Suffolk council denies Four Farms development

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By Jeff Sheler
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 20, 2011

SUFFOLK

Calling it too ambitious and poorly timed in a depressed economy, the City Council rejected plans for a massive residential and commercial development south of downtown.

After a 45-minute public hearing and brief discussion in a packed chamber, the council voted 7-1 to deny zoning changes that would have permitted the Four Farms project to go forward.

The project would have turned 462 acres of woods and farmland between White Marsh Road and Hosier Road into a bustling suburb with nearly 2,000 homes and 164,000 square feet of retail and office space.

Proponents argued it would bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue to the city. Opponents said it would clog already busy roads and glut an already depressed housing market.

"I'm not saying it's a bad project," Mayor Linda Johnson said prior to the vote. "But I think it's an extremely ambitious project in this economy."

Building more than 1,900 houses when few homes are selling, she said, "would be putting the cart before the horse. ... We need jobs. We need commercial development. Then the housing can come with it."

Last month, the Planning Commission unanimously rejected the project, citing concerns over traffic.

The city's traffic division estimated it would add 4,000 daily trips on White Marsh and Hosier roads during construction and 19,000 by the time it was completed.

In September, the city's traffic engineer said he was "unable to recommend approval" of the project.

The developers, South Suffolk Properties LLC, revised the plan in December by promising to break ground on a connector route between Hosier Road and Carolina Road to relieve northbound traffic before any homes were sold. They presented a new traffic study to the city that they said showed the connector would reduce traffic to acceptable levels.

But city planners and traffic officials were not convinced.

Council members said the developers could renew their request after one year. They said that would allow time to address traffic and other concerns.

Jeff Sheler, (757) 222-5563, jeff.sheler@pilotonline.com

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Not to Comprehensive Plan

Submitted by welli on Mon, 01/24/2011 at 1:41 am.

The developers repeatedly stated that this project was designed according to the Comp Plan. HOWEVER, if it TRULY adhered to the Comp Plan they wouldn't have had to request an out-of-cycle amendment to it and could have avoided a lot of push back. Their proposed acreage was much bigger than what the comp plan calls for, and while some of the design elements were in accordance with the plan, others were not. Besides the Comprehensive Plan issues, traffic concerns were still unresolved and there was no clear answer as to how the hugely expensive connector road would be paid for. City Council voted responsibly on this one.

Four Farms Denial

Submitted by CraigK on Fri, 01/21/2011 at 12:08 pm.

Disclosure – I’m a real estate developer

Four Farms Denial

Submitted by CraigK on Fri, 01/21/2011 at 12:06 pm.

predict the future. Maybe I should borrow her crystal ball. It is also silly for anyone to think that all 1900 of these houses will magically appear in the next year or two. This is obviously at least a 10 year project. Your elected officials that you voted in came up with the Comp. plan which includes a transportation plan to accommodate the growth areas that they designated. So when a developer lays out a plan based on that and he’s denied for ridiculous reasons it just shows screwed up things are. If the City wants all commercial development they shouldn’t have designated this area for high density residential. Don’t scratch your head wonder why the developer is doing this, ask your elected officials to change your growth plan. Disc

Four Farms Denial

Submitted by CraigK on Fri, 01/21/2011 at 12:04 pm.

First of all it isn't the job of these elected officials to determine the economic viability of a project…PERIOD. They have no idea about the terms of the purchase, cost basis, land takedown schedule, lots prices, or lease rates. It’s absolutely ignorant for your Mayor to say that this is an ambitious project for this economy. The reason I say that is because it will take the developer at least a year and a half to finish the rezoning process and get his construction plans approved. Then he has to construct the first phase of his project, meaning he has to put in the roads water and sewer. This will take a minimum of six months. Then a model home has to be constructed which will take an additional 2-3 months. But apparently your Mayor can

wrong decision

Submitted by dc2027 on Thu, 01/20/2011 at 4:21 pm.

If anyone knows anything about Smart Growth they would know this project exceeds the smart growth criteria. Google Smart Growth & see for yourself. Suffolk missed an opportunity to showcase a project that any other jurisdiction would love to have. It would have brought rooftops to a growth area designated in the Comp Plan. If downtown Suffolk is to succeed, flourish and compete with other jurisdictions, it needs projects like Four Farms. The project is NOT suburban sprawl; it is less than 2 miles from downtown. It is NOT the typical cookie cutter neighborhood found elsewhere in Hampton Roads & the entire US. The government has no right to decide what's 'ambitious in this economy.' The developer takes the risk, not the government.

AWESOME

Submitted by JoeSchmo on Thu, 01/20/2011 at 2:18 pm.

Great move mayor. I moved to Suffolk to get away from that type of atmosphere....Overcrowded neighborhoods, traffic, etc. Thank you very much for making a well educated and smart decision.

FINALLY!

Submitted by louv91392 on Thu, 01/20/2011 at 12:10 pm.

Someone is actually doing some smart thinking!! There is no economy for this development, and the traffic is ALREADY a nightmare coming into and out of Suffolk during commute times on Mondays-Fridays. NO MORE HOMES ANYWHERE IN SUFFOLK UNTIL TRAFFIC IS RE-ENGINEERED!!

Uh....

Submitted by JET on Thu, 01/20/2011 at 11:27 am.

You can't build here, there is no light rail to the area!

Suburbanization costs are too high

Submitted by Mike Barrett on Thu, 01/20/2011 at 11:04 am.

If there is any better indication that the end of the era of suburban sprawl is over, it is the denial of this application at this time. Frankly, it is a tacit acknowledgment that even if the project were ultimately successful, the public cost is just too much. While the developer would build the internal streets and utility systems, it is clear that the Commonwealth is simply out of the urban road building business, so Suffolk would have to fund road improvements themselves, and then raise the money locally to maintain them as the Commonwealth can't even keep up maintenance and repair of existing roads, much less accept new ones into the inventory. The cost of suburban sprawl is now cleared to see. Better to infill and redevelop.