THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408020143
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
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SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 248 lines
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Rocky Mount, N.C.; Tacoma, Wash.; Palm Beach, Fla.; Roanoke, Va.; Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Germany.
It sounds like a schedule for a transcontinental flight with European connections.
But it's a list of departure points. And the people who left these areas were bound for one destination: Isle of Wight County.
John and Jennifer Canton's flight to this tranquil county really began in the fall of 1987, when they moved with their family from Virginia Beach to Orlando, Fla.
Jennifer is an artist, John an obstetrician/gynecologist who practiced in Virginia Beach for 16 years. They were lured to Florida with promises of clean living and a pleasant climate.
``I got a chance to go to Orlando to a big teaching hospital,'' John said recently. ``I thought, `This will keep me sharp.' ''
``We left Virginia Beach because we were so frustrated by the growth of that area,'' Jennifer said. ``In Florida, it appears to be pristine. But after a while, you realize it's all artificial.''
The Cantons also realized that Disney World was growing; Universal was moving in; golf courses were everywhere.
``It's a great place for the young, executive type,'' Jennifer said. ``I'm not so sure it's a great place for kids. That's why we decided to come here. We hoped to find something we were sure of.''
The Cantons started searching for that something on a trip home to visit Jennifer's parents, who live in Newport News. John talked with administrators at Riverside Hospital about an opening in Gloucester.
``We thought, you know, Gloucester is a neat place,'' he said. ``Meanwhile, Jennifer's mom and dad had seen Gatling Pointe. They said, `But it's so far away.' ''
They initially looked at homes in Gatling Pointe, they agreed, to find a builder. But they fell in love with and bought the first house they saw.
``This house was perfect,'' Jennifer said. ``I didn't have to change a thing. It goes with all my colors, all of my upholstery.''
And they fell in love with the location and the surrounding community.
``We had already bought the house, and we still had the house in Florida,'' John said. ``I was in a large practice down there. I hadn't even told them I was leaving.''
John believes that's when some kind of divine intervention occurred. He took his wife's advice when she said: ``Go in faith. Trust in the Lord.''
That comment was followed almost immediately by an announcement from the hospital administrator John had been talking with. The position in Gloucester had been filled.
``He called and told us the first guy they'd talked to had decided to take it,'' John said, laughing. ``And then he said, `But there is this little town called Smithfield.' ''
The Cantons, who have a 9-year-old daughter, Ariel, and five older children - two of them married, the others away at school or on their own - still wonder how it happened so quickly.
Meanwhile, they've settled into a community where their daughter rides bikes with her friends and they enjoy impromptu neighborhood cook-outs with their new friends from all over.
GATLING POINTE has become a melting pot of people from across the U.S., said Mark Edwards, a county native who is a real estate broker and vice president of East West Realty, builders of Gatling Pointe.
``I was homeowner No. 10 out here,'' Edwards said. ``I've lived here since April 1989. Of the 250 families who live here, some work at Langley, at NASA, some for Virginia Power in Surry, some in downtown Norfolk with, say, NationsBank.
Eddie Kay Willard, working for a Chesapeake company called Greetings 2 U Inc., greets newcomers to the county. It's her job to visit, welcome and help familiarize new residents with merchants and services.
Over the past couple of years, Willard said, she's seen growth throughout the area she serves, northern Isle of Wight. And she has been amazed at where many of them hail from.
``I have definitely seen a steady increase, more and more each month,'' Willard said. ``I am fascinated by it. People tell me they are getting away from the traffic, feeling safe. Many of them have a fear of the increase in crime. They don't have to experience anything personally. They just feel closed in in cities.''
It was a personal experience, however, that brought Mildred B. Drews here. Drews worked in Europe for 34 years, where she recruited teachers for overseas dependents for the Department of Defense. When she retired, she stayed in Germany for a few years before returning to the states. She chose Birmingham, Ala., as a residence because of that city's reputation for modern medical facilities.
``I was in Europe for so long, I was leaving home when I left Germany,'' Drews said. ``I found the people in Birmingham to be extremely friendly. They were lovely people. But then, my home was burglarized.''
Drews said she decided immediately that Birmingham wasn't for her. She decided to move, and she thought about the small town in Virginia that was her mother's home.
``I thought, `I'll go to that small town. I'll go to Smithfield,' '' she said.
County planner Bryan David said he sees several reasons for the influx of new residents.
``It's the quality of life, housing affordability,'' David said. ``Suburbanization hasn't reached Isle of Wight yet, like it has Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. This is a rural area, but there's great access to the metropolitan area.''
This county has been lucky in that transportation routes were well established before it started to grow, David said. The James River Bridge is four-lane; U.S. Route 17 is four-lane, as is most of Virginia Route 10, Route 58 and 460, in the southern end of the county. Motorists can connect easily from almost anywhere in the county to interstate highways.
``We have been blessed with roads before the influx,'' David said. ``The county is convenient to employment centers. People can come out and grab their piece of the country.''
