Edgehill Texaco Service Station, Gloucester, VA Update

Yesterday we asked the question as to the historical significance of the above pictured Edgehill Texaco Station.  Well one of our staff found it and we are going to share that information with you.

http://www.prlog.org/10913170-volunteer-vacation-restoring-vintage-virginia-gas-station.html

Please be sure to take the time to read up on all of this very carefully, for in there is the secret that this isn't an historic landmark by any stretch of the imagination in any area.  So why all of the fuss?  Well that just gets rather interesting.  We think it is a bit early in the entire story we will be telling you, but we have decided to start here because this seems to be the place where everything comes back to for some odd reason.  Well it's not really all that odd once you have caught up with it all.

   http://www.gazettejournal.net/index.php/news/news_article/planners_recommend_approval_of_village_plan

This is a news story from the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal and starts to clue you in with where we are going.

http://www.gazettejournal.net/index.php/news/news_article/long_range_future_of_court_house_area_topic_of_hearing

http://www.gazettejournal.net/index.php/news/news_article/main_street_landmark_in_urgent_need_of_repair


Now who owns the Edgehill Texaco Service Station?  Everyone seems to think it is the Fairfield Foundation.  Well tax information shows otherwise.  It's the Fairfield Edgehill LLC.  Same owners as the Foundation, but legally separate entities.  https://apps.gloucesterva.info/cor/landbookdb/landbook3DNN.asp?Param=29861  

As we understand it, the purchase price for this property?  Over 400 thousand dollars.  Why would anyone pay so much for such junk especially when it is listed by the county as being worth less than 100 thousand?

  This corner may just have some special purpose to keep this intersection the way it is and may just not have anything to do with historical landmarks. Especially when one looks at the estimated costs that are going into the building listed at around 1 million dollars. It's in one of the Gloucester Mathews Gazette Journal articles above.

  This corner seems to play a very prominent plan for the future of Gloucester and it has nothing to do with historic preservation from what we can tell. It is preservation, but that preservation may not be what people seem to think it is. There just may be some hidden incentive to maintain that corner somehow to prevent the alleviation of traffic congestion that this area experiences every weekday during rush hours. We got a lot of heat when we did articles in the past about this site. We now have a really good reason why that was.

  Our crystal ball tells us what to expect for the future of the Edgehill Texaco service station and that crystal ball does not see a long term place for the site in question. Short term yes, but not long term?  No way!  It would be nice to have an old fashioned gas station, but what purpose would it really serve? You have to ask some strange questions sometimes in order to figure out what the real intent may just be.  Stay tuned, we have a lot of surprises coming.

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Gloucester, VA Edgehill Texaco Service Station Historic Landmark?

It's interesting that we are all told that the Edgehill, Texaco,  Service Station is some sort of historic landmark.  Why is anyone buying this?  That is a really good question.  A thought had occurred, if this gas station was really of any historic concern, then why hasn't Texaco stepped up to offer some form of support to help this project along?  So we started digging.  What we were told is that the reason this place is being called an historic location is because it is the oldest service station of it's type that ran the longest in the history of Texaco. (BS meter anyone?)

  First off, who cares?  That is like arguing that you can never put anyone into the old Wal Mart because that was the first Wal Mart ever built in Gloucester, therefore it's an historic Landmark.  The old Roses which is now the Boys Club never should have been allowed as that was the first Roses to ever come to Gloucester.  The arguments do not fly.  So why are we buying the same lousy argument to this old Texaco station?

  In 1911 Texaco opened its first filling station in Brooklyn, New York.  So this is not the first Texaco in the nation by any means.  As far as the longest running of it's type?  Give it a few years, that will change.  So where exactly is the historical value in this area?  Your guess is as good as ours and we would sure like to see the evidence as to where that so called value is.

  Tomorrow we will be covering more on this property, opening up even more questions and concerns everyone should have.  Stay tuned.

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Gloucester, VA - Readers Continuing Responses On Edge Hill Service Station Slated For Potential Demolition

Readers Respond Again.

"Yes, keep it going. You display your ignorance and wild leaps of "logic" which time will show are at best confused. The station was painted white prior to being sold to the current owner who plans to upgrade the existing building and corner. This reality has nothing to do with a planning document ... say what you will about the planning document's merit ... it is not prescriptive. Not even the long arm of zoning can force a property owner to comply with a planning document. So, like I said, keep up the ignorance and people will gradually see that you have no idea what you are talking about. I particularly like your brazen posting of my previous message and you will probably do the same with this one ... I hope. Ignorance is not bliss. on Gloucester, VA - Readers Respond To Edge Hill Service Station Slated For Possible Demolition"

You claim the reality has nothing to do with a planning document.  The story was about the planning document and what those plans include.  You have not followed this site for any length of time and it shows in your comments.  We have been covering what, in our opinion, are blatant disregards for the laws here in the county.  We have been covering numerous issues for the past year now.

  It is our opinion that the county can figure out a way to force the present property owner to comply with plans the county wants to force through based on what we have already seen done throughout the county.  It is through exposure of what the plans are that helps to possibly prevent such actions.  Please read the headlines of that first story again.  Slated for POTENTIAL demolition.

