To sell or not to sell – another go-round for Pullen House

By Valerie Cury

At the Town of Purcellville Town Council Meeting on Oct. 10, council voted to approve the subdivision plat for the Clark property located at 331 E G Street. The property is a 1.01-acre lot. The owners are subdividing the lot into one lot consisting of the original home and an additional lot which required certain easements necessary for a future dwelling to include water, sewer and sidewalk easements.

Council Members Boo Bennett said she wanted to separate the sidewalk easement from the subdivision lot vote. She said voting on the subdivision plat and the sidewalk easement were two separate items. “I feel differently about the two items; I would not lump them together,” she said.

Said Bennett, “Sidewalks are a pretty big thing in that particular side of G Street. You go 6 ft. or 5 ft. in and you are at peoples’ door.” She said that she and Council Member Carol Luke “talked to the residents and they are not interested [in sidewalks].”

Bennett said, “We are discussing a historic home, and it will lose a couple of pillars in the front.”

The surveyor for the applicant Steven Chen said, “We are not opposed to the sidewalk easement.” He said to do another subdivision plat would cost the applicant extra time and money.

Director of Engineering Planning and Development Dale Lehnig said the sidewalk easement was a request for a future sidewalk “at some point in the future. It would take time and money to the town to acquire a sidewalk easement. So given the opportunity, we had requested it.”

Council Member Carol Luke said she had an issue “with that premise. The sidewalk easement on that property won’t do any good because there’s the whole rest of the street to do. That sidewalk will take their front yards.

“We went to every house on the block and nobody wants that.” She said the narrowest road in the town does not have room for a sidewalk.

Lehnig answered back and said, “And neighbors could change … at some point people may want a sidewalk. All this does is reserve it for the future.”

Luke responded, “My issue with that is if we leave it on the property here, what about the rest of the street?” 

Lehnig said, “At some point if there was a sidewalk to be put in, at some point then we would have to do the design. Then we would have to require easements. All this does is for the future. It doesn’t hurt the property right now.”

Lehnig explained that if she has one sidewalk easement then it is easier to get all of them. She said it took 2 years to get 32 easements on 12th Street. “If we would have had one sidewalk easement in place then we wouldn’t have had to go” so long – “It does no harm.”

“And it wouldn’t have done,” said Bennett, “no harm to keep them separated. These narrow streets are in our old part of town and are what is the charm, that I know, I speak of.”

Bennett said it was wrong for the applicant to bear the cost to do a new subdivision plat without the sidewalk easement, because the town asked them to put it in. Lehnig said that everything typically “goes on one plat.”

“But you made the decision about the sidewalks without anyone talking to citizens or anyone else,” said Bennett.

Lehnig said, “There was no decision made to put a sidewalk there.” Bennett answered, “But you made a decision to include it in this drawing.” “Correct,” said Lehnig.

Bennett said that Lehnig made the decision to put the sidewalk easement in the plat and now that it will be separated the applicant should not bear the cost.

Regarding the sidewalk easement again, Council Member Luke reiterated that if anyone “followed through with a sidewalk, it would take off the steps off the porch. It just seems illogical that someone would even think of doing that.” 

The council voted no to the sidewalk easement and yes to the subdivision plat. The town will pick up the cost for the applicant to redo their plat. 

Mayor Stan Milan put the sale of the Pullen House back on the agenda as he said he had second thoughts about “selling this asset.” The half-acre property is located a 301 S 20th Street.

Milan said he visited the old town hall on Main Street when attending a ribbon cutting and he wondered why the property was sold over 12 years ago. He also said it was a shame that the gun shop on Main Street which was at one time a town hall is not still owned by the town. He said the Pullen house property “is large and has potential.” 

Bennett pointed out that the property has been boarded up for 12 years and there has been a “lack of maintenance to the point that [the town] has violated their own ordinances. “We had a private citizen come and cut the vines off the tree. “I bring that up because we paid an employee for printing and mailing a flyer to go to our own citizens about vines choking trees. We are Tree City USA; and here’s one we can’t even take care of.”

“If this house is sold it becomes a home. The zoning allows for businesses and it will be a business that will bring in revenue to the town.” 

At previous meetings Milan said that the Pullen house could be used for more parking. Addressing a parking lot Bennett said the town could move their cars and trucks off the parking lot during the Cannon games. 

Luke said she wasn’t changing her vote and the town could use the funds from the sale to pay bills.

Council Member Ron Rise Jr. said the first couple weeks of the Cannons games are crowded. “Taking a property and turning it into a slab of concrete … where it will sit empty most of the year,” wouldn’t have his support. 

Vice Mayor Chris Bertaut said the sale of the property could go to paying off $340,000 of Fireman’s Field debt.  He said approximately $218 yearly appears everyone’s tax bill for the Parks and Recreation portion.  Bertaut said “if we apply the results from the sale of the Pullen House … We can eliminate basically about three years of debt and give our citizens some serious debt relief.”

“So I see this as an opportunity that the sale is a bonus for citizens to get a break on our taxes.”