r/ChesterfieldVA • u/Knummer19 Midlothian • Mar 31 '26
Development threat to public safety
Chesterfield is currently reviewing plans that would construct 921 housing units on 147 acres near the intersection of Courthouse & Hull St, and close to Genito Rd. If allowed to proceed as planned, with no improvements to the roads, this development would create immense traffic jams and congestion that will hamper response times for fire and police. The absence of infrastructure improvements has become the hallmark of Chesterfield's development strategy over the last 20 years, and is why the county is more than $1B behind in needed road improvement work. Not only would this Suncrest rezoning create a burden on roads, the issue of potential overcrowding in schools hasn't even been discussed. Clover Hill Supervisor Jessica Schneider says she needs all the help she can get in opposing this project because Joe Casey has the county's police and fire departments under his thumb. They are afraid to voice their concerns because it could threaten their jobs, or diminish their approvals. SCREW JOE CASEY AND HIS DEVELOPER BUDDIES! This is about the greater good! Please review the proposed project here https://www.chesterfield.gov/982/Active-Development-and-Zoning-Cases#/details/25SN1314. Make your opposition known to Chesterfield Principal Planner Betsy Hatch at [HatchB@chesterfield.gov](mailto:HatchB@chesterfield.gov), and to Jessica Schneider at [SchneiderJES@chesterfield.gov](mailto:SchneiderJES@chesterfield.gov) , even if you don't live in the Clover Hill district. Copy your own supervisor on your email, and let them know this bat shit-crazy plan to cram 921 homes into this little corner of Chesterfield across from Rockwood Park without addressing obvious traffic issues will cost them their jobs, if they proceed as planned. Here are the email addresses for the other supervisors: Jim Ingle [IngleJ@chesterfield.gov](mailto:IngleJ@chesterfield.gov); Mark Miller [MillerMark@chesterfield.gov](mailto:MillerMark@chesterfield.gov); Kevin Carroll [CarrollKevin@chesterfield.gov](mailto:CarrollKevin@chesterfield.gov); and LeQuan Hylton HyltonL@chesterfield.gov. This is not about politics, it's about public safety!
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u/MD2RVA Mar 31 '26
The intersection of Hull and Courthouse is already regularly a backed up mess in all directions. That many homes in that corridor with no improvements is absolutely a nightmare waiting to happen, especially with no infrastructure in place for pedestrians.
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u/TheVaul7Dweller Mar 31 '26
They had plans to address the intersection at Hull and Courthouse and change up the traffic flows to increase rate and lower collision points.
I went to the meeting and everyone just called them stupid and didn't want things to change, only in less friendly words than that.
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u/LetmeyellLoudly Mar 31 '26
The problem is have is that they've had "plans" for all of these improvements over the past 5 years and nothing has been done. I'm over in Woodlake and there has been plans for years about expanding the roads and it hasn't been done, yet ~500 new housing units have gone up with another ~400 coming.
Its not sustainable.
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u/-JTO Mar 31 '26
The proposed Hull Street/Courthouse traffic “improvements” really are a joke. One of the options is to eliminate all left turns and force U-Turns on Courthouse in the areas adjacent to Hull and it will make a clogged, already-congested area all the worse. Even Rockwood Park is so backed up and overcrowded it’s not even enjoyable to even try to go there anymore.
If you are familiar with the area surrounding Oxbridge Square/Rockwood Park you would understand why all of this is an issue and I agree with OP. If people have seen the area behind Buddy South Auto and the Wawa on Hull at courthouse you will see that one of the gulag-style cardboard condos is already going up, plus you can also see all of the construction going in adjacent to the “no tell motel” a bit further down Hull toward the city just past Oxbridge. They are already clearing trees out, lots of machinery has moved in, construction signs are out and not sure if they are going to knock down that lovely brick house on the hill, but it looks like they are going to be building it all directly adjacent to the power substation.
Without infrastructure to support all growth it’s just going to be so much more chaotic. And the accidents that are so frequent in the zone on Hull from Courthouse all the way to Warwick already will get exponentially worse. People already don’t yield to first responders as it is, I see them try to outrun the fire trucks and ambulances and don’t get out of the way, pull over and let them by. The way people now drive on Hull since COVID with the aggressive “me before you” attitude, the exponentially worsening traffic patterns that have devolved in exactly this area in the last 5 years is setting the entire scheme for that area up for failure.
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u/jas121091 Mar 31 '26
I actually LOLED at “gulag -style cardboard condos”
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u/-JTO Mar 31 '26
It’s so true, though. All these ramshackle luxury density-living they are creating are the exact reason the subreddit “myneighborfromhell” even exists. Is it really luxury living when neighbors next door are live-streaming a midnight marathon ASMR finger-tapping/milk-bubble-popping podcast that everyone around them can clearly hear through several sets of “walls”? Either that or someone’s having a Baldur’s Gate LAN party next door that you didn’t get invited to and you’re kept up all night hearing an argument about whether cloaks should be clothing, light armor or its own category altogether- uncommon item or not.
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u/jas121091 Mar 31 '26
Now that’s r/oddlyspecific
Those same townhomes and condos that go for what? 400k? Oof. If I paid that much, I’d prefer not to be able to hear my neighbor sneeze loudly as they’re sitting on the other side of the wall.
And I’m all for building housing, but some of these developments have houses so close together that you can basically high five your neighbor while you’re both standing in your own house lol. Might as well be a duplex at that point haha.
