South-side development delay sparks controversy

A 120-day administrative delay for development in the area around James River Freeway passed City Council Nov. 8.

The four-month delay states that no development application covering land located in the study area will be accepted for filing or processed if, on appeal by the applicant, the traffic engineer determines that such development would not preserve the status quo because of an adverse filing on any of four factors.

The four factors include traffic studies, location of property and proposed buildings, the type of use requested and orientation of the use or property.

The 120-day delay is to give council time to draft and take public comment on the Interim Development Management Ordinance that would govern development in the area, which includes the southern portion of town and affects intersections at and development along Glenstone, Primrose and Fremont.

"Any development that is already set to go on will go on. ... Our goal in doing this is to prepare for the next large development that may go out there," said Tom Finnie, city manager.

Finnie and Nancy Yendes, assistant city attorney, asserted that this is not a moratorium and does not stop development in the area, but does give the city some leverage in assessing traffic impact if another large development, such as the Home Depot store that is set to open in the James River Towne Center, should locate in the area.

Several developers and their representatives spoke against the administrative delay. Jack Hoke, an attorney and developer of property in the area, called the resolution a "terrible piece of legislation."

"This is city staff inserting itself in my business. The next step will be staff determining who my tenants will be," Hoke said.

Hoke also said the city could have prevented the "tremendous traffic problem at Glenstone and Independence" by being proactive.

"I think the city missed the mark by not making Independence five lanes. That could have prevented a lot of these later problems," Hoke said.

He further stated that it was his fear that the city was moving toward implementing traffic impact fees, fees charged to developers according to how their development affects traffic.

Hoke is the developer of Primrose Park, an office development that has five lots to sell before it is sold out.

Rick Wilson of Wilson Surveying said he feared the administrative delay and the interim ordinance that is to be developed could chill interest in lot sales in the area, adding that talk of this delay has already cooled sales.

When Councilman Gary Gibson asked Wilson what he would propose as an alternative, Wilson suggested that staff look at these issues "as a matter of course," or that a consultant be hired to study the area.

Richard Crites, also an attorney and developer of a planned development east of the site for the new Thompson Pontiac GMC Cadillac, called for the city to examine using the quarter-cent capital improvement tax to make needed improvements to the area. The quarter-cent tax is used for road and infrastructure improvements throughout the city.

Council members expressed reluctance for the resolution, but Councilman Tom Carlson said not passing it could cause greater problems.

"I'm afraid if we don't pass this we'll have a stampede of people trying to get their development in place before we do enact something," Carlson said.

Councilwoman Teri Hacker said she regretted "that we were not harsher about this before. The neighborhoods are concerned about this issue and rightly so. We've allowed some traffic lights to go up where they probably shouldn't have been, and that has caused tremendous problems for the people who live in the area," Hacker said.

The resolution passed with Gibson voting against and Mayor Lee Gannaway abstaining.