Great to Have, Not Got to Have
Council's only August meeting hired the architect and the construction manager for the Asbury Church. Before the vote, the Mayor said plainly that the church is a "great to have" and not a "got to have," and that the Town might one day have to stop partway. It also adopted the new events law, decided against residential parking permits, said no to paying for paper over empty shop windows, and started planning for America's 250th birthday. And it accepted a painting one woman won for a dollar.
Council met August 28 with Councilmembers Bud Jacobs and Peter Leonard-Morgan absent from the votes. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.
Great to Have, Not Got to Have
Town Clerk Rhonda North brought the two Asbury Church contracts ▶ video. Glave & Holmes will be the architect and engineer, and Downey & Scott, Town Hall's construction manager, will manage construction. Staff had negotiated Glave & Holmes's design proposal down from more than $700,000. Both contracts can be ended on seven days' notice. The first step is a site investigation of the 1829 building, about $25,000, which could reveal structural problems or a building official's ruling that would change the cost. The design is meant to be basic: a heat pump, an accessible first floor, no public second floor.
Littleton noted it would cost $352,000 to get as far as construction documents and a real cost estimate. "So, why would you produce construction documents of something you might not actually build?" North answered that only detailed plans give a trustworthy number. Town Hall was estimated at $6 million at the start of design and $10 million once the plans were done, and grant applications need plans. Littleton then gave the warning that ran under the whole discussion. The Town set aside $1 million three years ago, and that money won't go as far now. "This is a great to have it's not a got to have. We've got lots of got to have's we got to fund," he said. "We could be $1 million in and have to pull the plug." Both contracts passed 5-0 by roll call.
The oral-history videos are being edited, and the Town has asked the public for historic photographs. Caandor Ventures is drafting the voiceover, to be read by Littleton and Phyllis Cook-Taylor.
No Paper, No Permits
Two smaller questions got clear answers ▶ video:
- Parking permits: no. Town Manager Danny Davis said residential permit districts are meant for neighborhoods flooded by outsiders' cars, and Middleburg's problem is residents with more cars than curb. Council agreed to keep enforcing the parking rules that already exist, mark fire lanes in an older townhouse community, and go after unregistered and junk cars.
- Empty storefronts: no Town money. Residents keep complaining about brown paper in vacant shop windows, so staff asked whether the Town should design and install window coverings itself. Littleton said that would mean "taking our money and subsidizing people who don't want to do something to take care of their own building." Council preferred to have the Mayor and Councilmembers talk to two or three owners first. Punkin Lee offered the business association's help with a design.
- "More shops" signs: maybe. Howard Armfield and Lee asked for the old "more shops this way" sandwich boards to come back at the side-street corners. Littleton reminded Council that residents "by an overwhelming majority, hate them" as tacky clutter. Council is open to a Town-run pilot: one well-designed sign per intersection, no business names, placed and collected daily by the Town.
Also This Month
- Speed: Chief Shaun Jones's new plan targets eight trouble spots, including downtown Washington Street, Madison, Federal, East Marshall, Foxcroft Road and Stonewall Avenue ▶ video. Officers will record speeds as they patrol, use lidar outside their cars, and rotate through a "hot zone of the week." Three early checks found averages of 18 to 24 mph. Council agreed to buy two more radar signs, despite Littleton's worry about sign clutter, and asked the Chief to look into speed cameras in school zones, including near The Hill School. - Special events: the new events ordinance, covering large events on streets and public property, passed 5-0. Davis has issued Rallye Middleburg's permit. The October 18 event moved off Madison Street to Federal Street and the Methodist Church parking lot. - Public notices: Loudoun Now is going online only. Council agreed to keep running the Town's legal notices there rather than in the subscription Loudoun Times-Mirror. Loudoun Now's Rensi Greene said there will be no paywall. - Money: - Fiscal 2025 closed with revenue over budget and spending under. Meals tax growth stalled in the second half of the year, and lodging held up better. - Bob Dale's Strategic Finance Committee reported investments earning up to 4.45 percent. Next it will study the utility rate structure and a three-to-five-year revenue plan. - Council asked the County, again, for South Madison Street money, this time for a smaller project ending at Federal Street. - Water: Well 4 is yielding more since its rehabilitation. Well P is rising and Well L falling. A failed meter shut down the sewer plant in July. Littleton asked for a list of every single part whose failure could stop a plant, with its expected life, so those parts can be replaced before they fail. - America 250: Littleton remembered the Town's bicentennial, with an event every month and a walking guide to its history. He proposed the same for the nation's 250th next year: monthly themes on the Constitution, civil rights and citizenship, and a bigger Fourth of July. Bernard suggested turning Middleburg Day into an America Year celebration. - People and gifts: - Bill Nugent: Council thanked the part-time officer, who retired after 56 years in law enforcement. Councilmember Kevin Daly called him "the epitome of what it is to be a community cop," the officer who always had a biscuit for Daly's dog. - The painting: Dottie Martel, joining by video, gave Town Hall a Jean Bowman painting. She won it with a single one-dollar ticket in a raffle for the bicentennial fife and drum corps, which Chip Stine's father helped start, and it hung in her living room for 47 years. - The new committee: the Arts Council and the Cultural & Community Events Committee merged into the Middleburg Arts & Community Events Committee, with eleven members appointed. - Congratulations: Ali MacIntyre was named to a "40 over 40" list, and Chief Jones finished his bachelor's degree.
Public Comment
August 28 ▶ video
- Howard Armfield supported bringing back "more shops this way" signs for the side streets.
- Punkin Lee, West Federal Street, president of the business association, supported the signs and better window coverings, and offered the association's help with a design.
- Bundles Murdock, Blue Ridge Avenue, praised National Night Out and asked that the new officers' photos go on the Town website.
Discussion of legal notices: Rensi Greene of Loudoun Now spoke about the paper's move to online only.
Tips & Wags (opinion)
Tip of the Hat to the Mayor for saying out loud what a project might cost the Town before the Town is in too deep to stop.
Tip of the Hat to Dottie Martel. One dollar, one raffle ticket, 47 years, and now it's everybody's.
Wag of the Finger to the owners of the papered-over storefronts. The Town won't pay to cover your windows. Fill them.
Coming Up
- September 20: Oktoberfest, with corgi races and a second tent.
- September: Asbury site investigation begins; Planning Commission continues the Comprehensive Plan land use map.
- October 2: DMV Connect at Town Hall.
- October 18: Rallye Middleburg on Federal Street; Middleburg Film Festival weekend.
- October 29: Volunteer Appreciation Reception.
- 2026: America 250 events.
Sources: the meeting video (August 28), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcript attached to them. Quotes come from the Town contractor's transcript; each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.