Carrying on

A simple spray of white flowers in front of an empty seat marked the void left by the passing of Ned Creasey at the March 13 meeting of the Goochland Board of Supervisors.

Board Chair Ken Peterson District 5 offered words of tribute. “Ned’s leadership and counsel,  as well as insight and foresight, will be sorely missed.” A moment of silence was followed by an invocation led by Pastor Zac Zbinden of Salem Baptist Church.

(A special called meeting of the Board of Supervisors will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20 at the Fife Company 4 fire-rescue station on Hadensville-Fife Road to determine the steps in the succession—Ned Creasey cannot be replaced—for the District 3 seat.)

Then the remaining supervisors got down to business. The sole purpose of the meeting was a presentation and public hearing on a rezoning application filed by HHHunt to create a 55 plus residential community, called Mosaic, on about 200 acres along the western edge of West Creek.

After three hours of presentations, public comment, and discussion, the supervisors unanimously approved the application. Susan Lascolette District 1 moved for approval and Manuel Alvarez, Jr., District 2 seconded.

Deferred in December until after the Board adopted a capital impact model (CIM), the Mosaic zoning case proposes 179 townhomes and 341 single family homes. Residents under the age of 19 are not permitted, so it will have no impact on schools. It is expected to increase the population of Goochland by 899 over an estimated build out period of eight years, depending on market conditions.

Cash proffered for each home—a major complication on residential rezoning cases since the Virginia General Assembly changed the proffer law in 2016—was $4,937, in line with the product of the CIM formula.

The main objections to Mosaic were:  West Creek was never intended for residential use; density—Mosaic will be the largest subdivision in the county—and traffic.

Owners of property to the south of Mosaic, which is not part of West Creek, seem to have circulated  inflammatory letters among people living along the south end of Hockett Road implying that, if Mosaic were approved, the county would soon exercise its power of eminent domain to seize frontage along Hockett Road and widen it to four lanes to accommodate increased traffic generated by Mosaic. The residents of the southern stretch are justifiably upset about burgeoning rush hour traffic that threatens their safety and peaceful enjoyment of their property.

A deeper dive into the traffic issue painted a different picture.

Turns out that the widening of Hockett was included in the county’s 2005 major thoroughfare plan, created long before Mosaic was ever envisioned. The traffic issues in the Hockett Road corridor are caused more by failing intersections than lack of road capacity. Fixing those choke points is complicated. A plan to reroute the north end of Hockett Road to connect with Ashland Road would have helped this issue, but lack of community support pulled it off of the drawing board.

(The county is currently in the process of revising this plan to reflect actual development and welcomes everyone to express opinions and concerns about local roads at a public meeting in the county administration building on Tuesday, March 27 from 6 to 8 p.m.)

No changes to the south end of Hockett Road were made in the last 13 years. Given the glacial pace of road improvements by VDOT—the state agency whose motto is “Oops!—it seems unlikely that much will happen in the next 13 either. The supervisors, however, took careful note of the opposition of residents to a four lane Hockett Road.

The goal of the southern property owners seems to have been to use the Mosaic rezoning case to pressure the county to support creation of both north south and east west connectors between Hockett Road and Route 288 or West Creek Parkway through privately owned West Creek, perhaps by invoking eminent domain there.

Kim Kacani, president of the HHHunt Communities Division, contended that Mosaic, and the revenues it will bring to the county are a part of solution to its problems. She dismissed the claims of the southern property owners contending that Mosaic will not interfere with construction of connector roads at some point in the future.

The southern property folks may have shot themselves in the foot, however. Bob Minnick District 4, noted that building the conceptual connector roads would increase the development in the area,  exacerbating rather than remedying the traffic problem over the long term. Minnick also pointed out that widening Hockett Road was never a part of the Mosaic rezoning case. As all of the southern property must be rezoned to accommodate development; the supervisors will now look long and hard at the consequences of rezoning those any of those parcels.

Director of Community Development Jo Ann Hunter said that, while the county’s recently adopted 25 year capital improvement plan includes a $26 million “placeholder” for Hockett Road improvements between Tuckahoe Creek Parkway and Route 6 in fiscal year 2026, no actual plans, or specific locations, exist. She said that although the  2035 Comprehensive Land Use Plan mentions connector roads, they are not identified on any map.

After some discussion, it was ascertained that the “background”  traffic that clogs both the north and south ends of Hockett Road during morning and afternoon rush hour is generated by employees of CaptialOne and CarMax looking to circumvent extreme congestion on Route 288 ramps. Mosaic is expected to add very little, if any, peak hour traffic. Perhaps the remedy for rush hour congestion is staggered work hours rather than more paving.

In addition to the CIM cash proffer, HHHunt also offered to pay its share of capacity costs to signalize the Hockett and Tuckahoe Creek Parkway intersection. One Hockett Road resident took great umbrage with the small amount offered for signalization claiming it was an insult. Goochland County Attorney Tara McGee explained that, under the existing state proffer law, HHHunt may legally only contribute an amount proportionate to the amount of traffic it adds to an intersection.

Objections to residential uses in West Creek cite its creation as a magnet for corporate headquarters. The death knell for that notion was rung more than a decade ago when MeadWestvaco, now WestRock, located its new headquarters in downtown Richmond rather than the counties. Indeed, to attract millennials,

both CapitalOne and CarMax recently expanded in Richmond rather than in West Creek.

Minnick said that the proposal represents a downzoning of property and a transition from large lot residential in Kinloch to commercial use of CapitalOne and that there are still 2,600 acres of West Creek left to develop.

District 2 supervisor Manuel Alvarez, Jr. opined that Mosaic will let older residents, no longer willing or able to maintain large homes and acreage, to remain in the county.  Now, they are invited to leave. The  increase in real estate tax revenue generated by Mosaic at build out will be the equivalent of a three cent tax rate increase.

He also said that the addition of these rooftops might encourage Hospital Corporation America to expand the West Creek emergency center into a full hospital. That could trigger construction of the bridge connecting Ridgefield parkway in Henrico with Tuckahoe Creek Parkway, and Rt. 288, which could reduce congestion on Broad Street Road.

Alvarez pointed out that if developed as intended for business use, the 207 acres of Mosaic, would dump even more rush hour traffic onto Hockett Road.

McGee said, in response to comments that approval of Mosaic would set a precedent so the board could not reject future dense residential projects, that, under the law, each parcel of land, each zoning case and its circumstances, is considered to be unique and has no bearing on other cases.

At its March 6 meeting the Board approved a rezoning application to increase the number of lots for the Swann’s Inn subdivision in Courthouse Village to 30 lots and rejected another application for Broad Branch on Hermitage Road.

Peterson contended that Mosaic is the highest and best use of land that might be difficult to develop for business use, and would therefore generate lower tax revenues.

Kacani estimated that the first Mosaic homes will be occupied in mid-2020. The supervisors have two years to ensure that there are adequate numbers of deputies and fire-rescue personnel to serve all citizens.