Warren County officials tour proposed trail site on former Avtex property

FRONT ROYAL — Warren County officials say a trail through the former Avtex property could give new life to part of the superfund site.

A group of local, state and federal officials toured the 240-acre conservancy parcel of the entire 440-acre Avtex site on Thursday. The group followed the latest proposed trail route, made stops along the way and tried to dodge ticks.

Avtex Fibers Inc. manufactured synthetic fibers on a 440-acre property on Kendrick Lane from 1940 through 1989. The company shut down the plant in 1989 after the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that the facility improperly disposed of waste, which then contaminated the Shenandoah River, water wells and groundwater. The EPA had added the site to the National Priorities List three years before the plant shutdown. FMC Corporation settled a lawsuit with the United States in 1999 and spent more than a decade cleaning up the 440-acre property.

Covenants placed on the approximately 280-acre ecological conservancy parcel limit its development to light recreational uses such as trails. The county built the Soccerplex and skatepark on part of the property. The town built a new police department headquarters on a parcel across the street.

But who pays for the trail remains uncertain, Warren County Director of Economic Development Joseph Petty said. Petty told the group the county has received some federal funds through the America Rescue Plan Act that may help start a trail project.

Members of the Board of Directors for the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, the Board of Supervisors and Front Royal Town Council toured the property along the proposed trail route. Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality joined the tour group.

Petty led the tour, providing information to the group about the trail at stops along the proposed path.

EDA Board of Directors member Marjorie “Jorie” Martin said the authority presented a draft of a trail plan to the Board of Supervisors in January.

“The plan has been revised since so this is our first opportunity to show everyone all the hard work that’s been done by Parsons, by Joe (Petty), by I think our board — we had some input that I really can’t take credit for,” Martin said.

Warren County started to look at making a trail on the conservancy parcel as early as 1993, Petty said. A master plan was created in 2000. A contractor in 2017 started to conceptualize what a trail could look like, Petty said.

“We can show you maps,” Petty said. “We can show you photographs. But until you’re here to really physically experience it, you don’t really quite understand or grasp how large this property is and what a valued asset is here, and to also appreciate the hard work that’s gone into it from the folks at Parsons and what they’re doing here every day.”

Drafts of the trail route show it connecting to the Royal Greenway in Eastham Park south of the conservation site and the Luray boat landing. The trail would extend north along the river and into an area of private properties. Petty said he continues to talk to the property owners about the trail who have expressed support for the proposed route. The route would ultimately exit onto Kendrick Lane and continue into a larger network of trails with bicycle and pedestrian options.

“This could be a key transportation option for our community, our kids who are in these neighborhoods connecting them to Skyline High School, Skyline Middle School, things south of here that right now, if you had to go around this large piece of property, to being able to easily connect these neighborhoods and our community would be a valued asset.”

The trail also could help change how the community perceives the superfund site, Petty said. The trail could include informational signs telling users about Avtex’s history and the future of the property. Petty said the trail may increase the marketability of the part of the Avtex property the EDA can develop.

At the stops along the proposed route Petty and Adam Pugh, site manager for Parsons Corporation, described the trail’s path as it weaved its way through property along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Petty said the plan would include installing fencing along the route. However, they could not put in a fence that would disturb the ground, limiting the kind they could use, Petty explained.

Front Royal Town Council members Amber Morris and Melissa DeDomenico-Payne, Board of Supervisors Chair Vicky Cook, EDA board members Scott Jenkins and Hayden Ashworth, Warren County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent for Administration George “Buck” Smith and County Administrator Edwin Daley also participated in the tour.

– Contact Alex Bridges at [email protected]

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