SUFFOLK
Representatives for the proposed CenterPoint development scored a victory Tuesday by pitching their 900-acre regional port-related project as part of the solution to one of the city's biggest traffic problems.
The Planning Commission voted 10-3 for the company's rezoning request. It will go to the City Council next month for a public hearing and final action.
Commissioners said the project is the best way to start paying for a major overhaul to the congested Holland Road corridor west of downtown, where CenterPoint is planned.
"Once this thing is really rolling, we will see some financial relief," Commissioner Thomas Savage said.
CenterPoint estimates that widening a three-mile stretch of U.S. 58-Holland Road to six lanes from the current four will cost $54.9 million. The company disputes a $94 million estimate by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
Bob Harbour, a partner in the project, said the company will pay for the design work on Holland Road as part of a $3.46 million proffer toward it. The design process could take six to eight months, but it needs to be done to take advantage of President-elect Barack Obama's expected infrastructure stimulus package, Harbour told commissioners.
"If we do not join in with this, when will the problem be solved?" Commissioner James Shirley asked. "I think this will get done faster if we get this big project going and get some of Obama's money."
Last month, the commission voted unanimously to table CenterPoint's request for up to 90 days. At that meeting, commissioners sent the developer away to find more firm commitments from other sources to fund Holland Road.
At Tuesday's meeting, Harbour provided a list of possible sources, though none has committed money yet. They included state resources such as the Governor's Opportunity Fund and the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund, and federal programs such as community development block grants and a stimulus package.
The CenterPoint Intermodal Center would build 5.8 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space for port traffic over 10 years. Neil Doyle, a company vice president, said the project's investment would reach $350 million.
"That's how we beat recessions," he told commissioners. "It's through infrastructure."
CenterPoint representatives contended that their project's impact on traffic will amount to only a fraction of the demand on Holland Road. Dave Francis, an engineer, said the development will account for about 3 to 7 percent of traffic. The company used those figures to calculate its share of the Holland Road improvement costs, France said. The company is offering another $6.5 million in infrastructure improvements.
A draft of the city's next long-range capital improvements plan includes issuing $102.5 million in bonds over 10 years to pay for road construction projects.
But Harbour told the Planning Commission that "nobody's expecting the city to finance Holland Road."
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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Leave it to the developers
Leave it to the developers to get greedy and want to take money from the region to give to them. Wanting the planed "road improvements" to be inplace to get some of Obamas stimulus package is an affront to all in the region that think there are higher priority road improvements. There will only be so much money available, and to attempt take money from long planned road work to line the pockets of developers is just plain wrong.
Suffolk Planning Commission
It was great to see the Suffolk Planning Commission vote in favor of this project today. Route 58 needs help, no question, but waiting for the state and federal governments to widen it is a non-starter. CenterPoint is offering to cover design costs for the project and to pay over $7-million toward construction, which is about $54-million according to the City's planning staff, not the $90 or so million quoted in the Pilot's story. Plus CenterPoint is upgrading sewer lines for the area and providing land for a fire station and water tower. It will be a decade before this distribution center complex is built out, plenty of time to figure out where the rest of the money for Holland Road is going to come from, or determine that CenterPoint is not the reason it has a lot of traffic.
On to City Council.