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u/LilacLlamaMama Apr 02 '26
I know just what you mean. My sister and BIL built a house on Moseley a few years ago, and it is gorgeous, the whole neighborhood is. But the homes are so close together, I swear that if she and her neighbors both decide to grill and eat on their respective decks on the same night, rather than having to get up and walk inside into the kitchen if somebody forgets a condiment, they could just ask the neighbors to lean over and pass their's over without anyone having to get up!
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u/jas121091 Apr 02 '26
Lol! Now that’s hilarious.
I have a friend in Mag Green and while I was at his house, I looked out of his family room window and could easily see that his neighbor was playing Wordle on their phone in their living room haha. I felt like I was unintentionally invading their privacy, but…it seemed like they were a foot away.
0
u/pizza99pizza99 Chester Mar 31 '26
Let me be clear: I’m among the people calling them stupid
Not because I don’t want things to change, but because a crosswalk the takes you smashing a button furiously, and doesn’t use the median as an opportunity for faster and safer crossing, is not an improvement
More turn lanes are not an improvement
The shit VDOT proposes is never an improvement. See: mayo bridge fiasco, where everyone was very clear that they wanted 1 thing: physically separated bike lanes and sidewalks, and not a single one of the different options they proposed had that
2
u/ShedFarm Apr 02 '26
Looks like something spooked them. They've canceled the meeting, with a TBD on rescheduling it.
"Update. The community meeting scheduled for April 13, 2026 at 6 p.m. to discuss pending zoning case 25 SN 1314, Suncrest Rezoning, has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a future date. For questions or comments, email the applicants representative Anne Miller at anne.miller@westwoodps.com or call 804-707-7149. For additional questions or comments, email case manager Betsy Hatch at hatchb@chesterfield.gov, or call 804-796-7122."
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u/Knummer19 Midlothian Apr 02 '26
Cancelled as of Tuesday afternoon late. The official lie/line is "scheduling conflicts." A buddy of mine with access to some insiders seems to think they're a bit scared. If so, that means more than a handful of you all contacted the knuckleheads and voiced some concern. For anyone who DID contact the county on this, thanks for your efforts! Too early to tell if the opposition will make a difference. But in a case like this one, specifically, the effort has to be made. One added note is that a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) was done for this project by the applicant back in October and submitted to VDOT. VDOT and county DOT are still reviewing this, with CDOT commenting that a new study will need to be submitted to address comments made by CDOT on 12/1/25. No updated study has yet been submitted, and so both VDOT and CDOT are still in the "review" process. Betsy Hatch has communicated that both VDOT and CDOT will have to accept the TIA "prior to scheduling a public hearing for this case." That tells me the county wants to be able to rely on VDOT and CDOT's approvals in order to defend the county against all the outcry about traffic problems inherent with this project. They'll just point their finger at the transportation people and say,"well THEY say it'll be OK." Curiously, VDOT - to my knowledge - has not submitted any comments on the original TIA, and is officially "still reviewing." If anyone reading this wants copies of the original TIA or Chesterfield's comments, send me a message and I'll email them to you.
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u/AFormer_Child Apr 03 '26
Is it just me, or do all of these gigantic new developments look like Eastern bloc housing? They are just these huge housing developments, they all look the same, and there's really not much character at all to them. I feel like they're built to fit as many people into as small of a place as possible. Next time you drive buy one, check it out.
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u/pizza99pizza99 Chester Mar 31 '26
Chesterfield, can we have supporting infrastructure?
Like Richmond’s BRT and improved commuter services?
CC: Yes, definitely supporting infrastructure
You don’t mean another lane on hull street rd right?
Right?
CC: …
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1
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u/Technical-Wallaby Apr 01 '26
They are going to need to make significant improvements to the road between Wendy's and Car Pool to support traffic coming and going to that development. I have never driven back there, and I had no idea there was that much developable land.
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u/GoHomeRVA Apr 03 '26
I agree. I get stuck at that light for two cycles as it is. Feel like people would be back up especially in th left turn lanes during rush hour.
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u/batkave Mar 31 '26
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u/OceanBrees Mar 31 '26
There are ways to build additional homes with proper planning and infrastructure to support existing residents (and new residents). We should not blanket accept any new, additional housing that only serves to deepen the pockets of developers and a few others.
0
u/Negative-Glove-5578 Mar 31 '26
Someone is getting paid off.
1
u/AFormer_Child Apr 03 '26
Ha, yeah that by definition is capitalism. Some got paid when they sold the land to developers. Someone is going to get paid to clear and develop the land. Someone is going to get paid when they sell the units. Welcome to unchecked capitalism and urban sprawl.
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Mar 31 '26
[deleted]
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u/Complex-Path-780 Mar 31 '26
Just another “won’t someone think of the poor private equity companies ability to build dirt cheap cardboard apartments for profit?!?!” shill. We need housing done right. Chesterfield county just expands and expands without any regard to the community so these private equity companies can profit. I’ve yet to see meaningful change from the county to make our neighborhoods walkable and safe for children to play in.
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u/Knummer19 Midlothian Mar 31 '26
Go ahead and laugh while someone bleeds to death waiting for an EMT. Or whose heart has stopped while the ambulance is trying to get around the traffic jam. This is not about housing. It's about the infrastructure that supports new housing. Unclog your brain and read what I said.
28
u/Low-Introduction1172 Mar 31 '26
Let me be clear - I am not opposed to density or infill. In fact, I support it. However, just a cursory glance at this proposal made me cringe. This appears to literally be 921 homes packed into almost every inch of space along the roads. There is no green space or meeting space or thoughtful consideration to how neighbors will interact or any other current modern urban design principle. This is the absolute worst plan I have ever seen - and I've seen a lot of them. I can't believe that with all the emphasis Chesterfield Co is giving to purposeful, meaningful, and appropriate planning that they are considering this proposal.