver Riggleman and Corey Stewart, two Republicans vying for Virginia seats in the U.S. House and Senate, say they are suspicious of the timing of the recent release of sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. But while Stewart said the accusation should not affect the Senate vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, originally scheduled for later this week, Riggleman said the process must be delayed and the allegations “taken seriously”
Corey Stewart
and investigated. “When you talk about that. What happened there. I have three daughters and a wife. So, anybody who has a sexual harassment claim has to be taken seriously. It’s that simple. That’s just how I’m wired,” Riggleman said during an interview at the Fauquier Times office Monday afternoon. Riggleman, who owns a distillery outside Charlottesville, is running against Democrat Leslie Cockburn, a former journalist, for Virginia’s 5th District congressional seat. The district includes most of Fauquier County.
See KAVANAUGH, page 4
Denver Riggleman
Coming soon: The Dingus Center for the Arts Old Town Warrenton music store owner plans new Main Street performance space
Gathered in the future Gloria Faye Dingus Center for the Arts are, from left, Ross D’Urso, Bernard J.E. van Gils, Tim Dingus, Dean Honeycutt and Levi Magyar. Dingus is the son of Gloria Faye Dingus. The others are members of the board of the nonprofit formed to raise funds for the center.
By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
The Gloria Faye Dingus Center for the Arts on Main Street in Warrenton is a goal that will soon be realized. The venue will continue its namesake’s love of music and eagerness to share it with children and the community at large. Dingus, who died in 2012, founded Drum and Strum Music Center in 1990. Her son, Tim, now owns the business at 102 Main St., where musical instruments are sold, lessons are provided and musicians perform in concert.
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ JAMES IVANCIC
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NEWS/FROM PAGE 1
Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | September 19, 2018
Fauquier supervisors approve new rules for non-agricultural fill By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
There are new rules in place for anyone who wants to store or dispose of nonagricultural excavation material used in connection with farming. The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors approved a text amendment Sept. 13 that followed complaints of massive amounts of fill being trucked to a future sod farm site in Midland. There have been complaints about other cases as well. The county previously didn’t regulate excavation material not generated on the farm, but state law empowers local governments to require approval. The planning commission, by a 4-to-1 vote, recommended an amendment that requires landowners to receive a special exception for accepting more than 200 cubic yards of fill within any 24-hour period or for accepting more than 4,200 cubic yards within a year. A request for a special exception would go to the supervisors for approval. If granted, those limits can be exceeded. The text amendment also says fill can’t be stored or disposed of within 100 feet of a property line, well or edge of a stream. The fill has to support a farming purpose, and the applicant has to
supply an affidavit attesting to that. A grading plan and an erosion and sedimentation plan have to be submitted to obtain a land disturbance permit. Soil and rock are permitted fill material. Gravel and asphalt millings are allowed for driveway repair. The planning commission and supervisors wrestled with limits that wouldn’t be burdensome to farmers while addressing complaints of noise, dust, runoff and the number of trucks coming and going. “I struggle with a resolution has ‘agricultural’ in it,” said Chris Butler, chairman of the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors. “If you’re in a true agricultural operation and need fill or to level a hill, I’m with you. But I don’t want us to be a dump for Prince William or Loudoun.” “I don’t like regulation, but when it boils over into neighbors we have to get involved,” added Butler (Lee). “It’s got to end sometime,” said Pat Hupp, a Midland resident whose property adjoins the controversial sod farm at the heart of many recent complaints about the previous lack of county regulations. “My goal is to save someone else from this nightmare,” Hupp said. She was one of 13 speakers to address the supervisors before they voted. Some had complaints about the trucked-in fill, while others had concerns about how the text amendment would affect farming opera-
tions. Mike Hawkins, the contractor bringing fill in for the Midland sod farm, offered an apology for the runoff neighbors complained about. “We’ve had 20 inches of rain this summer,” he said. But Hawkins disputed a figure of 55,000 truck trips over a year’s time that another speaker claimed have
been made to and from the site. That speaker, James Lilly, stood by his figure. Neighbors of the sod farm site off Brent Town Road have been counting trucks, using cameras to follow activity on the site, and following them from where they originate. Reach James Ivancic at jivancic@ fauquier.com
Old Town Warrenton music store owner plans new Main Street performance space KAVANAUGH from page 1 The Dingus Center is slated for a December opening down the street in space formerly occupied by Earth, Glaze & Fire at 92 Main St. The center will be overseen by a nine-member board heading a nonprofit called the Gloria Faye Dingus Music Alliance. The nonprofit will raise funds to expose more children to music education. “Some kids can’t afford the types of instruments they need,” said Ross D’Urso, a member of the nonprofit’s board of directors. “Schools are always stressed by budget cuts. This is another outlet for cultural enrichment.” “We’ve got a really good solid plan in place and a team and a board. I think it will come together very smoothly and quickly,” said Tim Dingus. Dingus is in the process of getting the necessary permits from the Town of Warrenton so renovations can begin. Right now, there’s about 4,600 square feet of empty space. A piano occupies the largest room. “There’ll be a wide range of events with state-of-the art equipment,” said Levi Magyar, a cinematographer who is one of the board members. Magyar took lessons at Drum & Strum as a kid, then came back to work there after college. “One of the things Gloria loved was the shows” put on at Drum & Strum, said Dean Honeycutt, its general manager who is a professional musician and a member of the nonprofit’s board. Mrs. Dingus didn’t let ability to
