Yin v. Yang

 

Yin v. Yang

Goochlanders are pulled between wanting to preserve the county's rural character—whatever that is—and craving amenities close to home. A recent example was the vigorous opposition to a rezoning application for a Dollar General Store in Georges Tavern. The supervisors cited unresolved traffic safety concerns as they denied the application.

The land use strategy that Goochland has used for about 40 years, the "Village Concept" aims to concentrate residential growth and commercial activity in areas designated as villages in the county's comprehensive land use plan. (Go to https://www.goochlandva.us/250/2035-Comprehensive-Plan to view the entire document.)

Courthouse Village, and Centerville, both served by public water and sewer, which supports high density development, are designated growth areas.

Residential rezoning applications, especially those for high density in the villages, are usually opposed by citizens. When asked what they would prefer instead of the proposal under discussion, the response is often "I don't know, but not that," which provides developers and county planners no useful information.

Over the years, several plans for both Centerville and Courthouse Village have been crafted as dissertations by graduate students. These presented thoughtful approaches to build out but were filed away. The county needs clear and practical development blueprints for both villages that are used.

To that end, Goochland retained the firm of Hill Studio (https://www.hillstudio.com) of Roanoke to create small area plans for both villages.

Two community kickoff meetings were held last week, one for Courthouse Village on February 16, a second for Centerville on February 17. They included a lot of high level "planner speak" while offering much thought provoking information.

At these meetings, David Hill, president of Hill Studio, said that Arnett Muldrow (http://arnettmuldrow.com/) of Greenville, South Carolina is a partner on the project. He explained that their task is to create "small area plans" for each village.  The team will start from scratch using the current village boundaries—lines on a map—that could change as a result of the project.

The team started with a "deep dive" into the economy of the county. This included the median income and growth rate, both exaggerated by the county's small population, and asked attendees what they want to see in each village, what they don't want, and how they want the place to look. Hill asked for guidance on density and branding for each place—how it is portrayed to the rest of the world.

Maps showing different aspects of each village, including aerial views, topography, roads, subdivisions, and boundaries as shown in the Comp Plan, were displayed on easels for close inspection. Attendees seemed surprised at the size of the villages. There was an assumption that Courthouse Village was River Road West between the women's farm and the administration building and in Centerville along Broad Street Road between Ashland and Manakin Roads.

The final plans will include recommendations for branding, colors, slogans, signage, and placement of specific land uses and densities.

"We want to know what you want," Hill told both groups. In March and April, a community- wide survey will be posted online. Hill urged anyone, regardless of where they live, with an interest in Goochland to complete the survey. A midway meeting will take place in May, and a final session in August. These will incorporate changes based on input from previous meetings and seek feedback on the updates. Adoption of final plans, after public hearings before both the planning commission and supervisors, is expected in November 2022.

Snapshots of each village include market-based master plans to encourage economically viable development strategies.

While Goochland is small and rural it's growing fast. The team presented an economic overview including a study to identify retail and commercial opportunities, housing type, density, and perhaps price point, will be part of the final document.

Elements of a village, said Hill, include noticeable boundaries, intentional public spaces—like our Courthouse green—neighborhoods. The key, said Hill, is that nodes are carefully planned. Night life in public spaces, is an attribute of a good village. Paths, including roads, can enhance or degrade a village. Hill asked for community input as to what kind of paths, and roads, should be in Courthouse Village.

The villages, said Hill, could include different districts. For instance, Courthouse Village might be comprised of a district around the Courthouse, and another including the administration building, and the area around Courthouse Commons shopping center.

The comp plan designates Courthouse Village a community hub. It has many attributes of a traditional village such as government buildings, schools, businesses, churches, the library, and YMCA. Curiously, there was no mention of the 94-acre campus of Reynolds Community College, a superb, but under-used facility.

Courthouse Village (2035 Comprehensive Plan)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Centerville's session drew a standing room only crowd adamantly opposed to Centerville becoming an extension of Short Pump. This village may well have too many disparate parts to be considered a single entity.

Centerville (2035 Comp Plan)

It also has an identity crisis. In addition to the existence of Centreville in northern Virginia, Centerville has several zip codes, but none of its own. Because the businesses on Broad Street Road have Manakin Sabot zip codes, many people refer to that area as Manakin. The water tower "Welcomes" you to Centerville, but few people pay attention. Property east of Ashland Road has a Richmond zip code, that to the north has a Rockville zip code, but it's all in Goochland.

Justification for the current boundaries of the Centerville Village have been lost in the mists of time. As drawn, this village consists of several disparate areas. The northern edge of West Creek where the hospital, hotel, and apartments are located has a very different feel from other parts of the village, like the parcels of raw land, some of which are used for agricultural purposes and taxed at land use rates, along Broad Street Road in the village "core" between Ashland and Manakin Roads.

The presentations will be posted on the county website goochlandva.us under Village Plans 2022 under the community development tab. Submit comments about Courthouse Village to courthouseplan22@goochlandva.us for Centerville to centervilleplan22@goochlandva.us. Your input on this initiative is key to its success. It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds.