Charles City leaders approve Route 106 master plan

Charles City supervisors unanimously approved the adoption of a plan to revamp the Route 106 (Roxbury) corridor.

Assistant Zoning Administrator Myles Busching presented an abbreviated overview of the master plan at Tuesday night’s board meeting. The plan has been in the works since Dec. 2017 and the administrator talked about the processes he went through in developing the proposal.

“The planning department had six different community meetings,” Busching said. “In our research, we found out that nearly one-third of new developments coming to the county are within two miles of Route 106.

“The Roxbury area has been identified as the area that will see the most growth by 2040,” he continued. “It is projected that anywhere from 600 to 2,500 people will move into the county and that will require 480 acres of land for residential use.

“The county is also expected to add 440 new jobs over that time,” Busching added. “That will require 430 acres of land to be used for industrial and commercial development.”

Meetings with county residents, businesses, and the planning commission provided feedback for the concept. Residents said that they like the rural aspects of the county but want to see a little more development, specifically retail, in that area. They also responded at the public meetings that they are open to industrial growth as long as the view and noise do not interfere with their homes.

Busching said that two type of businesses will be the focal point in the initial phase of the plan.

“We are going to focus on the energy sector and light manufacturing/electronics,” he commented. “Those areas do not require a lot of sewer and water.”

The administrator finalized his comments saying that offering different types of housing will benefit the area as well.

“We are going to expand the types of housing and options,” Busching concluded. “That will be a focus as well as developing the intersection of Route 106 (Roxbury Road) and Route 5 (John Tyler Memorial Highway) and make that the gateway to our county.”

District 2 supervisor Bill Coada, who had been adamant about getting the project underway, praised the county’s planning department and the plan.

“You and the planning department did a bang-up job on this,” he said. “This is a great start.”