City should enter plans

The News Virginian
Published: October 23, 2008

From a vantage point somewhere near the top of the world, or at least that section of it where Afton Mountain touches the sky, Phil Dulaney can gaze in one direction across nine acres of cracked asphalt running beneath ramshackle structures, and in another across a lush valley stretching to the eye’s limits. What he told The News Virginian he cannot see is reason to drive a for-sale sign into the soil where he owns 471 acres valued at $1.4 million and likely to fetch more, though less so than in the days when the economy still hummed.

The Charlottesville businessman has clung for years to a chunk of Afton real estate others covet but have failed to possess. It stands along Afton Circle just off the entrances to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive, two of America’s most scenic driving routes along which more than 20 million people travel each year. A section of the Appalachian Trail, which winds from Maine to Tennessee, slices along the plot.

Provided cause, businesses, travelers, tourists, hikers, recreationists and others would gravitate to Dulaney’s land as if drawn there. Among many who recognize this is state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, who is touting a proposal to build a hotel and conference center on Afton Mountain with Dulaney’s plot in mind. Trouble is, Dulaney is willing to listen but is not especially keen on the idea, the latest in a series he either has rebuffed or casually dismissed with a sniff and a shrug.

That has kindled a familiar response on The News Virginian’s Web page, where Dulaney is pilloried in reader comments for his insistence on maintaining a potential mecca as a place from which passersby are inclined to look away. That Dulaney’s grip on the status quo stifles opportunity and progress in a place where surely it could be had is indisputable. So too is the fact that he has a right to do what he wishes with his property.

Of greater significance are the opportunities missed at the foot of the mountain. Even if Hanger’s plan were realized, or something grander still, what would be the benefit to Waynesboro? Precious little, as matters stand now. Hanger envisions “a grand entrance” to the Shenandoah Valley on Afton Mountain. So what of the entrance to Waynesboro, the first city off the mountain? Basic City qualifies as less than grand. So too do streets absent of life. Downtown Waynesboro is the unappealing interlude between the city’s eastern end and the retail section on the other side.

Like so many others, we hope Dulaney awakens to the possibilities, which would profit him and the region. Hanger and others are right to think along these lines. But a hotel and conference center would represent a first step, not a transformation. For that to happen, the city below the mountain will have to take part. This will require a plan that extends beyond the city-run tourist center that stands on Dulaney’s plot. Hanger’s entrance theme should extend to Waynesboro’s eastern end and downtown core.

There is little use in speculating on the cause of Dulaney’s hesitancy, but the City of Waynesboro’s is another matter. There is and long has been a want of people who will step forward and lead. Raise this point and wait for the council’s factions to jab fingers in the air, toward one another. We reject the accusations of both sides. Blame can extend back for generations. But why bother?

What is needed is a unified plan that will create Hanger’s “grand entrance” and extend it through Waynesboro and into the Valley beyond. That cannot happen unless city leaders become champions of an idea larger than tightening the budget or building a community theater.

The council includes entrepreneurs, pragmatists and forward-thinkers. Those attributes are needed to advance Waynesboro beyond the shadows of General Electric and Dupont. It is time for our elected officials to put blame games aside and minds to work.