The public can once again offer its comments on the proposed draft update to the York County Comprehensive Plan at a hearing 6 p.m. Tuesday before the Board of Supervisors.
The comprehensive plan is a document that outlines what the county should focus on doing in the coming years, looking at land use, usage of government services and a slew of statistical data about myriad topics that range from housing to transportation.
The county has gauged the public’s opinion on the state and future of the county through a series of hearings dating back to 2012. Tuesday’s hearing represents one of the final times citizens can sound off on the document.
The York County Planning Commission approved the draft in June, sending it to the supervisors for final review. Virginia law — which requires all localities to maintain a comprehensive plan that is periodically updated to reflect changes in the locality — says the supervisors have 90 days from the date they received the new plan to make a decision on whether to sign off on the draft. That window expires Sept. 10.
The supervisors began their discussion of the plan at an Aug. 6 joint work session between the supervisors and the planning commission. Like much of the later stages of the planning commission’s discussion of the draft, the conversation focused primarily on land use. In particular, members of the two boards discussed about 1,000 acres of land near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Route 199 (exit 242 on I-64) that the document says should be identified as potential sites for mixed-use development.
[stextbox id=”alert” caption=”Changes to York County since 2005″ float=”true” align=”left” width=”275″ bwidth=”0″]
- More than 4,000 new residents
- 1,582 new housing units
- 584 fewer school students
- $229 million of commercial construction (much of this was between 2006 and 2008)
- 1,681 new jobs (98 percent in the private sector)
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That identification would come in the form of a mixed-use overlay. An overlay does not mean the land has been zoned for mixed-use, but rather that it is an appropriate location to explore the possibility. Mixed-use development allows the construction of neighborhoods similar to New Town in James City County, where residential and commercial spaces co-exist on the same plots of land. Three mixed-use developments currently exist in York County — Nelson’s Grant, Yorktown Crescent and Commonwealth Green — all of which are contained in the southern part of the county.
The land in question includes the Marquis at Williamsburg — an attorney representing the owners of the Marquis voiced support for the overlay in February — a plot of land owned by Anheuser Busch and a 251-acre tract of undeveloped land that received an overlay in 2005. Much of the land adjacent to these parcels is owned by the U.S. Navy, which operates the abutting Yorktown Naval Weapons Station and Cheatham Annex. The commander of the base, Capt. Lowell Crow, has said he opposes the development as residential construction is not compatible with training activities at his base.
Crow has asked for a 2,500-foot buffer to be established around the weapons station and for any land outside the buffer to be zoned for industrial development.
More than a dozen people spoke when a public hearing before the planning commission for the draft update in February. Some of the speakers opposed the mixed-use overlay, as it could cause residential development that would increase the population. The current build-out number — the maximum number of people the county wants to have living within its borders — is 80,000.
“Is the intent still to remain at an 80,000 build-out?” Asked York County resident Kelly Place at the February hearing. “I sure hope we haven’t abandoned that build-out target. If we have, I hope we have a lengthy public conversation. Mixed-use would result in higher taxes for schools and other infrastructure, and that’s a fairly significant issue.”
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 66,146 people lived in York County in 2012. Finding enough developable land to approach that target could prove to be problematic as limited space remains for development in the county. For example, 9,840 acres remain for development in the county — about 15 percent of the total land area — however much of that space is not suited for immediate development due to lack of public utilities and wetlands, which make development near impossible due to environmental regulations.
The supervisors will take up to three minutes of comment from anyone who wishes to speak at Tuesday’s meeting. View the current draft of the comprehensive plan update here.
