March 8-14, 2017 Our 200th year | Vol. 200, No. 10 | www.Fauquier.com | $1

By John TolerAssociate Editor

In its long history, the Town of Warrenton has been known for many good things: its his-tory, hospitality and pride-of-place. In 1939, the town was swept up in another tradition, however brief, as a place where quickie marriages were conducted — a virtual “marriage mill,” some would say.

A detailed report in the Jan. 21, 1940 edition of The Washington Post claimed that as a result

of the shutting-down of the so-called “marriage industry” in Elkton, Maryland, Warrenton was among the towns in Northern Virginia now meeting the needs of “impatient lovers.”

The phenomenon had started in early 1939, when the District of Columbia instituted a three-day waiting period between the required blood test and the granting of the marriage li-cense. The state of Maryland, city of Alexandria, Fairfax and Arlington counties soon followed suit.

In Warrenton, a couple that had the results of their blood tests could be married immediately. This was also true in Winchester, Fredericks-burg, Manassas and Leesburg, which also felt the effect of the change.

Two lakes, two communities — visit both this week. Real Estate, C2

By Leonard ShapiroContributing Writer

The new owner of the former Blackthorne Inn last week re-filed an amended application with the Fau-quier County Planning Commission for a transformative expansion of the Upperville facility into a boutique re-sort that will include a 250-person capacity event center for weddings, parties and other functions.

The latest application, submitted by the Easton Porter Group based in Charlottesville, has definitely cap-tured the attention of the nearby Greystone community as well as the Warrenton-based Piedmont Envi-ronmental Council (PEC). Both en-tities have significant concerns about the increased size and overall scope of the proposed project located on 57 acres along Route 50.

“The big issue is simply that we have serious reservations about what Easton Porter has proposed,” said Kevin Ramundo, a Greystone resident

whose wife, Anne D’Ignazio, is presi-dent of the community’s homeowners association. “Our biggest concern is the scale of what has been proposed. It has been significantly increased.

“From what the (Fauquier) Board of Supervisors approved in 2014 (for the previous owner), it now doubles the number of overnight guests, tri-ples the number of guests allowed on the property at any given time and increases the number of special events by 350 percent. Put it all to-gether — the traffic issues, the noise issues, the environmental issues — and it’s much larger than what was there before. Is that scale appropriate for what was supposed to be a rural, agricultural area?”

Included in the latest Easton Porter application are 24 guest cab-ins with a total of 38 rooms, a 50-seat restaurant and 32-seat pub in what will be the renovated historic main building, with three other pri-vate dining rooms that could seat as many as 115 people. There are plans for an event center that would ac-commodate as many as 250 guests, increased parking areas, new roads, a fitness center, spa and pool, three new support buildings for laundry, storage, loading and trash removal, and a three-bedroom single family home.

The Fauquier County Planning Commission has already sent the re-filed application out to a number

of state agencies for review before a public hearing on the proposal is scheduled. Following that hearing, the planning commission could ei-ther recommend to the full board of supervisors that the plan be ap-proved, or not. The supervisors could still vote to approve the plan, even if the county’s planning commission does not recommend it.

The current state agency review is not expected to be completed for at least another month, according to Holly Meade, Fauquier County’s chief of planning. It will be studied by the Virginia Department of Trans-portation, Office of Drinking Water, Historic Resource Planner, Office of Emergency Services, and Depart-ment of Health, among others.

“There are so many moving parts,” Meade said. “And there is definitely a lot of interest in this.”

That would very much include the PEC.

“Right now,” said PEC president

Jean Perin, “the PEC is taking the position that we’re there to enable our constituency, and their neighbors, to voice their concerns about the re-percussions of the size of the project, the water, the drain fields, the envi-ronmental issues.”

Julie Bolthouse, the PEC’s head of land use in Fauquier County, has reviewed the latest Easton Porter ap-plication and said “my biggest con-cern in looking at it is just the scope, all the new buildings. They’re adding a 13,700-foot event building. There’s a new spa, three new buildings for storage and trash removal. There are four new cabins and that will have a big impact in terms of water us-age. That’s definitely eye-opening … At this point we also have con-cerns about the impact on the envi-ronment. There’s a lack of detail on the septic system, the wells they’ll be providing and how much water they’ll be using.”

INSIDEBusiness ..........................A8Classified ........................ C6Communities ................ A12Education ........................A9High School Scene ........ A10Farming ...........................A7Libraries ....................... A11Opinion ......................... A16Obituaries ..................... A15Public Safety ....................A3Puzzles ........................... B5Real Estate ...................... C1Religious Notes ............. A14Sports ............................. B1Time Out ....................... A13

Spring forwardDaylight saving

time begins 2 a.m. Sunday. Don’t forget

to set your clocks ahead one hour.

Fauquier County’s

three high school baseball teams are

previewed. Sports, B1

Long-awaited Gainesville Cabela’sslated to open Thursday

Full story in Business, Page A8

PHOTO BY ADAM GOINGSSharron Stafford greets visitors in the camping section at a media preview event Feb. 28.

By Jill PalermoTimes Staff Writer

Concerned the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors might reject its plan to con-solidate aging Warrenton and Taylor middle schools into a new, $55 million building, the school board devised its “plan B” Monday night.

The board voted unani-mously March 6 to tweak the design and timing of the new middle school building, changes that shaved about $12 million off the school’s esti-mated price tag.

The changes mean the school board will now ask the supervi-sors’ blessing for a consolidated middle school estimated to cost about $43.3 million instead of the original $55 million. The school board will make its pitch during a special meeting of the two boards scheduled for

Thursday, March 9.School board members ar-

rived at the new cost estimate during a special meeting called to hear about a prototype mid-dle-school model designed by architectural firm RRMM, which the school division hired to help plan the new middle school.

The RRMM model was recently used for Page Mid-dle School, in Gloucester County, and is currently being constructed in Suffolk. The two-story building accommo-dates 950 students and pro-vides most of the features the school board said it wanted in a new middle school.

School board votes to build consolidated middle school for $12M less

Supervisors take a tour of aging Warrenton and Taylor middle schools, Page A9

See SCHOOL, page A5

Expansion at former Blackthorne Inn faces challenge

Play ball!

Courthouse Square in Warrenton, as it appeared in 1939. The office of County Clerk T.E. Bartenstein is at the left, and the Courthouse, where Frank D. Gaskins served as the Justice of the Peace, is at right.

In the late 1930s, the town became an epicenter for quick matrimonial ceremonies

Recalling Warrenton’s days as a ‘marriage mill’

See MARRIAGE, page A5

See INN, page A4

“The big issue is simply that we have serious reservations about what Easton Porter has proposed.”

KEVIN RAMUNDOGreystone resident