Developers on Tuesday withdrew their application to rezone land in James City County for hundreds of homes, commercial space and an open-air museum of 42 busts of American presidents once at York County’s Presidents Park.
The concept, called the Bluffs at Kiskiack, was scheduled to go before the Board of Supervisors that evening. The board in June gave the Historic Virginia Land Conservancy and Howard Hankins, the property owner, until October to work with the development team to address the county’s and residents’ concerns.
But the developer wanted more time and asked for another deferral, according to Board Chair John McGlennon.
“It was clear that there was not a majority for granting” the request, he said. Rather than go forward with the request and being denied, the developer withdrew.
A withdrawn application can be resubmitted immediately if developers choose, but they would have to start over at the beginning of the process. A denied application, however, would have to wait a year from the day it was rejected to be submitted again, according to County Administrator Scott Stevens.
The Bluffs included more than 700 homes, more than half of which were a senior community and tens of thousands of square feet for retail, office and lodging space.
It had been dogged by opposition from rural residents in nearby Croaker. About 950 signed a petition against the project, concerned whether a project of its size, and a tourist attraction, fit the area’s character. Others questioned whether the roads could handle the traffic volume and how successful the former Presidents Park monuments would be after struggling in York and closing 16 years ago.
Board Member Tracy Wainwright said she wasn’t going to support the project, though she saw positives in the concept.
“There are people in the north end of the county who would love a hotel; they would love some more restaurants,” she said. “The number of units was the main thing I had a concern about.”
McGlennon said the “speculative nature” of the proposal caused him to doubt its success. He pointed to the likely cost to homeowners for road maintenance, the need to connect the development to county water infrastructure on the other side of the interstate and the lack of a commitment from a hotelier to build.
It’s the second time in two months a developer pulled a large housing proposal before a vote. Cardinal Ridge in September was withdrawn rather than risk denial. That project faced similar neighbor opposition, and concerns about water and sewer capacity for new large developments.
Wainwright, though, said that the county's water usage has marginally declined despite its population growth because of more efficient fixtures and appliances and changes to rates for high consumers.
The county and Hampton Roads Sanitation District are also planning for sewer system upgrades to address periodic overflows during high rain events. Despite the plans, the issue isn’t yet resolved and is one of several issues McGlennon weighs when considering big projects.
“We have to be careful about it,” he said. “We’ve invested an awful lot of resources in things like trying to improve the quality of our streams and tributaries in the county.”