GROWTH, SO FAR, has been well-planned, David pointed out. In fact, the county's Comprehensive Plan has received both national and state awards for growth management and environmental protection. Just recently, he said, Isle of Wight was noted for innovative planning in a book by a nationally known planner.
The plan calls for directing growth to three areas: Smithfield, Windsor and Carrsvile. It also calls for providing those areas with the infrastructure necessary for both residential, commercial and industrial development: water, sewerage, etc.
All of that is coming, David said. Regional sewerage is well on its way to both Smithfield and Windsor. The county's water plan is in place.
County officials want to see housing clustered in the development areas and around villages like Walters, Rushmere and Zuni to preserve and protect Isle of Wight's rural character.
Things were starting to come into place in the 1980s, David said. By the beginning of the '90s, more residents were working outside of the county than within its boundaries. That fact allowed Isle of Wight to be included in the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission's Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes 15 cities and counties.
Combining the area into one Metropolitan Statistical Area makes Hampton Roads 28th in population among the top 50 MSAs in the U.S., and being ranked in the top 50 provides the area greater exposure to companies wishing to expand, invest or relocate.
Most county officials believe that one of the final links to the metropolitan area could come as early as this fall, when the local telephone company, GTE, has proposed connecting Isle of Wight to all of Hampton Roads without long distance charges.
Local residents may see somewhat higher telephone bills, but they will be able to call from Virginia Beach to the Peninsula without dialing ``1'' first. People considering a move to Isle of Wight no longer will have to be concerned about phone costs to talk with friends living, or spouses working, outside the county.
A lower tax rate is another perk for new residents.
BILL HASKINS, who recently moved here from Connecticut, is retired from the Air Force. He came to the area, he said, searching for ``warmer weather.'' He likes the scenery and the history.
Roger Burgett, who moved here from Idaho, wanted a place in the country. It takes him about 15 minutes, he said, to get to work in Newport News.
There's a sense of community, said Katherine Bate, a UNC-Chapel Hill student whose parents moved from California.
``It's gorgeous,'' she said recently.``You get to know your neighbors. People aren't nearly as friendly in San Diego.''
Although they hadn't expected the influx of people from points so far away, growth is occurring just as most county officials predicted it would, David said, in the northern end of the county first.
But already the southern end is beginning to feel the effect, Windsor realtor Judy Whitley said.
``People are looking for elbow room,'' she said. ``And I think when sewerage comes, we're really going to see a boom. People can live in the county, yet in 30 to 45 minutes, they can be anywhere in Tidewater to work.''
To prepare for the growth they know is coming, the county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors recently approved a plan to allow cash proffers from developers to pay for schools, libraries and other services. Developers feel that action could thwart some of the growth in the county. David said only time will tell.
Whatever the effect of that action, however, it won't affect land that already has been rezoned for development, he said. And there is plenty of that.
Subdivisions like Wrenn's Mill, Waterford Oaks and Gatling Pointe South still have lots of space to grow. And already rezoned are a handful of subdivisions like Graymoor, off Route 17, with 2,000 single family homes on 1,600-plus acres, and Cypress Creek, slated for 450 new homes.
``A lot of it is market-driven,'' David said. ``But we feel the county's population will roughly double in the next 20 years. We know we can't halt development, but we can direct it, manage it.''
Meanwhile, people like the Cantons are enjoying what they've found. Jennifer said she feels a difference in the atmosphere when she crosses the James River.
John said, as a doctor, he's enjoying the best of both worlds. He can teach and train residents at a large hospital but still spend time with his patients.
``It's like back to the basics here,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Color on the cover: One of Jennifer Canton's doll creations adorns
the deck railing in the yard of Jennifer and John Canton's Gatling
Point home.
At right, Dr. John Canton listens as his daughter, Ariel, practices
the piano. Then, below, it's time for some fun. Ariel and a friend
get some guidelines from Ariel's mom, Jennifer Canton, before taking
off on their bikes. The Cantons fell in love with the house,
pictured here, that they found in Gatling Pointe.
The Canton family spends a summer evening together in their spacious
home. ``The house was perfect,'' Jennifer Canton says. ``I didn't
have to change a thing.''
GROWTH PROJECTION
In 1990, the population of Isle of Wight County was 25,053.
According to census figures compiled by the state, the population
will almost double by the year 2015. Here are the projections
through 2015:
1994 - 27,000;
2000 - 30,477;
2010 - 34,283;
2015 - 48,000.
WHAT NEWCOMERS ARE SAYING
``I think it's nice and safe here. This is such a pretty little
town. It's up and coming, you know.''
- Mildred Drews
``I'm paying about half what I was paying in Connecticut, and I
have a nicer home here.''
- Bill Haskins
``We are enjoying it very much. It's peaceful and crime-free.''
- Roger Burgett
``It's a very peaceful, quiet area.''
- Ed McKenna
On my street alone, there are people who are from Atlanta,
Charleston, California, Ohio, Colorado, New Jersey, Northern
Virginia. It really is a melting pot.''
- Mark Edwards
by CNB