At the November 19 public hearing on the proposed Providence Creek mixed-use (MX) development, the Hanover County Planning Commission voted 5-0 to deny the application, sending it on to the Board of Supervisors.

This development together with the East Ashland proposal would total almost a million square feet of retail, office and commercial space and approximately 1900 homes.

The siting of these two developments near the I-95/Route 54 intersection presents massive traffic impacts–approximately 33,000 additional car trips daily.

Approximately a dozen citizens spoke at the hearing, citing concerns of traffic, polluted runoff, noise and density. At issue, too, is the proposed rerouting of Providence Church Road, a recommendation which has upset the congregation of Providence Baptist Church and residents along the road.

A suggested remedy for the intersection of Providence Church Road, Woodside Lane and Route 54 is a roundabout.

As the hearing neared a close, Commissioner Edmonia Iverson (Beaverdam) began to introduce a motion for deferral. Deputy Planning Director David Maloney asked for a recess to clarify how many days were still available for the Commission to act on the case.

Because 10 acres were offered by resident J.B. Campbell to enable the rerouting of Providence Church Road, the application in effect became a new case and the 100-day timeline for action was reset from the October introduction of the new application.

It was determined that the Commission had 60 additional days to act. In his remarks, Mr. Maloney said that VDOT would never approve a roundabout. The Commission had a very limited discussion of the case.

Mr. O’Connor (Cold Harbor) and Ms. Moorhouse (Henry) both said they supported the rerouting of the road for safety reasons. They also went on record with their dissatisfaction regarding the Providence Creek design, saying they believed it was not the best example of a MX proposal.

Commissioners King (Mechanicsville) and Padgett (Chickahominy) were absent.

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