THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606230039
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 131 lines
To win Chesapeake's approval of a 215-unit condominium project, the developer offered to finance a road extension. That roadway means more traffic through nearby Woodbriar Estates.
When people there found out about the road plan, they swamped the Planning Commission. But they were told it was too late: The deal was done.
Why didn't they know? The nature of the zoning agreement meant no one had to tell them. THE REACTION
Some residents feel slighted by city bureaucracy. ``We were kind of bamboozled by this,'' says James L. Nelson Jr, left.
City officials say they and the developer did everything by the book.
It's a story that is all too familiar in this growing city - residents caught unawares as a major building project changes their neighborhood.
The latest example is Woodbriar Estates, a tree-filled area of inviting homes surrounded by land zoned for light industry near Volvo Parkway and Thrasher Road.
Rezoning for a 215-unit condominium complex has been approved for an area far behind Woodbriar Estates in a neighboring community near Great Bridge Boulevard.
The problem, to Woodbriar Estates' residents, is a road extension the developer promised the city to get the condo complex approved. Extending Byron Street will connect the condos to Thrasher Road and Volvo Parkway near Woodbriar Estates.
Residents of Woodbriar Estates worry about the road's impact on their community. Once built, it will offer a quick east-west route to major shopping centers on Battlefield Boulevard and Greenbrier Parkway. Once quiet roads, residents say, will become busy. Crime, they worry, could increase.
The road is predicted to be used by about 75 percent of the condominium's residents. And once the proposed Oak Grove Connector is built, the neighborhood around the condominiums will be cut off from nearby Great Bridge Boulevard. That will force even more traffic onto the new road and into the neighborhood.
The only alternative to cutting the community off, according to public works officials, was to build a $2 million to $3 million city-financed road connection to Great Bridge Boulevard. On the other hand, the proposed road extension will cost the city nothing.
The extension of Byron Street to Thrasher Road and Volvo Parkway was added as a stipulation to the condominium's rezoning. As such, according to city code, the city and the developer were not required to notify owners of the homes affected by the road extension. And, because the road was offered as a proffer, no orange zoning notices were posted by the road.
As a result, neighbors didn't turn out to protest, or speak up for, the condo project.
When they finally learned of the road extension, they flooded the next Planning Commission meeting, only to be told it was too late. The council had approved the project's rezoning in December, over the Planning Commission's objections.
Residents protested the rezoning at the June 11 council meeting and the council asked City Attorney Ron Hallman to ensure that everything had been done legally.
On Wednesday, Hallman confirmed that the notifications were ``legally OK.''
``It's kind of an unusual case for us,'' he said. ``It's never happened before.''
The average homeowner would never have seen this coming, said 41-year-old James L. Nelson Jr., a resident of Woodbriar Estates.
``Whether we made a good decision or a bad decision by buying near this Battlefield Corporate Park, that's irrelevant,'' he said. ``We were kind of bamboozled by this.''
The Planning Commission recommended denial of the condominiums' rezoning in October, saying the project did not fit into the city's land use plans; the City Council approved the project in December.
Because the rezoning itself has been approved, residents have little recourse when the Planning Commission reviews the site plan for the road and condos.
Residents say they feel slighted by the city's bureaucracy. City officials, while empathizing with residents, say they and the developers did everything by the book.
Residents, who met last week to talk about hiring an attorney, also say they feel disenfranchised by an unfamiliar zoning system that appears unfair but simply may have been misunderstood.
``We want to see what we can do about it, but we don't know what to do about it,'' said Joyce Reese, a resident of Woodbriar Estates.
``If the road is not done, they can put a paint factory back there and we wouldn't care,'' said resident Jim Nelson. ``None of this has been done fairly.''
In the end, all city officials say they can do is warn residents to become aware of what is planned around them before settling in a growing city like Chesapeake.
``I think in today's consumer-oriented lifestyle, perhaps the least amount of investigation people do is in buying a house, which should not be the case,'' said Debbie Ritter, a planning commissioners. ``We find that to be the case more often than we would like.''
``We don't ever want to see this kind of misunderstanding happen,'' she said. ``Hopefully, we can prevent something like this in the future.''
Mayor William E. Ward is talking about opening the line of communications between the city and its citizens. On Tuesday, he said he would like to hold symposiums with the help of city planners to educate and inform neighborhoods about planned or potential impacts.
Woodbriar Estates is a development in the middle of change, and residents who moved there admit that they took a calculated risk when buying.
To the north lies the Battlefield Corporate Center, where light industry is taking hold. Farther north is I-64. Volvo Parkway dead ends in the community's back yard. The city plans to extend Volvo Parkway to at least Great Bridge Boulevard in the next 10 to 20 years, further affecting the neighborhood.
Joyce Reese moved to Shadowlake Drive in Woodbriar Estates four years ago with her husband, Alan, who is retiring from the Navy next year. Coming from Maine, they ``didn't know if this would be the last house for us or not,'' she said. ``We would love to stay.''
``When we moved here, we didn't have a house next to us or across the street from us. Battlefield Boulevard itself was a nice street.''
Before they knew it, Wal-Mart and a Sam's Club had moved in down the road on Battlefield Boulevard. A Lowe's building supply super store came next, along with a bevy of townhouses near the entrance of their development. ``The change,'' Joyce Reese said, ``has been quite rapid.''
``We basically went with what the Realtor was telling us,'' she added. ``We needed a home and got a good buy on ours.''
Despite the growth, she is ``not yet disappointed by the change.'' She is, however, wary.
``I think it's a wait and see,'' she said. ``We just really don't know where we're going right now. Who knows what the future holds?'' MEMO: Staff writer Elizabeth Thiel contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Color map
Color photo
James L. Nelson Jr. by CNB