  You use an interesting choice of words in your argument.  "Not even the long arm of zoning can force a property owner to comply with a planning document".  Gee, really?  The county can force a property owner into complying with a court order though can't it?  Zoning along with codes and compliance can condemn the structure if the county thinks it's in the best interest can't they?  The county can sure make the life of the present owner miserable if the county so chooses to can't they?

  You argue like a lawyer and most people would never catch that little deceptive description so well placed.  Well done.  Let's look at some other facts you missed.  "The building was painted white before being sold to the present owner."  Since then it has undergone exterior structural repairs, painted again to an off white or light tan color, has had numerous murals painted on it's side and other numerous work to create a rather pleasing facade.  Though on the one hand of the term it may not meet certain criteria for period restoration, on another hand, it meets restoration for the overall outer appearance from what it once was not that long ago.

  If you want to argue the article for what it is not, go ahead and knock your socks off.

  Let's see if we are on the same page here anyway.  We would rather not see the structure demolished.  Reason for exposing plans.  It's not our choice what happens to it though.  It's up to the new owner(s) to do as they see fit with the property.  It's not the place of the county nor the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust to interfere with any property owner anywhere in the county unless the property represents a serious public health issue.  At no time should  county officials or even the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust be involved in creating plans for private property.

  Answer that question while on the subject.  Why is the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust even looking at private property and making potential plans for it's use when it does not even have the right to?  Please edumakate this 1st grade graduit since you are so well informed with obviously deep inside knowledge and bursting with such illuminating brilliance so that we no longer linger in ignorance.

  In regards to the brazen posting of your comments.  You posted it on this site, not us.  All we do is make it easier for everyone to see and we try to respond to all comments.   We look forward to being illuminated.

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https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5NJpRCvjyV8cGZvelhDX0lVcXM/edit?usp=sharing  Our way of saying thanks for spending time with us.

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Gloucester, VA - Readers Respond To Edge Hill Service Station Slated For Possible Demolition

From one of our readers.

"Please keep posting stories like this. They prove that you have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about.

The restoration of the station has hardly begun with much work left. Check your facts before you post alarmist articles. I'm guessing you have not spoken with the owners ... they would have told you what is actually going on. "

Now this comment we find rather interesting.  It shows that the reader paid no attention as to where the concept of potential demolition comes from.  It came from the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust's web site.  The information is on a PDF and we have linked that PDF to this site on a previous post.  It is very very slow loading because the PDF is a huge file.  Whoever made the PDF didn't shrink the images on the pages prior to creating the pages.

  Look at the previous post.  The top image was shot in 2010 by us.  The second image is from 2012 and is used above.  Now look at the image of the service station that comes from the GMSPT site below.

The picture image from the PDF page that comes from the Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust site shows a different look to the present look of the building.  The outside of the building has been restored from it's original condition.  Is it the inside that may not have been restored?  We are not interested in that.  If the building is up for rent, then it's up to the new tenant to put in whatever they want or need for their business.  The outside has been refurbished which is restored.  (Information from the GMSPT suggests the building can be used as a potential cafe, suggesting the building is up for rent).

  The demolition information is right in front of everyone.  You are looking at it above.  What exactly is alarmist about it?  What is the reader really trying to convey to us?  Look at 6.1.3 above.  It states remove the existing structure, referring to the Edge Hill Service Station.  This is not our information, it comes from the GMSPT site that anyone can read at any time.  

  These are part of the sub plans that have already been submitted to the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors and the Board has already passed a 7 to zero vote on accepting.  We have the video showing this as well.  Is the reader nervous about this information being made public?  The local paper sure didn't cover this.  We can post that video at any time as it comes directly from the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors.  

  It looks like we are making some people rather nervous by exposing what is really going on in the county.  So we are going to continue to expose these bad ideas so everyone knows what is going on.  Like we keep saying, what no one else is willing to cover.

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https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5NJpRCvjyV8M1M5czhEaWdxTVk/edit?usp=sharing  Is the download link.  It's a bribe for county employees too  ;  )

Just kidding.  If it's free to the public, it's free to county employees as well.

For all the latest news, please click on the Home button towards the top of this site.

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Gloucester, VA - Edge Hill Service Station Slated For Possible Demolition

The top picture is of the Edge Hill gas station that had the call to save it before it's restoration.  The second picture is of the Edge Hill gas station with the restoration complete.  Now it's potentially slated for demolition by the ones who were involved in restoring it?  One plan is to try and make it into a cafe if they can get someone to rent it with such highly limited parking.

  Two other options are demolition and replacement with a new office or retail complex, again with no parking and the last option is to turn it into a water fountain.

Why was all the money put into restoring Edge Hill Gas Station only to turn around and now look at tearing it down?  Someone made money on the restoration work.  Someone is going to make money tearing it down and putting up something else.  Do we really need more bad planning?

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For all the latest news, please click on the Home button towards the top of this site.

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We cover what no one else will.

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Stop and Go, BP Gas Station, Gloucester Point, VA

Here is a picture of the Stop & Go, BP, gas station that is the first gas station you come to when coming off of the Coleman Bridge. This was a major renovation as the last owners had the roof cave in on them from storm damage. The gas prices are in line with everyone else and BP gas is considered some of the best. I won't argue the point as to who has the best gas as I would just as soon not have to use any but then I don't want to go back to horses either so.....

I'm sure they appreciate any new customers that come their way so be sure to give them a big Gloucester Welcome and give them a shot.