Last week’s town hall for the proposed 700-home Bluffs at Kiskiack development highlighted the tough choices facing decision makers and residents of the north end of James City County.
Decision makers are caught between residents who want to keep the area’s rural character and landowners who can no longer work their properties and need to sell them. But saying no to the homes project could lead to industrial or warehouse development, which is an approved use because of the property’s industrial zoning.
“Ultimately these properties belong to these property owners. And there have to be some viable options for them,” said Powhatan Supervisor Tracy Wainwright.
The developers held a town hall at the Croaker library Thursday where residents expressed concerns about their plans and demanded more answers. The details provided were enough to ease some of the concerns of Vincent Passero, the Stonehouse representative on the county planning commission.
“I’m still really not for that development, but I would vote for it,” Passero told Williamsburg Watch. Passero originally voted against recommending the development.
Wainwright wouldn’t say if she would support the project when it comes before the Board of Supervisors in October. But she said it had several features she liked, including a hotel, retail, and housing for senior citizens that she said is in demand.
She also liked the developer’s promise to retain public use green space, although she wants to see written guarantees it would be provided and maintained.
County Vice Chair Ruth Larson, who also attended the meeting, said she has not decided on the project yet, adding there are “lots of questions to be answered....(and) tough choices to be made.”
The town hall was organized at her recommendation when the supervisors deferred action on the Bluffs at their June 9 meeting.
Chair John J. McGlennon and Jamestown Supervisor Jim Icenhour have been skeptical about whether the project could deliver on its promises.
A new consideration since the project was deferred is the uncertain future of the county’s groundwater supply. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will decide in February if it will renew the county’s permit to draw 8.5 million gallons of water a day.
Douglas Powell, the general manager of the James City County Service Authority that provides water and sewer services, warned the supervisors last month the DEQ had cast doubts on the region’s efforts to add water to the underground Potomac Aquifer that feeds James City County.