Ready or not, here it comes
Upper Swift Creek draft plan includes higher taxes
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

Almost everyone agrees that the Upper Swift Creek plan is not ready for review and recommendation by the Planning Commission on May 15, but ready or not, the commission is going to send it to the County Board of Supervisors for possible action on May 23.

The plan in its current draft form calls for forming a transportation district to raise $90- $120 million to improve roads there. Residents and businesses would pay a 10-15 cent higher property tax rate than the rest of the county. If approved, communities paying higher taxes would include Brandermill, Woodlake, Deer Run, Foxcroft, Birkdale, Ashbrook and Hampton Park.

"How did that happen?" asked Woodlake President Tom Hoekstra.

How seriously that financing provision will be considered remains to be seen since supervisor elections are six months away. Previous transportation districts for Centerpointe and Magnolia Green have exempted existing businesses and residences. The transportation component resurrected a draft proposal from Oct., 2005, which has not been discussed at public meetings of the commission or the board.

The commissioners openly told citizens last week at the public hearing that the plan needed to better integrate water quality, transportation, land use and other elements in order to be sent to the board for approval.

"This plan is not ready to go to the board," said Matoaca Commissioner Wayne Bass. His district represents 86 percent of the plan area.

In March the county board directed the commission to review the plan and forward it on to the board by May 28. A request last month by the commission for a 60-day extension was rejected.

At its meeting next week, the commission may modify the planning staff's draft proposal or not, but with or without a recommendation from the commission, it's headed to the supervisors. Many of the 31 speakers at the hearing asked the commission not to send it to the board.

Betty Hunter Clapp of Hands Across the Lake called the plan "a rush to judgment."

Brandermill President Ryland Reamy said the commission should not adopt the plan because it fails to address water quality and transportation issues and a public meeting had not been held.

Bermuda Commissioner Jack Wilson spoke of his concern about the community's lack of input into the draft plan. The transportation plan also moves the recommended path for a possible extension of the Powhite Parkway slightly further west. No private company has submitted a proposal for extending the toll-road out to Route 360.

Some of the speakers were development attorneys and property owners who opposed the draft plan. They didn't like the "green zone" where future development is delayed. One property owner objected, saying his land was his retirement plan, and the county could prevent him from selling it at market price.

Six months ago at a board meeting, several supervisors expressed their frustrations with delays in revising the plan. "Spending four years is too long," complained Matoaca Supervisor Renny Humphrey.

"We need to get along with it," added Clover Hill Supervisor Art Warren.

Dale Supervisor Kelly Miller agreed, and Bermuda Supervisor Dickie King said the county had spent "$500,000 to $600,000 [for consultant's reports] - and we didn't get anything for it."

In April 2003, the board asked county staff to review the plan, and preliminary community meetings were held in 2004 to get citizen input. The process continued with a draft plan by the planning department, but usually the plan would go out for community input again. No meetings have been held.

Commissioners raised complaints in several work sessions that they didn't have enough data to determine land use to protect the Swift Creek Reservoir from phosphorous runoff. Nine years ago, the board enacted an ordinance that limited phosphorous runoff which can mostly be managed by the amount and type of development. When the development that has been already approved is built, there will 400 pounds over the 25,000 pound limit going into the reservoir on an annual basis.

Much of the planning was stalled while the commission waited on water quality data. Commission members pressed the Environmental Engineering Department and consultant CH2MHill for details so it could make a recommendation on land uses.

Clover Hill Commissioner Russ Gulley has previously said county administrators should have insisted on quicker action from the consultant. He asked Environmental Engineering Director Dick McElfesh to report on communications with the Army Corps of Engineers and the state's Department of Environmental Quality so Gulley could determine when Chesterfield knew its proposed BMP (Best Management Practices) master plan was rejected. The county initially wanted to place ponds to collect runoff of phosphorous in streams, but the Corps turned it down.

Other options to control runoff include tightening the standards for commercial development and requiring less density and more open space in residential developments. Those solutions raise the costs for developers.