8/3/2019 PE LTE II

1/2

Editor, The Herald:As a long time observer of the Prince Edward Board of Supervisors and equally long time reader of TheFarmville Herald, I was interested to see the flurry of Herald coverage of the activities of the PrinceEdward Board of Supervisors including the January 6edition double barreled news article/editorialtreatment of the Countys water plans and the new road project, and the January 11 edition news article

regarding the County-backed hotel project all apparently favorable coverage.In the case of the water plans, the news article reports that Board Chairman William Buckie Foreexplained that the water project is not a dead issue but as soon as we nail this road down, well betalking about it. In the case of the road project, the editorial headlines read: Making Route 628 Safer Forthe Children of Prince Edward County. The headlines on the hotel related article read Granite FallsProject Approaching.But something seems to be missing in this flurry of media coverage.

The Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors has been dabbling in the utility business for several yearsand has spent approximately $5 million dollars on this initiative, including $2.5 million dollars paid for asmall segment of utilities out by the golf course. These efforts culminated last year in the presentation ofthe Countys water system plans in six community information meetings. During those meetings, it

became apparent that the Countys contemplated $25 million dollar new water system had a fatal flawowing to the lack of customers. No customers in Crewe. No customers in Burkeville. But even worse,there were only a tiny number of customers in the Farmville area out by the golf course. To put itdelicately, these plans were not received by citizens with much enthusiasm especially consideringthe project cost and ongoing need for system subsidies. Nor have those plans been received with muchenthusiasm by the Town of Farmville... for reasons too lengthy to recount here.As for the new road project, the editorial recalls a story about a Chevy Cavalier that departed the road andran into a school building a few years back and suggests the inherent element of danger all along Route628 as it passes through the school complex as if the road somehow made the Chevy do it. Theeditor does not mention that only a few meetings back one member of the Board of Supervisors brought inVDOT accident records going back to practically the beginning of time evidencing that there is no specifictraffic safety issue with Route 628 near the schools. Yes, there is traffic congestion twice a day with buses

and cars dropping off and picking up children but no significant traffic safety issues. In fact a VDOTreport addressing Route 628 near the schools dated February 22, 2011 makes no mention of the need for analternative road or any significant safety issues. The same Supervisor who brought in the VDOT recordsreferred to the planned $3.5 million dollar road as the Road to Nowhere.But is it really a Road to Nowhere?"Back in May of 2009, County records indicate that the Board agreed to sell 94 acres of County owned landsto an individual who proposed to develop a $50 million dollar hotel project (commonly known as theGranite Falls hotel and conference center). As part of the deal the Board promised to the developer a wholebunch of things including the development of the new road the exact same road now characterized asaddressing a school traffic safety problem.

Curiously, the same individual who now proposes to develop the $50 million dollar Granite Falls hotel isthe exact same individual who was affiliated as a financial expert since 1999 thirteen years back withPoplar Hill CDA golf course development and later The Manor Resort, both of which included very similarhotel and conference center plans. In April of 2005 that exact same developer announced that the hotelproject could be constructed in 12 to 18 months from that date. That was seven years ago. Most recentlythe exact same developer announced in January 11th edition of the Herald an eerily similar prediction thatthe hotel could open in December of 2013 a time length which is seemingly just beyond the end of therainbow near enough to see but too far to ever get there. Of course, the earlier hotel plans nevermaterialized. Nor is the golf course turning out to be the financial and/or economic development successonce predicted by some members of the Board of Supervisors.

8/3/2019 PE LTE II

2/2

Notwithstanding this history, the Board of Supervisors has recently given the developer an extension to theprevious extension to get his plans together. However, hotel or no hotel, the Board is now poised to moveahead with the $3.5 million dollar new road which was promised to the hotel developer back in May of2009a road which is now characterized as a school traffic safety measure a road that leads directly tothe developers 94 acre site out by the golf course, and a road now popularly known as the Road toNowhere.

The safety of children is a serious matter and shouldnt be taken lightly by anyone. Nor should the safetyof children be used as a pretext to cover other agendas which may not be so popular or easy to explain. TheHeralds copious coverage of recent Board of Supervisors activities includes quotes from Board ChairmanWilliam Buckie Fore who, last I heard, was a long-time employee of the Herald. No doubt, it is good tohave favorable media coverage, but it would also be nice to see the media provide some balance to theirreporting and editorials.Jack HoughtonFarmville, Virginia