NK planners seek more data on environmental impact

New Kent Planning Commission members want to study soil data and determine impact on a nearby stream before taking a stance on a rezoning request that will pave the way for an equestrian-themed housing subdivision.

Developers Pete Sweet and Dennis Mountcastle plan to build 16 residences on just over 95 acres in Quinton and are asking to rezone the site from agricultural to single-family residential. The property, owned by the Gooden family, is located on the north side of Route 249 and flanks Topeka Road.

Each lot would have a minimum five acres of pasture in keeping with the equestrian theme, the developers told the commission during the group’s Feb. 19 meeting. Houses are to be 1,800 square feet and larger with a starting price tag of $400,000.

While some commission members expressed support for the concept, the group voted 7-2 to defer making a recommendation to the county’s Board of Supervisors until their March 17 meeting.

Planners want more time to review results of a soil analysis for septic suitability that has been provided by the developers. And there are questions surrounding the effect surface water runoff mixed with horse waste will have on nearby Black Creek.

County planner Kelli Le Duc said her office has fielded several written and verbal concerns about the proposal ranging from potential odor and impact on county roads and schools to disappearance of open land and allowing more houses.

But no opponents showed up for the commission’s public hearing on the rezoning request. Of the seven people who spoke, two expressed ambivalence although one questioned if approval would open the door to developing adjoining acreage. Two more spoke in favor, and the remaining three were Gooden family members.

Family member Brenda Donner said an attempt was made 10 years ago to build 49 houses on 64 acres, but the plan was rejected. Now the house number has been reduced and the acreage increased for a project she deemed “quite acceptable.”

“We could put 47 houses on the property now without soil studies,” another family member, Karen Clendenen, told the commission, adding that if the request is rejected, “We’ll have no choice but to do what we’re able to do.”

County planning staff, meanwhile, is recommending that planners forward an unfavorable recommendation to supervisors. Le Duc told commissioners the proposed zoning and development are “only marginally consistent” with the property’s “rural lands” designation as listed in the county’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan. She added that no horse grazing or pasture would be allowed on or near septic drain fields.

“If the applicant would reduce the number of lots and place it in a conservation easement, it would come closer to meeting the rural land designation and the comprehensive plan,” she said.

But Mountcastle said, “The economics will not work if we have to cut back on lots.

“We feel we’ve got the best number we can live with,” he said, promising that the development would be good for the county and something the county can be proud of.

In another matter at last week’s meeting, the commission approved a revised preliminary subdivision plan for the second phase of the Oakmont Villas housing project, which is part of the Kentlands Planned Unit Development near Colonial Downs.

Approval enables developers to increase the number of lots from 51 to 58 and build smaller townhouse units that are 1,200 square feet with a starting price of $187,000. The lowest priced unit (1,600 square feet) had been $229,000.

Kentland Investments representative Steve Campitell said the smaller, more affordable units are being offered in response to the ongoing real estate market slowdown.

In other business, the commission:

–Recommended supervisor approval of a request by East West Partners to add 13.5 acres to the Patriot’s Landing Planned Unit Development at Bottoms Bridge. The addition does not increase the number of houses to be built, but enables developers to reduce housing density;

–Recommended supervisor approval of a county request to rezone 186 county-owned acres from agricultural to general residential. The property includes the new and existing high schools and New Kent and Watkins elementary schools. The action is designed to provide uniform zoning for all school property and the courthouse complex and prevent the school system from having to relocate bleachers, the press box/concession stand, and dugouts at the new high school baseball field along Egypt Road. As of now, the structures are too close to property lines in violation of setback distances under the current agricultural zoning.