By Emily Darrell
Staff Writer

Concerns over plan’s impact on schools, crime rate
dominate first Planning
Commission meeting

“What’s the long-range plan for water?”

“We need to keep it rural.”

“I can’t hardly get out of Holly Hills now with the traffic.”

“This will bring riff-raff from Richmond.”

“You’re going to have to put double locks on your doors.”

“Wal-Mart will bring in tax revenue and jobs. What will apartments do?”

“We can’t afford to build new schools.”

“Go to Henrico and build your apartments, because nobody here wants them.”

These are just a sampling of the comments heard during the heated public comment period at last week’s Planning Commission meeting. The meeting drew around 200 citizens, many of them there to speak out against the proposed Shady Oaks apartment and townhouse complex at Stavemill Road and Route 60, across from the site where a planned Wal-Mart will sit. Many of the vocal opponents of the plan live in areas adjacent to the proposed apartments, such as the Hollymeade and Cedar Cross subdivisions.

The plan consists of 220 apartments and 38 townhomes sitting on 64.5 acres, resulting in 4 units per acre. The area is currently zoned for lots of 4 acres or larger. Rezoning and a conditional use permit would have to be granted by the Board of Supervisors in order for the project to move forward.

Abel Harris, who said he has lived in Powhatan for 66 years, spoke neither for nor against the apartments, but noted that, with the economy the way it is, affordable housing is something gravely needed in the county. With the exception of Harris’s remarks, however, all other public comments were in opposition to the apartments.

Tommy Balzer, Executive Vice President of the engineering and architecture firm Balzer and Associates, which designed plans for the complex, was in attendance at Tuesday night’s meeting as the representative for the Shady Oaks Development Corporation. “We’re willing to do whatever we have to do to reach a happy medium,” said Balzer, who is a minority shareholder in the 16-member corporation.

In an interview with Powhatan Today – prior to Tuesday night’s meeting –Balzer said that he believes citizen support for the development, while currently in short supply, will eventually be heard alongside the opposition.

“I do feel that there are going to be a lot of small business owners who will come to [next month’s] Board meeting and endorse this project for their employees to have a place to live,” Balzer said.

Balzer also stated at the meeting that studies conducted by the corporation have revealed that the project will bring an estimated $299,300 in annual revenue to the county.

Several citizens noted that if this apartment complex contains Powhatan’s average of .4 school age children per dwelling and it costs $9,900 per year for each student to be educated, this amount of revenue won’t even come close to making up for the added financial burden to the county’s public schools, even with the cash proffer the developer is offering.

Powhatan County’s Department of Planning and Community Development, headed by Brandon Stidham, recommended a one-month deferral of the case to meet several outstanding concerns that it feels were not adequately addressed in the developer’s application. These concerns include an outdated traffic impact analysis, potentially inadequate cash proffers, and possible nonconformance with the 2010 Long Range Comprehensive Plan.