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pay keep a child from being exposed to music “Tim’s mom would make sure they had instruments and lessons,” said Magyar. “She was from Kentucky coal country and came from nothing. She wanted to make sure others were exposed to music and culture,” Magyar said. “Her mission in life was to make sure everything was better than she found it,” remembered her son. The Dingus Center will be both a concert and recital venue and a place where painters, photographers and others can display their art. A room off the main performance space will hold a changing display of art. A multipurpose room will host meetings and educational programs. There will be enough space to hold music camps and allow the Fauquier County Youth Orchestra to practice and perform there. The youth orchestra now has so many members that Drum & Strum can no longer accommodate the group. The orchestra now practices at Highland School. Besides Honeycutt, Magyar and D’Urso, the other board members are Tony Tedeschi, Lindsey Forsten, Sunny Reynolds, Tom Nichols, Dan Hilleary and Bernard J.E. van Gils. D’Urso is the county’s commissioner of revenue and a guitarist in his off hours. Music has meant a lot to him. “I started playing guitar when I was 12. I went to work and then I had a renaissance in my 50s. I was able to learn from YouTube and found a niche. I play more music today than I did in the garage band in the ’60s,” D’Urso said. Read James Ivancic at jivancic@ fauquier.com
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NEWS
Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | September 19, 2018
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Residents disappointed by Marshall streetscape plan Fauquier officials balk at $1 million cost to underground utilities By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
A Main Street streetscape project in Marshall that doesn’t put utility lines underground isn’t worth the bother in the view of many who attended a community meeting this week. Frustration was evident as at a Tuesday, Sept. 11, community meeting at which Marshall District Supervisor Mary Leigh McDaniel fielded questions about a project originally driven by a goal of burying lines underground. That aspect of the project became too expensive over the 10 years it’s taken to get it ready to bid. What’s left is an estimated $4.5 million streetscape project that includes sidewalk improvements, new crosswalks, improved signage and additional trees and street lights. The improvement area would run from the intersection of Main Street/Rectortown Road-Winchester Road to the intersection of Main and Frost streets. There will be pavement markings for street parking spaces. Frost Street will get drainage and utility improvements that aren’t part of the grant funding but will be done at the same time as the streetscape. That work will cost an estimated $400,000, bringing the total project cost to $4.9 million. For Patty Cloud, treasurer of the Marshall Business and Residents Association, making the enhancements without burying the power lines is like “putting lipstick on a pig.” “I’m really puzzled why we’re down to the wire. This whole meeting is moot,” Cloud added. “Scrap the whole darn thing,” Lora Cloud urged. With an increase in traffic she expects from a Van Metre development in the community, “I see it as a disaster waiting to happen. There will be more traffic on a narrower street.” The width of the street will be narrowed by two feet, from 40 to 38 feet across, to allow for wider sidewalks and tree plantings. “I think it’s a nice plan, but it’s wasted without putting utilities underground first. They’ll be putting in nice sidewalks and then have to tear them up to put the utilities underground” if it’s decided to do that later, said Gary Houk, a Marshall resident for 22 years. The county must put the project out to bid in November or it will lose the $3.6 million in Federal Highway Administration funds that cover 80 percent of the project’s cost. There’s a 20 percent local match. The county has put $450,000 into the project to cover costs incurred to date. Carson Land Consultants of Warrenton and Land Planning and Design Associates of Charlottesville are working on the project. The county expects to be reimbursed for the upfront costs through proceeds from a 2-cent increase in the Marshall Electric Light and Business Improvement District tax levy and proffers
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/JAMES IVANCIC Marshall residents are disappointed a $4.5 million streetscape improvement plan spurred by a desire to bury utility lines underground will not acomplish that goal. from Van Metre. McDaniel talked about how project costs escalated in her remarks to an audience of at least 80 in the Marshall Community Center. “In the fall of 2015, it was still within shooting distance. But the cost of construction has risen dramatically in Northern Virginia. There’s been a significant increase in the cost of asphalt and steel. It’s gone up 30 percent in just the last year,” McDaniel said. “By March 2018, it was a $6.2 million project. The supervisors at that time said they were not willing to pay an additional $1 million,” McDaniel said. Center District Supervisor Chris Granger said his was one of votes in 2014 against spending county dollars to put the lines underground. “My opposition was that I couldn’t support additional tax dollars on one stretch of road in one magisterial district. I was one of the voices that said this needed to be done as is,” Granger said. Granger noted that the utility lines are above ground in downtown Warrenton. The only lines placed underground over the past 10 years were done by developers, he said. He said he would support an increase in Marshall’s electric light and business improvement tax levy if the people in Marshall want to bury the lines. Besides funding, another hang-up was securing easements from property owners granting permission to come on to their land during construction and to place the transformers that would otherwise sit on the poles that would be
replaced. A total of 25 easements were obtained but four other property owners refused to grant them, said McDaniel, who declined to identify the holdouts. A change in funding rules no longer cover the cost of placing utility lines underground. Donations or local funding would have to be used to do so in the future. McDaniel said other funding sources and other ways to engineer the removal of poles and wires — possibly moving them behind buildings — are being looked at. She also said the county is trying to get an extension to the November deadline to go out for bids, but in the meantime is getting ready to bid it in the event the deadline isn’t extended. Construction could get underway next spring and be completed in three to four months. The Marshall Business and Residents Association hosted the Sept. 11 community meeting. It opened with a moment of silence in honor of those killed in the terror attacks 17 years ago. The MBRA board on Sept. 10 voted not to support the streetscape project “in its current form,” said MBRA President Mary Wilkerson. The vote wasn’t unanimous, but the majority expressed that view, she said. McDaniel said she feels the streetscape beautification project, without the undergrounding of lines, will turn out to produce economic benefits to the community. “This is something the community has wanted for a long time,” she told the audience. Reach James Ivancic at jivancic@fauquier. com
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