Fewer homes on River Road

 

New fields coming to Benedictine campus 

Land use applications that come before the Goochland Board of Supervisors seem like inside baseball, unless they’re near your property.

The River Road corridor has seen a good bit of residential growth in the past decades. Many of its residents contend that there are enough homes along this stretch of scenic byway.

At its October 4 meeting, the supervisors addressed applications for rezoning land on the south side of River Road adjoining the Benedictine Schools of Richmond campus, just east of Rt. 288 and conditional use permit to build athletic facilities on the site.  County land records indicate that the school paid JSC Development, Inc. $3,463,300 for approximately 15 acres on January 6, 2022. The subject parcel is part of Pembroke Farms, a gated residential enclave.

The land, which formerly encompassed nine lots in Pembroke Farms, was rezoned from R-1 to A-2. When Benedictine, and recently St. Gertrude’s School, moved to River Road, the schools continued to use athletic fields on the northside of Richmond.  The trek to these facilities, appropriately 23 miles from the Goochland campus, is time consuming and adds to afternoon traffic on River Road.

The new facility will include walking trails, soccer and softball fields, tennis courts, and additional parking, all of which will be accessed internally from the Benedictine property with no new “curb cuts” from River Road, and available for use by Pembroke Farms residents.

An existing home on the property will be used as a guest house by the school.

Curiously, the fiscal impact of the rezoning was vague. Before it was sold, the parcel comprised nine lots in Pembroke Farms. County land records value these lots in the $300k range. The rezoning also voids cash proffers associated with some of the residential lots.

A relatively simple calculation could determine a ballpark the value for the eliminated lots as well as the cash proffers that would have been generated had the lots not been rezoned. As Benedictine seems to be a religious school, it is probably exempt from local property taxes. Again, calculating the loss of tax revenue from the nine lots based on their most recent county assessment would give the supervisors concrete data on which to base their decision. Nine fewer residential lots, which would typically generate at least 90 vehicle trips per day, may well be a beneficial trade-off in the area. If students can walk to the athletic fields from the school, there will be less afternoon traffic on River Road.

Buffering, screening the fields from River Road, was a concern. As the subject parcel is higher than the road surface, and existing trees will not be disturbed to build the fields, the issue seemed moot.

During the public hearing, a resident of James River Estates asked the board to stop “athletic field creep”. He said that the proposal will raise the number of school related athletic facilities within one mile of his home to 42. While students on the Benedictine campus can walk to its fields, busses from Collegiate and St. Catherine’s are a regular feature of River Road traffic. He contended that, although when granted its original conditional use permit about 10 years ago, Benedictine said its students would go only west on River Road, now they travel east, adding more traffic to the road. He also said public address systems on existing fields are clearly audible at his home. Benedictine said they are putting in new systems that will face west to reduce this noise.

Pembroke Farms residents support the land use change according to Stephan Cometas, whose home is the closest to the subject parcels.

Illuminating the proposed tennis courts, which will be available for use by Pembroke Farms residents, was a point of contention among the supervisors. Lighting of fields is prohibited on the Benedictine campus, and nearby facilities owned by Collegiate and St. Catherine’s schools.

Susan Lascolette, District 1 contended that allowing these tennis courts to be lit is inconsistent with county policy about athletic fields in the River Road corridor. Others pointed out that only dark sky lighting provisions apply to tennis courts on private homes and country clubs. As the tennis courts are at the south end of the subject property, it is unlikely their lights would be visible from River Road. The court lights, will conform to the dark sky policy and be turned off no later than 10 p.m.

The board voted 3-1, with Lascolette in dissent, to approve the application.