WILLIAMSBURG — The nine-hole Spotswood Course at Colonial Williamsburg, part of the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, closed on Dec. 31 with plans for housing redevelopment handled by Frye Properties.
Frye Properties went before the Williamsburg Architectural Review Board on Feb. 13 to present its current design book to the board and open discussion about rezoning. The public at that time was allowed to raise any concerns regarding architectural subjects such as housing spaces, water drainage and light pollution, among others.
As of Mar. 7, Frye Properties has yet to receive feedback from the board, however, it says it is not concerned and expects the city will provide it soon. Frye still has an open dialog with the city in an informal capacity.
“Since, we have gone and met with individual property owners one-on-one at their homes to talk to them about their concerns and trying to find ways that we can address any of those concerns whether how much of their view corridor was blocked, how close houses were, what was the configuration of houses as we go forward,” said Rock Bell, the Vice President of Development for Frye Properties.
Bell has found talking with the owners has been beneficial in understanding the area and coming up with compromises and solutions for the upcoming project. Bell also says Frye Properties intends to make sure the area blends with the historic architecture of the corridor-protected zone that borders the proposed community.
The plan for the properties remains flexible as the dialog continues between Frye and the City of Williamsburg.
“There may be things that come back on the comments that end up causing us to have to rearrange or rework something on the plan,” Allie Gorman, Director of New Project Development at Frye Properties explained. “And then if we do get through rezoning, we get to the site engineering side and then, depending on the conditions we have to deal with, could lead to more changes in the future. But that’s just part of the process.”
Currently, Frye Properties is entering a work session with the Williamsburg Architectural review board. The group does not know what board meeting it will next attend. That will be determined once the pattern book is at a point it is ready to present.
The project will not go to the Planning Commission until it has been approved. Frye estimates the project is a year away from breaking ground, should it move forward.
“We’re really excited to do something here in Williamsburg,” Bell expressed. “I think once people, again assuming that we get rezoning, that people see what we’re doing they will be happy that we are there as opposed to some other developer.”
“But Williamsburg is a special place. Developing within Williamsburg is something that we take very seriously, and we’re very excited about it,” Bell added.
