Clover Hill District News
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| Clover Hill District Supervisor Art Warren, far right, is joined by Midlothian District Supervisor Dan Gecker, far left, in congratulating new Eagle Scouts and their families at the Board of Supervisors Jan. 9 meeting. Only 4 percent of those entering the Boy Scouts achieve Eagle status nationwide. |
- Supervisor Warren will hold a Clover Hill District community meeting to discuss the county’s proposed FY2014 budget on Tuesday, March 19, 7 p.m., at Monacan High School.
- The county’s proposed capital improvement program for needed investments in facilities and infrastructure for fiscal 2014-18 will be considered by the Board of Supervisors, along with the county’s operating budget, at the budget public hearing on March 20. The county has a policy of keeping its debt payments to 10 percent or less of the operating budget. In recent years, the actual payments have amounted to around 7 percent. A vote on the plan and the budget is scheduled for April 10. The capital plan’s proposed spending over the next five years includes:
- $201.3 million on general county government projects, including roads, libraries and public safety. One of the biggest expenditures would be to replace the public-safety radio system.
- $347.7 million on the school system. That total would include more than $250 million for replacement or major renovation of school buildings, as recommended in the comprehensive plan.
- $279.4 million on county utilities, mainly water and wastewater systems. New federal mandates for wastewater quality will cost the county $37.4 million over the next five years.
- Work continues on the county’s new countywide comprehensive plan. In February, the Planning Commission began to look at how the new plan applies land-use and infrastructure plans, among others, generically across the entire county. This effort is intended to blend some of the older area and community plans into the new comprehensive plan, and address revitalization and other issues. The Planning Commission began to look at the amendments during their Feb. 19 meeting. These amendments define geographical boundaries on the zoning maps of former special area plans that were superseded when the new plan was adopted. The amendments define these geographies on the zoning maps since these particular special area plans no longer exist. The special plan geographies affected include Ettrick, Upper Swift Creek, (Northern) Route 288, Consolidated Eastern Area, (Eastern) Midlothian Turnpike, (Western) Route 360, Matoaca, and Southern and Western. The amendments also clarify that certain standards apply to all subareas of specific geographies, including Chester, Midlothian and Bon Air Village.
- Chesterfield County’s Sustain Our Community Committee, SOCC, will present their second Empowering Neighborhoods Forum on Saturday, March 9, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at the Eanes-Pittman Public Safety Training Center, 6610 Public Safety Way, Chesterfield. Attendees will gain a wealth of knowledge that will prove beneficial to their neighborhoods, including information about valuable tools, including property maintenance, code enforcement and crime prevention that will help kick off the revitalization of their communities. There also will be the unveiling and presentation of Chesterfield’s new Home Modernization Guide. The event is free and open to the public. Register at http://chesterfieldrevitalization.com/forum/ by March 7. For more information, contact Latisha Jenkins at 804-748-1065 or JenkinsL@chesterfield.gov.
- Hull Street 360 is a project initiated by Richmond, Chesterfield and the Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corp. to build a stronger community through the revitalization of nearly five miles of the Hull Street Road corridor. The plan is being developed through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The improvements would be between the railroad line at Southside Plaza in the city and state Route 647 (Hicks Road/Walmsley Boulevard) in the county. The project is intended to look at the Hull Street corridor in terms of opportunities for creating a vibrant, mixed-use corridor, creating a network that would connect homes to shops, schools and entertainment to create a more vibrant economic mix. The vision for Hull Street is broken down into four activity centers: live and learn; multicultural market; design/health and wellness; and a town center/family entertainment center. Some of these pockets would include a variety of development. For example, the multicultural market center, which would be adjacent to Manchester Middle School, would feature mixed-use developments, town homes and a farmers market as a central feature. One of the main goals is to transform the area from a major highway into a series of “places” where people can walk to shops, schools, parks and restaurants as well as make it a destination for visitors from other areas.
- Park Improvements: A project to renovate Rockwood Park concession stand has begun and will be completed this spring. At Tomahawk Creek Middle School, construction is almost completed on renovations to the football field and irrigation system, and improvements to the turf field and additional lighting. Those improvements will be completed by the spring.
- Road Projects: A revenue-sharing (50 percent state funds and 50 percent county funds) project to construct a sidewalk along parts of Genito Road, Kelly Green Drive and on the Clover Hill High School property began construction in January and will be completed in early March. A project funded with federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds will construct two right-turn lanes on Courthouse Road to Route 360 westbound. VDOT is managing the project and construction should begin early next year. Work began in October on a revenue-sharing project to construct VDOT-standard headwalls at drainage structures and pedestrian tunnels on Genito Road, North Beach Road and Harbour Pointe Road in the vicinity of Swift Creek Elementary, Shallowford Landing Road and Harbour Ridge Road. The Genito Road work has been completed and North Beach Road should be finished by the end of February.Another revenue-sharing project to construct a sidewalk and install streetlights in the Genito Road/Old Hundred Road/Charter Colony Parkway intersection will begin construction this spring. The widening of a two-lane section of Powhite Parkway between Route 288 and Watermill Parkway to four lanes is expected to be completed by the end of February. The county obtained federal funds to widen sections of Route 360 between Genito Road and Warbro Road in order to complete the six lanes in this section. Plans are complete and right-of-way acquisition is underway. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
