Town considers creating new authority to boost business
Washington Mayor Joe Whited on Monday proposed that the Town Council create an Economic Development Authority to assist in efforts to bring more business to town that could diversify and bolster the local economy.
The move would give town officials the ability to appropriate funds in the name of economic development. The goal is to help bring to life the mayor’s proposed economic incentive package that could include tax cuts for hotels and restaurants and direct subsidies to entrepreneurs looking to open storefronts in the town to help get their business off the ground.
Whited hopes to promote business in the shrinking town, while also embracing the tourism industry that currently upholds Washington’s economic backbone. Meals and lodging taxes make up a significant portion of the town’s tax revenue, which is supported disproportionately by the Three Michelin- starred Inn at Little Washington.
Should the authority be created,
PROPERTY OWNER JIM ABDO: “I didn’t need grants … I didn’t need assistance with money. I needed people to get out of the way and allow people to open a bakery or small restaurant and not be forced into a political firestorm.”
it would include seven members, including the chairs of Planning Commission and Architectural Review Board, three appointed Town Council members and two appointed community members, according to Whited. He asked that Town Council consider setting aside $10,000 during budget talks to help kickstart the authority.
The members of Town Council present at the meeting all indicated support for creating the authority. Vice Mayor Fred Catlin and member Patrick O’Connell were absent from Monday's meeting.
Jim Abdo, owner of a number of languishing vacant properties in town, encouraged the Town Council during public comment to incentivize business by loosening its zoning laws, which he said are overly restrictive. “I didn’t need grants … I didn’t need assistance with money,” Abdo said. “I needed people to get out of the way and allow people to open a bakery or small restaurant and not be forced into a political firestorm.”
BOUNDARY CHANGE AMENDED AND RE-APPROVED
The body on Monday also amended the boundary line adjustment agreement approved in February in a compromise to further address concerns from the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors.
The newly approved version of the agreement by the town includes language that explicitly says that all residential property on land brought into town through this boundary change is strictly prohibited.
The move was done to assuage the Supervisors, some of whom feared the agreement’s previous language used may have allowed the town to permit housing on Rush River Commons’ land in the future.
For the boundary change to become effective, the Supervisors and a circuit court judge must now approve the agreement to expand the Town of Washington’s corporate limit to accommodate a potential expansion of the mixed-use Rush River Commons development.