Printed using recycled fiber
Middleburg’s Community Newspaper Volume 13 Issue 4
B E L O CA L Watermelon BUY LOCAL Park Fest Page 39
Y OP LOCALL ITY AND SH R COMMUN OU T OR PP SU
www.mbecc.com
August 25, 2016 ~ September 22, 2016
The Chronicle of the Horse in Art Page 7
National Night Out - Page 28
photo by Dee Dee Hubbard
Gentle Harvest Announces Grand Opening in Marshall
Beautiful! Middleburg Town Council Report
T
Dan Morrow
wo-way traffic returns to downtown Middleburg. Temporary stoplights disappear. Side streets, closed for weeks, are now open. Parking spaces, long inaccessible, are ready for use. The Virginia Department of Transportation’s highly disruptive and in some cases economically devastating roadwork is reportedly “well ahead of schedule.” Work will continue into October, but it should no longer “impede the flow of traffic as it had.” Best of all, the Middleburg family and friends can now see not only light at the end of a too long tunnel, but some of the goals of the plan. Just in time for the most important shopping seasons of the year, a new streetscape emerges clearly, more strikingly beautiful and pedestrian friendly than ever. Business Improving At its regular August meeting, Town Council Member Kathy Jo Shea observed that, despite the negative impact of the project, one could already see “increased revenues in the meals and occupancy taxes.” The idea that “no one was here in Middleburg,” she said, needed to be pointed out “on the public record. “ “Town Treasurer Ashley Bott agreed. “The numbers,” she said, “were very telling. Occupancy tax revenues were high and acknowledged that Salamander was a big player in that.” On the street, merchants, who suffered through the worst VDOT disruption of business in living memory, and one of the most damaging hailstorms ever, are looking forward to fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas, always as a make-or-break season for many merchants, and this year more important than ever. Double-checking for Damage Stuart Will, of Imoden Environmental Services, Middleburg’s key utilities service subcontractor, reported that, once more, a video crew had been assigned to snake a camera through all the water and sewer lines on West Washington Street. IES carefully compares the highly detailed “before” and “after” tapes “to make sure nothing was damaged during the Route 50 Project”. Will noted that all the lines will be reviewed using this new technology as soon as contruction is complete. Time to Lower the In-Town Speed Limit? Commander Tony Wells, Vice President of the Plains Rescue Squad, appeared before Council at its meeting to ask for their support of a request to VDOT “to reduce the speed limit in Middleburg from 25 MPH to 15 MPH.” Wells, who lives just outside Middleburg, noted that he had been “able to get the speed limit reduced on The Plains Road,” but did not want to move forward without Council support. With all the changes in the roadway through downtown, and increasing truck, car and pedestrian traffic, Wells noted, his experience tells him “the current 25 MPH speed limit . . . would be dangerous.” Continued page 19
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