Concerned About Proffers, Assisted Living Plans, JCC Supes Delay Candle Factory Decision

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, April 14, 2010

After nearly two hours of discussion Tuesday evening, James City County Supervisors decided to defer a decision to rezone a mixed use development on Route 60 in Norge.

Candle Development, LLC, is looking to rezone 64 acres behind where the current Candle Factory shops sit along route 60 in order to allow for a mixed use development which would have about 175 residential units, 30,000 square feet of commercial and office space, and a 90,000-square-foot assisted living facility. The plan first came on the books in 2007, and had some issues to address after the first visit to the planning commission. Last April, the Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning.

Since its first iteration, the Candle Factory plan includes new proffers that include green building designs, affordable housing units and traffic mitigation along with cash proffers for schools. Currently, there is also a separate plan for a CVS pharmacy and a Food Lion adjacent to this mixed use development that supervisors are slated to review at their next meeting.

The main concerns supervisors had about the rezoning had to do with the changes made in the proffers since the approval by the planning commission, whether the creation of an assisted living facility would be assured, and the amount and price of workforce and affordable housing in the development.

Some of the environmentally friendly features of the development would include some pervious pavement and other ways to mitigate stormwater issues, LEED certification for some commercial buildings and Earthcraft certification for single family dwellings, and increased buffers.

New cash school proffers, which were missing from the original application, would total about $1.9 million.

Proffers help mitigate the cost to the county (and taxpayers) of adding new residences. New home building forces the county to offer additional fire and safety services as well as public schooling for children moving in to the residences.

Supervisor John McGlennon was concerned that there were significant changes to proffers, and that county policy dictates these changes should have sent the plan back to the planning commission.

County Attorney Leo Rogers and County Administrator Sandy Wanner agreed the county staff had discussed the changes and felt they weren’t significant enough to warrant another review by the commission. Rogers said it was up to the board’s discretion whether to send the plan back.
McGlennon’s motion to send the rezoning back to the commission didn’t pass.

McGlennon also brought up his concerns that the original proffer plan included workforce housing at a lower cost, with more units available around the $150,000 mark. The current proffers increased the cost of much of the workforce housing to nearly the same level as market rate for townhomes.

The developer said 33 percent of the units (a total of 58) will be considered affordable housing, but the new proffers do favor the higher-end price within that type.

Chairman Jim Kennedy said he was concerned that there was no guarantee that an assisted living facility would be built, when “it’s the piece that’s the fiscal driver of this project.”

The developer made assurances that every effort would be made to ensure the facility was built.

Kennedy also said he didn’t like that the board was considering this rezoning without also considering the CVS and Food Lion project at the same time.

After a lively and fruitless discussion about the usefulness of the county’s proffers policy, supervisors decided to defer a decision on this rezoning until May so they could look at both projects in the Candle Factory area simultaneously.