CDAs nearing limit
Will there be enough funding for Chippenham Place and Roseland?
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

There may not be enough money to fund a Community Development Authority to pay for roads for Roseland (above) and other large development projects in the county.

One tool the county has used to pay for building roads is running out of pavement. In recent years, Chesterfield has twice set up a Community Development Authority (CDA) to build roads in large developments, but leaders have set a self-imposed ceiling of $75 million on the funding mechanism. Going over that amount jeopardizes the county's AAA bond rating.

"The policy has a limitation that no more than 10 percent of the debt service will be in CDAs, so we have about $75 million in capacity for CDA bonds," said Budget and Management Director Allan Carmody.

Of that amount, only about $20 million remains because Magnolia Green ($35 million) and the Watkins Centre ($20 million) have used up the balance. Two other projects - Chippenham Place (the replacement for Cloverleaf Mall) and Roseland (a 5,140-home community with considerable office and retail development) - are lining up for a CDA.

CDAs allow for the selling of bonds for capital improvements on large projects, which are repaid by property owners through higher property tax rates. The improvements are made upfront - an attractive feature for the county, which has more than $1 billion in road needs.

The Magnolia Green CDA placed a tax lien on all residential and commercial properties in lower Magnolia Green for up to 30 years. The lien is apportioned among all residential, retail and office parcels, and the property buyers can liquidate their debt immediately or pay it off over time.

For the 640-acre mixed-use Watkins Centre, the bonds will be paid by assessments or a special annual tax from property taxes and sales taxes for about 500 acres of the development over the next 12 years. The new roads and improvements are scheduled to be completed by December 2008.

Chippenham Place will still require county support that may include a CDA, according to Director of Revitalization Tom Jacobson. The land for that project has not yet been purchased from the county by Chippenham Place developer Crosland.

Roseland's rezoning application requests use of a CDA. Because the planning department wants another 30 days for study, the rezoning probably won't come to the planning commission until next month.

Last November at Chesterfield's Transportation Summit, former County Administrator Lane Ramsey cautioned the board that CDAs are not a panacea for road problems as portrayed by some members of the development community.

Carmody said Branner Station, the mixeduse development south of Chester that includes 5,000 homes and goes to the board this month, is not using a CDA for its more than $72 million in road improvements.

A CDA is also not part of the plan to link Meadowville Technology Park to I-295. One of the signature office parks in the county, Meadowville needs another $24 million for a cloverleaf or $11 million for a diamond interchange. The Economic Development Department says a direct connection to I-295 is the missing link to get the site selling.

Last month at a Midlothian community meeting, new County Administrator Jay Stegmaier listed four priorities of his new administration. Maintaining the county's AAA bond rating was named along with managing growth, improving transportation and increasing economic development.