Helicopters, hearses, and wedding limousines all required special attention from the Middleburg Town Council over the past month.

Queries from Salamander Resort and Spa about how helicopters could be used by and for their guests generated questions and lengthy discussion of helicopter flight paths, safety, noise, horses, dogs, and sleep.

A request to reserve more than thirty parking spaces on the Town's main street during a busy shopping weekend, generated even longer discussions about the economic impact of parking restrictions and the hardships they caused for planners of weddings, funerals, and other special services and celebrations.

Thou Shalt Not Park

Town Administrator Semmes informed Council at their October work session that Middleburg United Methodist Church revised their policies and the guideline they distributed for weddings and funerals at the church to reflect council's concern about multi-hour reservations of large numbers of public parking spaces for weddings, funerals, and other private events.

At its regular October meeting Tyler Gore, of Royston Funeral Home, asked Council to reconsider its proposed new parking guidelines.

For a funeral, he noted, he was now given five free spaces though he really needed nine. That shouldn't be a burden, he told council. Funeral services, he observed, usually only last twenty to twenty-five minutes.

Gore also noted that only two churches that were really affected by the new guidelines and in his view there was really no good reason for new and more stringent rules.

Gore understood, he said, how a request for more than thirty spaces in the business district for an entire day would create genuine concern. He noted, however, that this has only occurred once and that no other nearby town imposed such tight restrictions on parking.

He believed, he said, that the issue would work itself out if Council resisted the temptation to impose rigid and inflexible guidelines and regulations.

After lengthy discussion Council agreed to let the staff administratively handle any issues related to the need for more than five parking spaces for funerals under special conditions.

Town Clerk North then noted that because Council was proposing an increase in the fee for reserved parking from $10 to $25 per day per space, the fee increase would need to be advertised for a public hearing.

Choppers over Middleburg

At its October work session Town Administrator Semmes, acting on behalf of Vice Mayor Darlene Kirk, asked Council to consider the impact on the town and its neighbors posed by regular helicopter landings at the Salamander Resort.

Councilmember Mark Snyder suggested the Council consider adding a restriction to the town's noise ordinance to restrict the hours a helicopter could land or take-off or, alternatively, to treat helicopter noise in the same way the Town regulates noise from fireworks.

Mayor Davis reminded Council that Councilmember Trowbridge Littleton was a pilot who, while he was her next door neighbor, flew a helicopter for a Congressman. He kept the helicopter in his back yard, she said, and flew to Washington, DC, most mornings. It was not a problem, she said, though she may have heard him start it up every now and then.

Town Administrator Semmes noted that the State adopted regulations in 2012 that would prevent a locality from imposing a total ban on helicopter departures and landings for personal use, but did allow a locality to require a special exception permit and impose "reasonable conditions" for repetitive helicopter landings on the same parcel of land.

Town Planner Beniamino agreed and suggested Council instruct town staff to ask the Town Planning Commission to move forward on drafting just such a regulation.

Well 4's Welfare

At a town council work session Councilmember Mark Snyder expressed concern that construction activity at the Middleburg Professional Center, including possible blasting, might have a negative impact on the Town's already problem-plagued Well Number 4.

Town Administer Semmes later reported that a special investigation of an accident that had caused the shutdown of the Well 4 treatment plant had gone well, resulting in a reversal of a decision by Virginia Municipal League insurance authorities not to cover the costs of repair.

Based on new information, discussion with the town's utility consultant and town staff, VML informed the town on October 1st that it would cover the accident under Middleburg's current insurance policy. The new decision should save the town "several hundred thousand dollars," according to Town Administrator Semmes, who singled out Bob Krallinger, Middleburg's outside utility consultant, for special praise.

Semmes also reported that the contractor for the Well 4 repairs was able to repair and rebuild some of the valves the Town thought it would have to replace, that they had successfully refilled the system with water and pressurized it. After the plant's filters are re-bedded, Semmes reported, the last step before putting the plant back on line would be to re-chlorinate the water and test the system one last time.

Police

Chief of Police A. J. Panebianco reported that he had met with officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation about safety at the Pendleton Street intersection. There is now, he noted, a STOP bar newly painted on the pavement, noting that he would look into painting the word "STOP" on the pavement there as well.

In addition, a police officer has been assigned to the intersection to determine daily how many moving violations were occurring. His officers, he noted, observed a few motorists speeding on their way out of the resort but, in his view, there was a much greater perception of speeding on Pendleton than actual breaking of the law.

Panebianco recognized Officer Jay Hollins for volunteering to be the instructor for a tactical first aid course class for the Department. Middleburg's officers are also scheduled to receive CPR training in the near future.

RoboCalls in Emergencies

The Town has long been seeking a more efficient way to communicate with its citizens on short notice, especially during emergencies. Town Clerk North reported that she found two companies that provide automated phone alert systems (robocalls) for local governments and small businesses that appeared to be easy to use and did not require a monthly minimum call commitment.

Economic Development Consultant Hired

Town Administrator Martha Semmes and Economic Development Coordinator Cindy Pearson met with members of the board of the Middleburg Business and Professional Association to formally begin work on new initiatives for the year ahead. The town has retained Kennedy Smith of the CLUE group to do a "reconnaissance visit," conduct an economic development brainstorming session, and make recommendations for next steps for consideration by the town and its business leaders.

Main Street Middleburg Committee Active

Mayor Betsy Davis called for more active participation in the town's Main Street Middleburg Committee, an effective though now unofficial organization that has remained engaged in spite of the disbandment of the State's former Main Street Program.

The group, Davis noted, met regularly discussed local events from a very local perspective, and regularly brain stormed ideas.

In the Mayor's view, "...the attendees got more out of the Main Street Committee meetings than the Biz Buzz events as they had an exchange of ideas."

Her fear, she said, was "people did not attend these meetings because they believed they were the same as the Business and Professional Association's regularly scheduled Biz Buzz meetings."

Audit

Mitchell and Company, the town's long-serving official auditors, completed their preliminary field work in the Town Offices in late September, met with the Town Administrator and Treasure, and are currently scheduled to make their formal audit presentation to Town Council on November 14.