Ashland Town Council approved the town portion of East Ashland in their April 20 meeting.

The first Hanover County project to employ the mixed use (MX) zoning, East Ashland, together with the existing Woodside Estates and the proposed Providence Creek (MX) will have 1 million square feet of commercial and retail space and some 1300 residences.

An additional 33,000 daily vehicle trips are forecast to be added to the busy Route 54/I-95 juncture as a result of these three developments.

The Forum was sponsored by the Coalition for Hanover’s Future, the Herald-Progress and Randolph-Macon College.

At build-out, the two developments along with Woodside Estates, will usher in over 1300 new homes, condominiums, and apartments. An estimated 35,000 daily vehicle trips will be generated from the influx of new homes and approximately one million square feet of new stores and shops. Once constructed, these developments will increase demand for new services and infrastructure, i.e. roads, sewer, schools, libraries, fire, and police. New growth and new services come with a hefty price a tag.

Development approvals should not be mistaken for economic development. Hanover County can avoid the economic woes of our neighbors in Northern Virginia. Loudoun County folks considering their 2011 budget are facing a debt obligation of $175.5 million (equal to 24.2 cents of their current tax rate). This is unsustainable, especially when average home values are decreasing. Loudoun’s average home value dropped 25% from 2007 to 2010.

Why has Hanover County government as well as the town of Ashland chosen not to conduct an economic impact study of the proposed East Ashland and Providence Creek developments? During a time fraught with economic challenges including decreasing state and local tax revenues as well as declining home values and unemployment, doesn’t it make sense to carefully assess the tax burden that these two new developments will impose upon Hanover residents?

Although an economic impact study has yet to be performed, traffic impact analyses have been conducted. Projected traffic increases along Route 54, especially at its juncture with I-95, approach gridlock. What’s most troubling? The traffic component has received the least attention in planning and foresight. The proposed changes for Route 54-East have included: closure of historic Providence Church Road and/or converting the Providence Church Road into a “Main Street” lined on both sides with commercial development; enlarging and/or creating new intersections; adding five to seven more traffic lights; and widening Route 54 from two lanes to four lanes.

The public may not be aware of other options discussed. For example, a “diverging diamond” at the I-95 interchange popped up one month and was then discarded the next month. Given the major uptick in projected traffic volumes, this is not a careful, strategic approach to solving new and unforeseen traffic issues associated with East Ashland, Providence Creek and Woodside Estates. Why haven’t citizens been offered smarter growth solutions for handling increased traffic such as modern roundabouts?

While numbers of citizens have participated in public hearings and workshops with developers and planners regarding design, size, and character of the proposed developments, none of these meetings has focused specifically on traffic, involved representatives from VDOT, or road and traffic engineers.

Significant impacts of the proposed East Ashland and Providence Creek developments need to be fully considered and analyzed, especially with regard to tax implications and traffic issues. The Code of Virginia intends a balance of “…the community’s interests and rights to enjoy their properties with the rights of developers to derive profit as they impact existing communities.” With taxes and traffic issues unsatisfactorily addressed, the scales seem tipped against Hanover and Ashland citizens.

Several mountain biking enthusiasts questioned language in the draft plan that seemed to proscribe bike trails in Poor Farm Park. Park staff and the Parks Commission assured the citizens that such was not the intent and made changes to the wording in the plan. Parks and Rec staff will partner with bikers to enhance and maintain the trails.

A few citizens questioned the need for irrigated and lighted athletic fields as well as the projected number of fields.

The Master Plan will be presented to the Board of Supervisors on March 10 in its afternoon session, which commences at 2:00 p.m.

Public comment will be accepted.

The plan shows many new athletic fields and somewhat proscribed hiking, biking and nature trails. (See previous post to this site.)

Citizens are urged to attend.

For the town’s case, Ashland Partners, L.L.C. asked for a work session with the Town Council and Planning Commission in order to resolve a myriad of issues raised by the latter. A date of March 2 has been set for the next hearing on that case.

The county Planning Commission deferred the case for 30 days in order to work further with the applicant to resolve issues.

Over months of community meetings, discussions and hearings, citizens have pointed repeatedly to the serious impact of this development on schools, traffic, environment and taxpayers.

Citizens are urged to contact their elected and appointed officials and the Planning Departments of both jurisdictions to voice concerns.

Citizen concerns included the loss of natural areas to ball fields; the cost of maintenance for fields (lights, mowing, irrigation); lack of connectivity among parks; seeming priority of playing fields over biking/hiking areas; light pollution; lack of passive, open areas; need for a new dog park at Pole Green; need for a greenways plan and need for expeditious cutoff of field lights.

Respondents to the Parks & Rec citizen survey did not name athletic fields among their top five priorities, yet the 20-year, $85 million draft plan shows a fairly aggressive expansion of playing fields.

Citizens perennially want to see more trails and passive areas, according to Parks Director Greg Sager. The survey bore out that fact in the top five, which included no wish for more team sport facilities.

In preliminary remarks that evening by the master plan consultant, citizens learned that Hanover falls short of neighborhood and area parks acreage and that multi-use field inventory exceeds the Virginia Outdoors Plan recommendation.

The draft plan is still open for citizen input. Contact Greg Sager, rgsager@co.hanover.va.us or John Hodges, jhodges@co.hanover.va.us

Review the draft plan at www.co.hanover.va.us/parksrec/default.htm

The next public meeting is scheduled Monday, January 25, 7:00 p.m. at the Parks & Rec office/Taylor Complex on Route 54, when the Parks & Rec Advisory Commission meets to finalize the master plan.

For a number of weeks now, CHF has advocated for citizens to be alert to the big picture of development impacts relating to three parcels along the Route 54 corridor east of I-95.

They are the proposed East Ashland and Providence Creek, and the existing Woodside Estates. When added altogether, these developments, if built out to their current specifications, will total over 1300 homes and over 1 million square feet of commercial space.

Sited on a parcel that lies in both the Town of Ashland and Hanover County, East Ashland alone accounts for a total of 930 residential units and 963,400 square feet of commercial space.

The upcoming December 8 community meeting to be hosted by Ashland Properties, LLC. on the East Ashland zoning case may focus almost entirely upon the Town portion.

Citizens are advised to consider the combined picture of East Ashland, as well as its proximity to Providence Creek (250 residences and 101,500 sq. ft. of commercial space) and Woodside Estates (158 homes).

The density of these developments will impact citizens in numerous ways. Traffic volume and flow pose immense challenges. Traffic studies project an additional 33,000 vehicle trips daily and at least four new traffic lights. The I-95 interchange will fail to handle the traffic. Widened roads and new intersections are planned. All of this happens at a time when VDOT’s budget is seriously diminished.

Other economic, environmental and design concerns include absence of an economic feasibility study; impact on taxpayers; light pollution; impervious surface leading to polluted runoff; stripping of tree canopy and removal of topsoil; and lack of LEED building standards.

At CHF’s November 4 Citizens Forum, Trip Pollard, of the Southern Environmental Law Center, noted that patterns of development and land use are more of a factor than population growth in driving sprawl.

With these and other cases, CHF and Hanover citizens have repeatedly asked for the best possible design with the least possible impact. To do less is to invite sprawl.

The December 8 meeting is at Ashland Coffee & Tea, 7-9 p.m.