Leaders to talk transportation
Magnolia Green increases sense of urgency
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

King

The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors and many staff personnel will head to Virginia State University in Ettrick on Nov. 20 for a transportation summit. The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cooperative Extension Building on Carter G. Woodson Drive.

"We want to come to the summit with concrete ideas," said Board Chairman Dickie King. "We'll be looking at all the options...from transportation districts to maybe a portion of taxes going to transportation.

We agree with our legislators that [transportation] is not a crisis, but it's going to get worse if we don't decide on our options."

The agenda for the meeting is expected to be completed this week. County Administrator Lane Ramsey said he will "outline six or seven options that Chesterfield already has the legal authority to do."

One of those is to use funds over the current cap of $16.4 million annually from the Business Professional Occupational License (BPOL) tax. Ramsey said Chesterfield already has the "lowest BPOL tax in the region." He estimated that in the next 10 years BPOL funding could total $80 million.

Another possible solution would be to earmark some money collected from real estate property taxes and dedicate it for roads. County officials anticipate another big jump in property values early next year, and property taxes are easily the fastest growing segment of county revenue. However, last spring, the board indicated it would try to lower the property tax rate by at least two cents per $100 of assessed value. The current rate of $1.04 is the highest of any county in central Virginia.

A third option is creating Transportation Service Districts (TSD)-what Ramsey called "drawing a line around a geographical area and designating a higher [property] tax rate." TSD are used to fund roads, sidewalks and street lighting.

Historically, TSDs have only been utilized for retail and office zoning, like for the intersection of Powhite and Charter Colony parkways. But that might change, specifically for Magnolia Green. Phase one of Magnolia Green could begin next month, and includes 686 homes off Route 360, five miles west of Route 288. Several supervisors believe the cash proffer of $2,800 per home for the eventual community of 4,886 homes is too low. Magnolia Green's rezoning was approved in December 1991.

Asked if a TSD is under consideration by the board for Magnolia Green, Matoaca Supervisor Renny Humphrey said, "Everything is on the table."

Dale Supervisor Kelly Miller agreed, adding, "There's nowhere near enough to pay for roads. We're taking a look at Magnolia Green, which will be a topic at the summit." Asked if a higher property tax rate could be implemented, he responded, "If people know before they buy there, they could make the choice [whether or not to move there]."

Another option under consideration is Community Development Authorities (CDA). Similar to transportation districts, a CDA sets up an independent authority to sell bonds, which are paid off by fees that are levied. A CDA was established to finance the infrastructure necessary for the Watkins Centre.

County leaders have been increasingly concerned about falling further behind in meeting road needs. Earlier this year, Chesterfield's Transportation Director John McCracken estimated the county has $1 billion in unmet road needs.

Historically, Chesterfield's new roads and improvements have been primarily built by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and funded by the state. But Chesterfield Residency Engineer Dale Totten said last summer that VDOT expects counties "to take on more road building responsibilities."

During the summit, Ramsey will review how much VDOT has earmarked for secondary road improvements in Chesterfield, which he called "pretty bleak" as contrasted to the county's needs. "VDOT's [road construction] funding equates to improving less than a mile of secondary roads each year," he explained. "We have to look at options since the state is not the solution."

The Republican-majority board and the Republican-led legislature don't agree on future funding. Local legislators point to a 15.7 percent increase in the county budget last spring and say Chesterfield could do more. Chesterfield passed a $40 million road bond issue by an overwhelming margin in 2004.

With the county's current maximum proffer of $15,600 for each new residence, $8,915 is for roads. Chesterfield, like most other local governments, has relied on state government funding and VDOT to build new roads and improve existing ones. Chesterfield is part of the Richmond district, and shares funding with 14 other local governments.

If Chesterfield decided to fund new road construction, Totten says Chesterfield would continue to receive its fair share of state funding. Virginia law allocates road funding on a number of criteria including population, square miles and miles of roads.

VDOT prioritizes road funding by paying debt first followed by maintenance of existing roads and then new construction. Maintaining existing roads is claiming a larger share of the road budget because of the increasing costs of materials, higher fuel costs, more roads to maintain and Virginia's aging road infrastructure.

Most of VDOT's funding comes from the state gas tax, which is growing more slowly due to higher mileage vehicles and the changing driving habits caused by higher gas prices.

By far, Chesterfield is adding more roads for VDOT to maintain than any other locality in the state with most of them being from new subdivisions. From 1998 through June of this year, Chesterfield added 214 miles to the state road system. Within the Richmond district, that represents 61 percent of the miles of new roads added. To see a county-by-county listing of the number of miles of new roads since 1998 maintained by VDOT, go to www.chesterfieldobserver.com and click on "special" under "news."

Henrico County maintains its own road network and is not part of the Richmond district.