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Fort Lee expansion will bring an army of new residents
The predictions are based primarily on where new developments are planned and the location of already zoned residential lots. More than 80 percent of the 13,000 home sites located in the vicinity of Fort Lee are in Chesterfield. The report indicated some new residents might locate in eastern Henrico, Sussex and Surry counties - outside of the immediate area of impact. The 1,800 households will include civilians (many of them government contractors) and permanently assigned military personnel usually stationed at Fort Lee for a 4-5 year rotation. About 25-30 percent of those military personnel are expected to purchase homes while 85 percent of the new civilians would be homebuyers. RKG predicts most of these new residents will look to buy homes in the $200,000-$250,000 range, up to $300,000. The home purchase prices by the civilians would be slightly higher than the military homebuyers. "The big move-in will start in 2009," said Crater Regional Planning District Executive Director Denny Morris. Fort Lee is currently building 400 new homes on post to house about onethird of the additional personnel generated by the expansion. The remaining two-thirds will live off post as will all civilian and government contractors associated with the expansion. Expansion basics Fort Lee will ultimately become the second largest training installation in the nation, second only to Fort Jackson, S.C. The expansion will bring 15,000 new military and civilian personnel to the region over the next three years, increasing Fort Lee's daily population from about 16,300 to 32,700 and adding 6 million square feet of space. When complete, Fort Lee's Sustainment Center of Excellence will bring several training facilities to one location, including the Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School from Aberdeen, Md., the Transportation Center & School from Fort Eustis, Va., and the Air Force Transportation Training and Air Force Culinary Training Centers from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. More households = more kids The 800-plus new households coming to Chesterfield as a result of the expansion at Fort Lee are expected to further strain already overcrowded schools. Chesterfield has several new schools scheduled to open by 2010, previously funded by a 2004 bond referendum. Two new elementary schools will soon open in the Bermuda and Matoaca districts followed by two middle schools - also in the Bermuda and Matoaca districts - opening this fall. A replacement for Clover Hill High School is expected to open on Genito Road in fall 2010. However, the announcement of the Fort Lee expansion came after the last bond referendum was passed, and another referendum isn't scheduled until 2012. If approved, the first school funded by that referendum would not be ready to open until 2015. Households to be generated by Fort Lee expansion
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