Residents at a Gordonsville affordable housing complex were effectively trapped in their homes this week after snow and ice blocked parking lots, sidewalks and an emergency exit — forcing town officials to divert crews from public roadways to address a growing safety crisis at the privately owned property.
Over the last two days, town officials have been working to remove large piles of compacted snow that covered sidewalks and spilled out onto the sides of the road on a stretch of Main Street spanning most of the tiny town’s historic downtown area, from Gordonsville Public Library to the Barbeque Exchange.
On the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 29, Main Street reopened to the public after town officials had closed off a stretch spanning from Baker Street to High Street at 9 a.m. to clear snow and ice. Town Manager Anthony Schienschang said that while VDOT “did a very good job of clearing the main roadways,” their efforts left large boulders of snow that made sidewalks impassable for pedestrians.
“We have a lot of elderly people in Gordonsville who frankly can’t address that for themselves, so our crews have been working 12-hour shifts to clear as much of it as they possibly can,” Schienschang said.
On Friday, all town staff — from administrative assistants to the town manager himself — were taking part in a coordinated four-hour effort starting at 11 a.m. to help with additional snow removal. Many of the town’s employees focused on continuing the work begun the day before removing the “snow boulders” from the roadsides and sidewalks on Main Street. Others went to residences throughout the town where officials had received calls or were aware of particularly vulnerable community members, such as the elderly or those with disabilities.
Schienschang said that the thick layer of ice that settled on top of the snow — a phenomenon recently coined “snowcrete” by Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Director Clint Osborn — has been presenting a particularly difficult problem for his team.
“We’ve had to get digging bars, hatchets, picks and mattocks to break through four to six inches of ice before we can even get down to the powdered snow,” he said.
Gordonsville Public Works had originally planned to work on Main Street until approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday, but they had to take a break from those efforts after receiving reports of residents snowed in due to uncleared parking lots and sidewalks at the East Gate Village apartments.
On Wednesday, a Facebook post by East Gate Village II resident Michelle Hahn began to gain attention on several Gordonsville community pages. According to Hahn, the property owners failed to clear snow and ice from the parking lots of the two buildings, leaving residents unable to safely leave their apartments. Photos included with the post showed a parking lot that appeared untouched by snow equipment, as well as an emergency exit which remained blocked by several inches of snow and ice.
The two apartment complexes are managed by Fitch Irick, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based corporation. The company manages “300 properties containing more than 12,000 units across the southeastern United States,” according to the company’s website. Several of those properties are local to central Virginia, including the Timberland Park apartments in Charlottesville and two properties in Ruckersville, Hawk’s Landing and Lily Ridge.
It is unclear who owns East Gate Village II in Gordonsville. According to Orange County GIS data, the owner is East Gate Village II VA LLC. The company’s articles of organization, available on the Virginia State Corporation Commission website, offers little more information about who the owner may be. According to those documents, the company’s registered agent is Jen Surber, an attorney and developer with a Bristol, Virginia, address. But, a company’s registered agent is not necessarily the company’s owner. A registered agent is typically responsible for keeping a business’ tax and legal affairs in order.
Surber and her company are named in various public documents, including Gordonsville’s Town Council meeting minutes, as the developer of East Gate Village II. She and her company, Surber Development and Consulting LLC, were also involved in the development of Lily Ridge, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture release about the development of affordable housing in rural areas.
Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to Surber at the phone number found on a 2024 Virginia Housing Low Income Housing Tax Credit application for a development in Strasburg, to inquire about East Gate Village II, but did not immediately receive a response.
In a brief phone call with Charlottesville Tomorrow, East Gate Village II property manager Deborah Harbaugh declined to comment and offered to reach out to corporate, but not to provide their contact information. Charlottesville Tomorrow did not receive responses to several other requests for comment from members of Fitch Irick’s leadership team.
In a phone interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow, Hahn shared that both she and her 80-year-old mother have disabilities, and she is aware of other neighbors who have specific medical needs, such as attending dialysis appointments. According to Hahn, an attempt to confront property management on Wednesday led to an altercation, but no progress on getting the snow removed.
“I was like, ‘I have had it — I need my medication, so I’m gonna start having seizures tomorrow if I don’t get my meds,'” Hahn said. “I mean, this is not acceptable.”
Hahn said that after this incident, a property manager threatened her with eviction and called police. According to both Hahn and Gordonsville Police Chief Chris Votaw, police did not make any arrests, but did give Hahn an order not to enter the apartment building’s office area, which also serves as a community room.
Hahn also said that after residents raised concerns about the snow blocking the emergency exit, property management locked the door and instructed residents not to use the exit. According to Hahn, Orange County Fire Marshal Mike Throckmorton subsequently visited the property and told the property manager to unlock the door and clear the area. Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to the fire marshal via telephone but did not immediately receive a response.
Chief Votaw was out shoveling walkways with the rest of the town employees on Friday afternoon, but he paused for a few minutes to take a phone call from Charlottesville Tomorrow, confirming Hahn’s account of police being called to the building. While he was not personally present for the fire marshal’s visit, Chief Votaw said that Hahn had been “cordial” during her interaction with the police and that the information she gave was consistent with what he has been told by others, including an Orange County paramedic who was checking on residents to assess any medical needs.
Town Manager Schienschang said that his own attempts to reach out to management about the conditions at East Gate Village II had gone unanswered. Although local governments are generally not responsible for clearing snow from private properties, Schienschang ultimately authorized town crews to begin work on the lots on Thursday afternoon, focusing their efforts on clearing access paths in each lot for emergency vehicles. He cited the state of emergency declared by Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the time-sensitive nature of the situation as reasons for taking action.
“Frankly, some of these issues that we’re seeing are baffling to me,” Schienschang said. “I don’t understand why property owners of large properties aren’t providing for their residents, because that would be their responsibility. Now, the town is going to help out as much as possible. We’re going to do everything we can to prevent any injuries for accessibility and safety, but we can’t be everywhere at once. So, all of the effort that people have been doing to help out is really appreciated, but I do have some concerns that some property owners in town, especially those who have tenants who are low-income, aren’t providing the services that those residents deserve.”
Hahn said that she was grateful to the town for stepping in and was “nearly in tears” seeing the path finally being cleared, but she hopes that workers will return when they’re able to address the safety issues they couldn’t get to immediately, including the blocked emergency exit near her apartment.
In response to a post on Facebook by Hahn with updated photos of the parking lot of East Gate Village II, Gordonsville Mayor Ron Brooks commented that town officials “will continue to do what we can to support.”
For now, Hahn says she just wants to see progress continue with the lot and to be able to get her medication from the post office. Chief Votaw confirmed that he has promised to facilitate the process for Hahn with a courtesy ride from one of his officers. And then he went back to shoveling.
Erin O’Hare contributed to this article.
