HENRICO, Va. (WRIC) — After a few Henrico residents expressed their concerns about a 28-home development on two pieces of land in Western Henrico, and the Board of Supervisors are considering new changes.
The planned development would add 28 new homes to two parcels of land on both sides of John Rolfe Parkway.
Residents who moved to the area over a decade ago say that the area was set aside as green space, they were not aware that the area would one day be built on.
Now, Pemberton Investments, a Glen Allen-based developer, wants to construct 28 homes across the two parcels. This new construction has neighbors worried that there will be an increase in traffic in their area. They also are concerned that these family homes will increase school capacity which they say are already overcrowded.
These concerns were heard by the planning commission which caused the developers to reconstruct a new design that would meet these concerns. Despite the changes, neighbors say that there is still more that needs to be considered and more people need to know about the upcoming planning meetings.
“Many of the neighbors in the area were not notified. You know, me, and a few neighbors actually had to walk door to door to like let people know,” said Bhavesh Mehta, a Henrico Resident. He continued to say, “just going back to it, I mean, even further, just the notification of the sale of the land was also kind of very poor.”
The land was sold for $525,000 which is a third of the county’s assessed value set at $1.6 million.
Developers say the new design meets the needs of the community.
“The new layout, versus the one that was included in the staff report, achieves a better design, creating wider lots and reducing the number of lots to 13,” a planning official said about the western parcel. He added that the plan for the other parcel had similarly been revised.
At the end of the previous meeting, a motion from board member Thomas Branin delayed the final decision until their next meeting, set for September 13. This allows time for more residents to express their concerns and allow further changes.
