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The Windsor Town Council undertook a discussion Tuesday, Dec. 10, requested by Councilman Marlin W. Sharp on the proposed Tidewater Logistics Center multi-warehouse project that The Meridian Group has been trying to develop on the outskirts of Windsor on land owned by the county’s Economic Development Authority.

The Town Council’s discussion underscored differences of opinion among council members on the matter that ultimately prevented the outcome Sharp was seeking. He was hoping the council would reach out to the county to foster a relationship that would give the town more of a voice on matters that will affect it — particularly the potential development of the Tidewater Logistics Center project.

Influenced at least in part by vocal opposition to a previous version of the TLC project from some Windsor residents and council members, the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on June 13 to reject the rezoning application that would have helped allow for it.

The project originally featured five warehouses, with three that would have been part of what TMG called the “County Site,” which is near the Lovers Lane/Keaton Avenue neighborhood located in Windsor.

Among concept plan revisions made since the Board of Supervisors’ June 13 vote, TMG has eliminated a warehouse from the County Site, reduced the size of the other two warehouses proposed for that site and enhanced the buffer existing between the project and the Lovers Lane/Keaton Avenue neighborhood. The buffer would now include a community walking path with open space and park trees. 

As the council held its discussion Dec. 10, Tom Boylan, of TMG, was present and it was understood by council members that TMG was possibly going to be resubmitting its application to the county.

The Windsor Weekly learned since then that Isle of Wight County’s EDA has revealed that Meridian has officially submitted its revised application for the TLC.

As of Friday afternoon, Dec. 13, the Windsor Weekly had not learned if the county had made an official determination that the new submission was different enough to waive the one-year waiting period that would otherwise have been in effect from the time of the June 13 rejection vote.

During the Dec. 10 council meeting, Windsor Town Manager William Saunders read from his memo to the mayor and Town Council, sharing that Sharp had requested a discussion regarding future development of the proposed TLC site, and Sharp wanted the discussion to include two specific points:

1. Potential future rezoning of the property to industrial zoning, and 
2. The potential of a business or commerce park there versus industrial. 

“Further, in consideration of the Port 460 warehouse project in Suffolk and the potential for increased truck traffic through the town of Windsor that it may cause, discussion of requesting that the Virginia Department of Transportation do a study to determine the value of posting (U.S. Route) 460 through Windsor as ‘No through trucks in left lane,’” Saunders stated.

Windsor Mayor George Stubbs shared some research he had done on a nearby business park in response to Sharp’s suggestion, and Stubbs also shared some of his own thoughts about the marketing of the proposed TLC site.

“The EDA owns the property, and I feel like maybe they can market it any way they want,” Stubbs said, and Sharp later noted that he agreed.

Stubbs also stated that Sharp had already spoken with individuals from the Isle of Wight County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors regarding the possibility of Windsor Town Council and Isle of Wight County working together to own a solution on the matter of the proposed TLC project.

“Mr. Saunders, have you received any request from either Planning Commission, EDA, Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors or Isle of Wight County staff for any meeting to work on any type of resolution?” Stubbs asked. 

“No, sir,” Saunders replied.

“Nor have I,” Stubbs said.

The mayor opened the floor for discussion among council members.

Sharp said, “Mr. Boylan is here tonight, so I want to make sure that everyone understands that I’m not attacking him in any way, but when he had his last public meeting at the Town Center (presenting a revised TLC), I entered and sat beside the mayor and leaned over and said, ‘How many more times do we have to listen to this?’ This project, the Tidewater Logistics Center, has been presented over and over and over again to various boards, including Town Council. 

“As I mentioned when Mr. Boylan presented to Town Council … my opinion is that moving from three warehouses to two warehouses is still two warehouses too many,” Sharp continued. “The reason I’m bringing this to council is I’m not asking that we market the property, because it isn’t ours. What I’m asking is that as a Town Council, we request from the county the opportunity to work with them. I’m not expecting that they’re going to come to us.

“What I understand from those who have been around longer than I have is that the attitude of many of the people who live here is that the county decides what to do, and then they tell us what they’re doing, and we don’t have anything to say about it,” Sharp continued. “In other words, as people have said, ‘It’s been shoved down our throats.’

