A Maryland-based distribution company is currently the only identified end-user. Questions raised by Board over what became of a previously proposed recreational center.
The Stafford Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted narrowly to approve the rezoning of multiple parcels in the George Washington district to allow for light and heavy industrial use—but even those who supported the project, known as Belmont Park, weren’t excited about it.
“Clearly, for seven years the applicant has tried to get this project approved,” said Vice Chair Tinesha Allen, who along with Chair Meg Bohmke and supervisors Deuntay Diggs and Darrell English voted to approve the rezoning. “Unfortunately, this is where we are… at the end of the day, the project will generate tax revenue.”
The project has been in the works for seven years and has gone through multiple iterations, including at one point an indoor recreation facility that supervisors said they never knew about and would have preferred to the plan presented Tuesday.
The project as approved this week totals about 133 acres in south Stafford, off U.S. 17, between Sanford Drive and Powell Lane, behind the Virginia Department of Transportation’s commuter lot.
Applicant Kevin Sills requested the rezoning of the land from suburban residential and agricultural to M1 (light industrial) and M2 (heavy industrial).
There is one identified end user for the M1 portion—A. Duie Pyle, a Maryland-based distribution company which plans to build a truck terminal.
The only access to the site would be from Powell Lane, which the developer would extend to accommodate the industrial use, Planning Director Mike Zuraf told the Board.
The project is estimated to generate about 3,200 vehicle trips per day, Zuraf said.
Proffers for roads, permitted uses
Accompanying proffers state that before the county issues a certificate of occupancy for any building that exceeds 500,000 square feet, the applicant will provide an updated traffic count for the existing U.S. 17/Commerce Parkway northbound left-turn lane. If the count finds an excess of 300 average vehicle trips during morning peak hours, the applicant will construct an additional left turn lane.
The proffers include $40,000 to re-time traffic signals on U.S. 17 and $75,000 for improvements to Powell Lane — or for the county to use on “other transportation capital improvements in the area;” limit the building height to 50 feet—down from the 65-foot height allowed by industrial zoning—and enhance surrounding buffers and setbacks.
The proffers also limit the possible uses of the site to 27 identified uses, including general office, laboratory, machinery sales and service, microbrewery, distillery, vocational school, veterinary clinic, medical or dental clinic.
Shortly before Tuesday’s meeting, “truck/freight terminal” was added to the list of permitted uses, as was “public facilities.”
Zuraf said the applicant is proposing to dedicate a five-acre graded site adjacent to the VDOT commuter lot to the county for parks and recreation use.
“What in the world happened to that project?”
Sills and attorney Charlie Payne, representing Belmont Park, said the project has been in development for seven years and has changed dramatically in response to concerns from former supervisors and the Planning Commission.
Prior plans included a mixed-use development with residential units and retail such as Publix, Chik-fil-A, and “seven or eight other national tenants,” Sills said.
Then, he said, the plan changed to a 420,000-square-foot indoor recreation center with a double-Olympic size indoor swimming pool, an 18-foot dive tank, 17 turf fields, two outdoor restaurants, a music facility, and hotels.
“The plan was to bring the kids here on a Friday and keep them here all weekend,” Sills said. “We thought it was great. It was a $54 million building.”
That project would have generated 30,000 trips per day, Sills said, and was met with resistance from the county’s economic development office and former supervisors.
Supervisors on Tuesday said they were completely unaware of those plans.
“What in the world happened to that project?” Bohmke asked. “It never came before our board.”
Rockhill representative Crystal Vanuch asked staff to provide the board with all correspondence between the developer and the county related to the proposed recreation facility. The Advance has requested this correspondence as well.
Vanuch also asked if the board would be open to deferring approval of the rezoning in order to work on bringing back some of the proposed recreational use.
Monica Gary, Aquia representative, said it was “a very different board” that decided it didn’t want the recreation facility. She said the current board is “very meticulous” and would put in the work necessary to make the project better.
“We are very frustrated, clearly, with what you’ve gone through and what the county has potentially lost out on,” she said. “I would like to defer and have more time to work on this.”
But Sills indicated that he’d rather go ahead with the project as it currently stands.
“To be honest, it has cost me $52,000 per month to play this game,” he said. “We have tried to give you everything you’ve asked for.”
Allen said it would not be fair to the developer to defer any longer.
“Our incompetence as a whole” is not their fault, she said.
Follow us on Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit our website at the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past month, our reporting was:
$8 a month supports great journalism
- First to report on a Spotsylvania School teacher arrested for bringing drugs onto campus.
- First to report on new facility fees leveled by MWHC on patient bills.
- First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
- Provided extensive coverage of the cellphone bans that are sweeping local school districts.
- And so much more, like Clay Jones, Drew Gallagher, Hank Silverberg, and more.
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
