Talk of Powhite extension resumes
October 15, 2009 by Greg Pearson
The idea of extending the Powhite Parkway as a toll road from Route 288 west to Hull Street Road has surfaced again as a way to open up an undeveloped commercial and residential area.
Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Warren, Vice Chairman Dan Gecker and County Administrator Jay Stegmaier have had separate meetings recently with a representative from the upper portion of Magnolia Green to discuss the possible extension.
“I met with David Mayo, and Magnolia Green is interested in increasing the amount of commercial zoning,” said Warren. “I understand there may be a future meeting with English Construction [to discuss a toll road].”
Leesburg developer Sal Cangiano owns upper Magnolia Green, which is zoned for about 1,300 homes and considerable retail and office space – much of it around the proposed intersection of the four-lane extension and Hull Street Road. “I think we’d be interested in putting a future mall there because we’ve built a lot of malls elsewhere,” said Cangiano.
However, the Powhite Parkway would first have to be extended nine miles to Hull Street Road. The master plan for county roads shows the extension going through Hull Street Road and eastward, eventually connecting with Interstate 95.
“At this point all they are inquiring about is whether the county is interested in extending the road to Hull Street,” explained Stegmaier. “There’s a lot of talk about it, and there is developer interest.”
With the already approved rezonings in the area, Chesterfield has acquired about half of the necessary right-of-way for the extension. The Virginia Department of Transportation could have the road built as part of the Public-Private Transportation Act, meaning an outside firm would extend the parkway and then charge tolls to pay for constructing the road. There’s no county money to build the road, and VDOT doesn’t have the funds, either.
English Construction in Lynchburg has built some of Chesterfield’s new schools, but Doug Dalton with the company did not return a call for comment before deadline. In 2003, Shirley Contracting Corporation of Northern Virginia and Koch Performance Roads of Newark, Del., submitted tentative proposals to VDOT for extending the Powhite but later rescinded them. Transurban, LLC, the Australian company that operates the Pocahontas Parkway, a toll road from Interstate 95 at Chippenham Parkway to Interstate 295, has previously expressed interest in a toll road proposal.
“It’s really a VDOT issue,” said Stegmaier, “but I can’t see having the road built without the support of the board [of supervisors].”
Gecker agreed. “I cannot imagine the state imposing a new toll road on us. The road should be built when the private sector is ready to build it without public support, and that means no tolls. This county has a history of getting infrastructure ahead of the real demand, which has created our sprawl.”
An analysis by the county’s planning department estimated that if the extension is built, it would add about 22,000 new homes within one mile on either side.
Gecker supports extending the roadway (not as a toll road) from Route 288 to Watermill Parkway, a distance of about one mile. “It has real economic development potential for the county [for the Centerpointe development],” he said. It would also resolve a bottleneck where the Powhite ends at Charter Colony Parkway.
Most of the proposed extension would be in Matoaca District. Contacted by e-mail and voicemail, Supervisor Marleen Durfee was not able to comment on questions by deadline. Those questions included whether she supports extending the parkway and whether she has met with any of the proponents of the extension.
The county’s transportation department has supported the nine-mile extension as a toll road, but it doesn’t see how Chesterfield can find the estimated $300 million necessary to complete the project. Transportation Director John McCracken is concerned about the safety of Hull Street Road west of Otterdale Road because the road winds without adequate shoulders for heavier volumes of traffic. The extension would also reduce the congestion in the Hull Street Road corridor between Route 288 and Woodlake.
Meanwhile, the lower Magnolia Green development has been turned over to Atack Land Management LLC by iStar Financial, the New York-based lender who took over when Magnolia Green Development defaulted on its loan. According to one source, MGD President Ray Zimmerman is continuing to pursue discussions with iStar to resume its role in Magnolia Green.
Located on Hull Street Road five miles west of Route 288, lower Magnolia Green is zoned for 3,550 homes. Build-out was originally expected to take 15 to 20 years. MGD also had planned to have 200-plus acres of retail fronting on Hull Street Road and three 20,000-square-foot retail centers inside the community.
At the Nov. 20, 2006, Transportation Summit held by the previous county board, former County Administrator Lane Ramsey and his staff recommended extending the Powhite as a toll road to reduce transportation congestion in the Hull Street Road corridor. It was one of nine options proposed to meet the county’s road needs independent of the state. There has been little or no action taken on those options since then.
A proposal to make Magnolia Green and other nearby communities off Woolridge Road more accessible has been stymied because of financial problems with lower Magnolia Green. MGD and Chesterfield set up a Commercial Development Authority to widen Woolridge Road to four lanes from the Swift Creek Reservoir to Otterdale Road and Otterdale Road from the intersection at Woolridge Road to Hull Street Road, a total distance of about four miles. The original timetable called for completion in 2012.
The county planned to finance the road construction by selling CDA bonds to be paid for with a tax lien on all residential and commercial properties in lower Magnolia Green for up to 30 years. But the potential bond buyers need reassurance that there’s sufficient security to back the bonds.
“The only way that can happen is if the development becomes active and starts selling lots again,” said Stegmaier, “… perhaps in the range of 300 to 500 lots per year.”
This story first ran in the Chesterfield Observer, which is an RBS news partner. Greg Pearson is the Observer publisher.
So who is going to shop at these several huge retail developments? How many Walmarts,Home Depots,Lowe’s does Chesterfield need?How many Targets and on and on?they talk about preventing sprawl while they advocate for it.I hope as this all comes to pass,and eventually it will,that cooler heads prevail.ALL that would be needed is grocery,pharmacy and community based business to serve nearby residents to keep them off main roads like Hull St.Chesterfield should support local and small business not big box huge corporate businesses that destroy the very people living in Chesterfield and force them to work for low wages and bad benefits if any.
Powhite should be turned into an interstate and extended past Lynchburg and all the way to the Roanoke/Blacksburg area, connecting with I-81.
As important as VT, Radford, VMI and other institutions out that way are to our state, the size and shape of the Commonwealth and need for more economic/job attention to the rural areas south and west of Richmond, such an extension is long overdue.
And before anyone argues that 360 and 460 already exist… yes, I’m aware of that as I drive 360 often between here and Charlotte. However, those roads do not cut it. I’m talking 70MPH interstates that will drastically shorten travel times and help spur activity within many miles of the stretch.
Gosh, I seem to remember that one of the big issues, perhaps THE biggest, in the last BOS election was controlling growth in Chesterfield. It looks like we’re just going to keep getting more of the same ol’ BOS BS!