November 20 ~ December 11, 2014
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Middleburg Film Festival
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Y OP LOCALL ITY AND SH R COMMUN SUPPORT OU
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Christmas Cheer “A Very Good Year”
M
Daniel Morrow
Sheila Johnson and The Imagination Games Allen Leech
iddleburg’s auditors, Mitchell & Company of Leesburg pronounced Fiscal 2014 “a very good year” for Middleburg during the presentation of its annual audit of the Town’s finances. Total assets rose from $16.6 million in 2013 to $17.1 million. Total liabilities decreased, but only slightly, from $3.73 million to $3.67 million. Total assets rose from $12.9 million to $13.4 million. The Town’s “General Fund,” essentially its main checking account, reported revenues of $2.3 million in fiscal 2014, and expenses of only $1.9 million. “No issues encountered” during the course of the audit, Mitchell reported. The Town’s records and staff support for the Mitchell & Company auditing team were deemed “outstanding.” The only note of concern raised during the report was a potential shortfall of some $643 thousand in the fund that undergirds the town’s pension system. That amount will show as liability in next year’s audit unless the fund’s investment portfolio returns show marked improvement or the shortfall is made good from the Town’s general funds. Many if not all the state’s small towns had suffered similar problems during the recent recession, Mitchell & Co. assured Town Council. Given its current cash flow Middleburg appeared to be quite able to address the issue. Salamander Subdivision
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B u si n e s s Di r e c tory : Pa g e 4 6 • Fr i en d s f or L i fe : Pa g e 4 2
PRST STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID BURKE, VA PERMIT NO 029
Page 4 Major Investment in Foxcroft School
Will Moore, Middleburg’s Town Planner and Zoning Administrator reported that the Middleburg Planning Commission had met with representatives of Salamander on October 27 for what he termed a “pre-application discussion” of a “preliminary plat for subdivision” of the residential areas zoned R-1 and R-3 owned by the Salamander organization. “A conceptual layout of lots and streets was presented and discussed,” Moore reported. “Additional discussion will be taking place in coming
months including evaluation of the proposal relative to the [town’s] Comprehensive Plan and review of consultant recommendations from the time of original rezoning.” According to Moore the Town should anticipate “an application for revisions to the associated proffers” though, “the timing of such application in relation to the application for preliminary subdivision is not certain at this time. Town Administrator Martha Semmes noted that she had been answering questions about Salamander’s plans, no doubt prompted by the meeting of the Planning Commission and news of the opening of a Salamander Real Estate Showroom at 100 W. Washington Street. For many of Middleburg’s citizens, business people, and friends, rumors that Salamander would soon be selling “residences” within the Town Limits of Middleburg came as news. It was, in fact, as Semmes reported, old news, dating back to the original July 2005 Memorandum of Agreement between the Town and the Salamander organization. That agreement made construction of the Inn and Spa possible, provided for a significant set-aside of Salamander land as a nature preserve, guaranteed the construction of the Town’s multi-million-dollar water and sewer treatment facilities, and limited residential construction on the property to no more than 49 new residences in the areas zoned R-1 and R-3. In a 2007 rezoning, those boundaries were confirmed. At the same time zoning was approved for a new “mixed use village” designation, which would include both residential and commercial space. The 2007 rezoning provided for up to 12 single family units, ideally, to be set aside for local school faculty and staff housing and up to 48 multi-family units, designed to provide a mix of workforce housing and housing for for elderly residents At present it would appear that the Salamander organization will build the residences it plans to sell, promising to Continued page 16
Request in homes by Thursday 11/20/14
Volume 11 Issue 7
Rockin’ Hens and a Virginia Meritage
POSTAL CUSTOMER
Middleburg’s Community Newspaper
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