“What I’m proposing is that Town Council ask the county not to do that, that we are very much interested in working together with them to come to a solution on this property because it does affect the town of Windsor,” he added.

He said that his idea of a commerce park or a business park being created at the proposed TLC site was just his suggestion as an option that could be considered.

“The county does have a right to market the property any way they want,” he said. “All I’m asking is that we, as Town Council, make our opinions known or our voice heard in saying, ‘Hey, we want a cooperation relationship here. We don’t want an antagonistic relationship,’ which is at least what I have understood has been the pattern of the past.”

Councilman David Adams said he believes a traffic study along U.S. 460 is long overdue.

“We’ve had many conversations about the status of 460 — even without all the warehouses, it’s a treacherous road,” he said. 

With regard to the property at the proposed TLC site, Adams said the county EDA owns it and is in a contract with The Meridian Group.

“I don’t really know what we can do on that other than, as citizens, exert our pressure on the Board of Supervisors,” he said.

He noted he has not wavered from his position that he does not think the TLC is “the right project for the right location,” but he acquiesced. The Meridian Group has made some accommodations in its plan revisions to make the project blend in better at the proposed site.

“I think that the traffic is my biggest concern, and if you asked me today where I stood, I would say I would oppose (the TLC) just based on traffic as I understand it,” he said. “Looking at the (Traffic Impact Analysis) from the original plan to the current, it’s still 2,300 new vehicles every day, and I think that’s just far too much for the roads that we have in this town.”

Windsor Vice Mayor J. Randy Carr said, “And I agree with that, David, the traffic on these roads. But whether (the TLC) goes up here on that side of town or something goes down here on the other side of town or it goes on the other side of the Suffolk line, it’s three routes going into the Tidewater area — 58, 460 and 64. We’re on one of them.

“Whether it goes on 460, whether it’s this way or thataway, Windsor’s going to get impacted,” he continued. “Will we get impacted and get some type of revenue off of it? Or will we get impacted and it’s built down there on the other side of Suffolk somewhere? But the trucks and traffic are still going to come through here, and there’s nothing that we can do about it.”

He noted that the TLC developer has taken into consideration things council members have asked for, as reflected in the revised plan.

“If the place gets built down there, whether it’s a warehouse or whether it’s a commerce park or whatever the county decides to put in there, five years from now when everything is grown and the trees are grown and everything is in place and the barrier is in place, you won’t even ever know it’s over there,” he said. “I’m a fine example of that (with) Food Lion.”

He noted that Food Lion on Windsor Boulevard is essentially located at his front door, but buffers were eventually installed to shield its presence from his view.

“Either we jump on the wagon and try to go with it and try to get some revenue in town by being close, or we deal with all the traffic coming through here and (the TLC) going right on the other side of the Suffolk line or wherever,” he said. “But they’re going to come through here until VDOT does some improvement on the roads and maybe puts a bypass around Windsor or does whatever they need to do.

“Maybe they’re going to wake up one day and realize that coming through the little small town of Windsor right now is a nightmare at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and it’s only going to get worse, whether it’s here or three miles down the road,” he added.

Later in the discussion, Sharp stated that there is at least some sentiment from county officials that he has spoken to that supports the idea of the Town Council working together with the county.

“But who’s going to initiate it?” Sharp said. “They’re not going to initiate it.”

Stubbs said, “If they think it’s a potential that should be done, why would they not escalate it up the line to the rest of their members?”

“Well, they might,” Sharp said, “but if we don’t say anything, it doesn’t give them any incentive to do it. I still ask, ‘What does it hurt to ask?’ If we sit here as Town Council and don’t say anything, then we have no right to gripe when things are shoved down our throats, and we’ve done that.”

Adams asked Sharp what he expects the Town Council to do for the town.

“As far as I am aware, and there are people who disagree with this, (the TLC) is not yet a done deal,” Sharp said. “My understanding is it’s going to be presented again and work its way up through the processes, but as long as it’s not a done deal, then we still have a right to speak into it and say, ‘Could we look at something else? Could we just talk about it?’”

Carr said, “But on the other side of that, Marlin, if we went in as a council to go and talk with the county, all of us have got to be on the same page in agreeance with something, and I don’t think that’s where we are.”