Focus Group Starts Effort to Reimagine Northeast Williamsburg

By Amber Lester Kennedy Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Members of the Northeast Triangle Focus Group left their first meeting with a homework assignment: Think of a marketable name for the area bounded by Merrimac Trail, Capitol Landing Road and Second Street.

The area will be under the microscope of the focus group for the next year, as the members work to come up with a vision to redevelop the area. Mayor Clyde Haulman announced the group’s formation during his “State of the City” address on Nov. 18.

Haulman appeared at the start of the group’s first meeting at the Quarterpath Recreation Center on Monday afternoon. He told the members that they had the “interesting task” ahead of pondering the area’s uses, standards, connection to the rest of the city, its character and more.

Over the next 12 months, the group will examine the land usage, transportation needs, design expectations and more of the residents and business owners in the Northeast part of the city. They will deliver their findings in a report to the public, receive comments, then deliver a final report to the Planning Commission and the City Council. By that time, the city will be gearing up to prepare its next Comprehensive Plan.

The Northeast Triangle Focus Group is co-chaired by Sarah Stafford, a member of the Planning Commission who owns a home in the area, and Mickey Chohany, owner of Second Street American Bistro. The other members are developer Jim Bennett, business owner Bobby Bland, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Director of Property Planning Tory Gussman, homeowner Sharon Caldwell and realtor Ed Richardson, a member of the city’s Economic Development Authority.

At their first meeting, the group established that all its meetings will be held at 2 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month. They plan to host an informational meeting in the weeks to come, followed by meetings with groups of stakeholders, such as homeowners, business owners and renters.

City employees briefed the group on the past development of the area and things to consider moving forward. Williamsburg Planning Director Reed Nester gave the group a review of the development in the area over the past 50 years. In the ’50s, the area was primarily residential, with more commercial development occurring in the following 10 years. Since 1968, placing a park with a marina in the area has been discussed, but hasn’t happened.

From an economic perspective, the Northeast triangle is poised to take advantage of three federal incentive programs, according to Economic Development Director Michele DeWitt. The area is a census-designated “HUB zone,” due to its population’s high unemployment; companies located in HUB zones receive preferential treatment for federal contracts.

“Typically a HUB zone is a highly physically distressed area, but for the Capital Landing area, that’s not the case at all,” DeWitt said. So far, one company has located to the area to take advantage of the designation.

Businesses can also take advantage of a New Market Tax Credit that encourages private development at a low tax rate, and a Demolition Loan Program. The latter gives loans to encourage redevelopment of occupied areas, and has been used four times in the city, including in the development of the Chipotle property and the Tribe Square project.

The group will soon have a web site devoted to its work on the city’s web site.