Town Crier Articles

Recently, Atlantic Builders of Virginia, which has an option to purchase part of the 400-acre lot, made a request for parcels C-1 and C-2 to be rezoned from public use to mixed use. The James City County Planning Commission approved the request by a vote of 5-2, opening the possibility of a commercial and residential development. 

ABVA is proposing that access to a development encompassing approximately 85 homes be routed down Discovery Park Boulevard – and that the new development become part of New Town and its residential and commercial associations.

In a room occupied largely by New Town residents, at least five members stood before the Board to voice their concerns and disapproval for ABVA’s hoped-for plan. The Board indicated at the start that it did not intend to take any action that night, nor would it for an undetermined period of time.

Dick Durst, president of the New Town Residential Homeowners Association, spoke on behalf of the Association’s Board of Directors.

“Our first request is to leave the current land-use designation as it is; that is federal, state and county land,” Durst said. “We are very concerned about the environmental and logistical impact that such a large volume of homes could be built on this property, as well as the demands this will place on our infrastructure and the resulting increase in traffic on our already crowded roads and streets.

“Second, the New Town Residential Association and our members were never consulted by ABVA with a request to add New Town to the mixed-use request. We have not had adequate time to discuss positives or negatives by adding the volume of these homes to our Association.”

Resident Stuart Dopp explained that in addition to vehicular traffic, New Town is a haven for walkers¸ runners, cyclists, dog walkers, all of whom would incur increased danger from the type of additional traffic construction vehicles and, ultimately, residential traffic to the new development would present.

Initially, ABVA’s proposal would route construction and other traffic down Olive Drive and Discovery Park Boulevard. However, ABVA subsequently sent a letter to Durst and Jamestown District Supervisor Jim Icenhour walking back the proposal to use Olive Drive.

However, New Town resident Mark Newcomb pointed out that the letter was unsigned and under no letterhead.

“As an attorney, that means not much to me, just a piece of paper,” Newcomb said. “Our request is that before you approve the development . . . you get some kind of commitment in terms of a contract from ABVA so that they will develop what they present to you and not seek an extension beyond that so that we can protect the character and the ‘calm,’ if you will, of the neighborhood.”

Vernon Geddy, attorney for ABVA, emphasized that he would “publicly state to the Board” that the commitment ABVA made in its letter not to use Olive Drive was firm, and was based on responses received from New Town residents at the first of two recent Town Hall meetings. In fact, he said, he has been asked to draft a deed to convey to the Association a piece of property ABVA owns in that area that could be used for traffic.

“There will be no vehicular traffic through the Charlotte Park neighborhood,” he promised.

 

Geddy also reiterated that their proposal is “nothing but conceptual, not a detailed plan” because none of the (many) studies that will be done to determine the full impact of the project have not been done.

“We’d very much like to get to that stage,” he said. “We think this could be a win-win for the neighbors, the developer, the county and the Commonwealth.”

Finally, Geddy asked that “New Town” be removed from the title of the proposal, and that it be renamed “Eastern State.”

 

The Board of Supervisors did not take action on the proposed revisions to the Comprehensive Plan. Rather as announced at the outset by Chairman Hipple, the Board used the hearing as a listening session to take in input that can be used in further deliberations and work sessions on the final plan.  Stay tuned!