JCC OK's Courthouse Commons; Developers Revealed

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, June 23, 2010

James City County supervisors voted Tuesday evening to approve the contentious Courthouse Commons development planned along Monticello Avenue after a long discussion that centered on traffic, retaining Fresh Market within the county and whether some restrictions on the special use permit were a good idea. The proposal came to supervisors without support from either staff or the planning commission.

At their meeting earlier this month, the planning commission voted to deny the application for Courthouse Commons, a proposed development across from Settler’s Market on Monticello Avenue that would be home to Fresh Market, some other retail and office space, and possibly a drive-thru drug store or a bank.

The plan was not supported by staff and was rejected by planning commissioners. Staff didn’t support the plan due to traffic already more congested than previous projections along the Monticello corridor, even without the new development as a consideration.

The four planning commissioners who voted against the plan generally agreed they would feel differently if the square footage were reduced, if the applicant agreed to contribute more funding to a planned road improvement the county is already over $1 million short on, and if the applicant agreed to certain restrictions on permitted uses.

Supervisors voted 3-2 to approve the special use permit Tuesday, with John McGlennon and Jim Icenhour dissenting. The crux of the debate centered on traffic; the dense, urban plan for New Town and environs; the likelihood of losing Fresh Market if the development wasn’t approved; and a new concern over the board setting a precedent for using special use permits to construct a type of pseudo  proffer process such as is used in rezoning cases.

The applicant’s attorney was on hand to talk to the board, and he revealed the names behind the mysterious New Town Six development group (which may have been a factor in planning Commissioner Chris Henderson’s resignation, read a previous story here). New Town Six, which has five members and not the six the name implies, is a heavy-hitting group of local businessmen, including: former planning commissioner T. Christian Henderson, CB Ellis Real Estate; Art Casey, Casey Motor Group; Alan Diamonstein, attorney with Patten, Wornom, Hatton and Diamonstein; John Lawson, owner of W.M. Jordan/East West Partners (Liberty Ridge/Summerplace); and G. Royden Goodson, III, Warwick Plumbing and Heating Corporation.

The attorney for the developers also pointed out that since hearing the planning commission’s thoughts in early June, the applicant has revised the plan to reduce the square footage from 83,000 to 67,000 square feet, which will help lower traffic impact and will also mean the applicant will no longer need to ask for setback reductions.

The applicant also added more parking spaces, reduced the size of one building, and changed a pedestrian area. The development group has also agreed to a list of limitation on uses, and agreed to alter traffic proffers to be based on Virginia Department of Transportation cost estimates for the improvements in the area.

The attorney argued that the original New Town design (which included the area all along the Monticello corridor in the area, including the parcels in question) included a development in the area that was less pleasing (more strip-mall like) than Courthouse Commons. He also argued that traffic would remain the same.

The traffic consultant that has done the traffic studies in the area since the 1990s explained to the board that the original traffic study in the late 1990s projected traffic with a six-lane road. The unexpectedly lowered traffic “level of service” is an effect he attributed to the shift to four lanes, though he said the road was perfectly adequate for a road in a developed area as with New Town and its surroundings.

The traffic consultant also said the planned development would change the traffic results hardly at all.

Because planning commissioners had been asking for the information, staff presented a chart comparing projected car trips based on Courthouse Commons traffic estimates to what traffic could be expected if the parcels were developed by-right – that is, developments that could be built without board scrutiny and approval, which would include office and light industrial uses. Daily trips, including in-and-out trips to the area, generated by the development would be 5,191; daily trips with by-right developments would probably range from 300 up to 2,450.

The applicant’s attorney also argued that another change in the application included a guarantee that various obligations offered with the SUP would be enforceable. That became a serious concern for McGlennon.

McGlennon said rezoning cases had proffers that were controllable by the county; in this case, making an applicant-offered proposal enforceable would set a concerning precedent. County attorney Leo Rogers agreed that the case would probably set a precedent and was unusual, but he said it was creative and that he would work to enforce it.

McGlennon argued the applicant should apply to rezone in order to give the county control of proffers.

His democratic counterpart Icenhour cited traffic issues as a reason he voted against the application. “Traffic is a factor to our residents, and it is a huge issue.” He also echoed a citizen’s comment that community need should be taken into account when deciding on adding another retail development. He also agreed with McGlennon’s concerns about the unusual SUP circumstances. “We’re essentially rezoning by SUP,” he said.

Supervisor Bruce Goodson argued that the area was an urban setting and traffic was expected to flow differently. He also said he would hate to lose Fresh Market (which is rumored to likely go to High Street if not able to build at Courthouse Commons), a loss to the county of valuable tax revenue, jobs and a good corporate citizen.

Supervisor Mary Jones agreed, saying she understood the traffic concerns, but she thought Fresh Market was a business the community would like to keep. Business retention was something the county’s Business Climate Task Force cited as a priority, she pointed out.

Chairman Jim Kennedy reiterated his long-held dislike for the idea of New Town, but he argued the area was always intended to be intensely developed. He also said that, based on the initial intention to put six lanes along that area of Monticello, the county has always had a sense that traffic would be busy.

Kennedy also said he appreciated what Fresh Market wanted to do, and that traffic was bad at Colony Square where the store is currently located.