Restaurants to quit cigarettes cold turkey

On Dec. 1, Virginians can no longer light up in most restaurants. If statistics provided by Virginia Department of Health are accurate, it will be business as usual for 73 percent of the commonwealth’s fast food and full-service restaurants that already are smoke-free. For the others, owners and managers must decide how much time and money they’re willing to spend to comply with new regulations while continuing to offer patrons the opportunity to smoke on premises. Christine Johnson, general manager of Milepost 5 in Midlothian, is in discussions with a state health inspector to determine whether putting up a door between the restaurant’s smoking and non-smoking sections will be enough to keep the facility in compliance. Milepost 5 already has separate rooms and separate ventilation systems for smoking and non-smoking areas, which would appear to satisfy two of the exceptions specified in the smoking ban.

Landing more airport traffic

One of the most important gateways to Chesterfield County is in line for a much-needed facelift. Officials hope planned upgrades to the Chesterfield County Airport, which contributes approximately $16 million annually to the local economy, will make it an even more effective part of the county's economic development efforts. "The airport has been there a long time, the county has grown, and we haven't made a lot of changes," said Will Davis, director of Chesterfield Economic Development. "For people coming into the airport on business, this is their first view of Chesterfield. The first impression is a lasting impression, so we need to make sure it's a good experience."

Golf clubs scramble for members

Even as a global economic crisis threatens to turn some of America's swankiest country clubs into pastures, Mike Hatch is determined to prove there's still a market for clubs in Chesterfield County. And like golf club operators all over, he’s advertising and getting more aggressive to find members.

Chesterfield no longer as insulated

Chesterfield County is no longer out-performing the state when it comes to one of the most common barometers of economic health: employment. As recently as February 1992, when the national unemployment rate spiked to 8.2 percent and 7 percent of all Virginians filed jobless claims, unemployment in Chesterfield never exceeded 4.8 percent.

Chesterfield foreclosures down slightly in January

Chesterfield County’s real estate market hasn’t escaped the foreclosure bug, but it’s not as bad as in other parts of the state. According to RealtyTrac, there were 186 new foreclosure filings in the county in January, the last month for which data are available. That's 10 more than were reported at the same time last year, but 21 fewer than in December.