Stopping Malvern speeders OK'd

Speeders beware – Madison County Sherriff’s deputies can now ticket drivers in the Malvern subdivision.

Several Malvern residents came before the Madison County Board of Supervisors in fall 2009 to request again that the roads in Malvern be officially designated highways for the purposes of law enforcement. The roads in the Malvern subdivision are considered private and are maintained by the Malvern Homeowners Association.

Since its first application, Malvern had had an engineer place road signs according to Virginia Department of Transportation specifications, Malvern Homeowners Association Treasurer Ed Johnson said at an earlier meeting.

The supervisors passed the ordinance to re-classify the roads at their regular Tuesday, March 8 meeting by a 4-0 vote. Supervisor Vice Chairman James Arrington was absent.

“I move we adopt the ordinance which authorizes the traffic enforcement in the subdivision Malvern,” Supervisor Dave Allen said at the meeting.

The ordinance allows members of the sheriff’s office to enforce road signs and give speeding tickets to drivers within the Malvern boundaries, something they were previously unable to do, according to Johnson. However, the subdivision will continue to pay for all road maintenance.

“Up until this point in time our stop signs and our speed limit signs, in essence have been suggestions,” Johnson said at the meeting. “Either you follow it or you don’t, we couldn’t really enforce it, that could change today and on behalf of the board of Malvern and members of Malvern I ask you to consider it.”

However, not all members of the Malvern community have been in support of the idea, mentioning that the set speed limit of 25 mph is to slow in the area, Malvern resident Mark Evans said in an earlier interview.

“The point I’ve made in the past is that 60 some people voted yes because they turned up to a meeting out of the 200 members who live back here,” Evans said in an interview last week. “My opinion is that it isn’t going to make much of a difference because there aren’t many places (for deputies to) hide – I doubt that they’re going to be back here that much.”

Malvern residents could apply for the change in status through a state ordinance that allows them to make the request when a subdivision reaches a certain number of lots, County Attorney V.R. Shackelford said at a previous meeting. Malvern reportedly has the largest population of the subdivisions in Madison County. This change in road status currently only applies to the Malvern subdivision within Madison.

“I don’t think this ordinance is going to effect the enforcement of normal laws or traffic laws within Madison County, what it does do it does enable the sheriff’s department to be able to enforce traffic laws on private roads,” Shackelford said at the meeting. “This does not affect the status of those roads as being private roads and privately maintained.”

Members of the supervisors again voiced concerns about the nature of deputies’ patrols in the Malvern area, however Johnson said that the subdivision is looking for no special treatment only “normal course of business” patrols.

“This is merely if we have someone in the area, we’re not going to send enforcement out,” Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean said at the meeting. “I don’t think there’s anything in Malvern’s request that has asked for dedicated deputies or increased patrols.”

Also at the meeting supervisors:

• Set up two meetings specially targeted to gather public input. The first is 8-10 a.m. Saturday, April 10 at the County Administration Complex auditorium at 414 N. Main St. in downtown Madison with supervisors Jerry Butler and Dave Allen. The second 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, May 12 in the same location with supervisors Pete Elliot and Eddie Dean.

• Agreed to let the Madison Extension office plant 1,600 trees at the Hoover Ridge athletic complex. The project is being funded by a grant through the Virginia Department of Forestry and the trees are being donated by different groups. They emphasized they wouldn’t pay to maintain the trees.

• Listened to a proposal by Journey Through Hallowed Ground President Cate Magennis-Wyatt concerning planting trees along a 180-mile stretch of historic road from the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania to Monticello. The road, which includes the Locust Dale stretch of U.S. 15 through Madison County, was recently designated a national scenic byway and the group is hoping to call attention to the trail by planting trees along it and routes that lead to it. The idea is to plant a tree for each of the 620,000 soldiers who died in the Civil War in time for next year’s sesquicentennial (150 anniversary) of the beginning of the war. Supervisors took no immediate action to support or not support the proposal.

• Watched as Supervisor Jerry Butler received a certificate of appreciation from the Battlefield Piedmont Regional Triad Committee in return for spending three years as president and organizing three regional conferences.

• Heard an update by Madison Chamber of Commerce Director Tracey Gardner on her volunteer project – she is attempting to create a database of all volunteering projects in the county and all the people who volunteer for those project to aid future projects.

• Received a report on the restructuring of Virginia Department of Transportation, the organization has been going through several rounds of layoff, these are due to be finished by late spring. VDOT officials also let the supervisors know that the snow removal this year exceeded the snow removal budget by at least $10 million. They had budgeted $4 million and the unofficial price tag, because not all the bills have come in, is $14 million.