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Mixed-use development east of U.S. 1 in central Stafford includes lots of houses and $50 million in proffers to county in return for rezoning the land.

By MEGHANN COTTER

Date published: 5/20/2006

A rezoning application filed yesterday could mean more than 1,600 homes and millions of dollars for Stafford County.

Stafford Town Station, proposed by developer Rob Gollahon, would sit on 543 acres east of U.S. 1, between Eskimo Hill Road and Stafford's new Interstate 95 interchange.

The mixed-use project would feature townhouses, single-family residences and a gated 400-home active-adult community. It also includes four-story upscale office buildings, clubhouses, soccer fields, a 3-acre parcel for a fire station and 500,000 square feet of commercial space.

Gollahon plans to widen about a one-mile stretch of U.S. 1 to lessen the transportation impact. He'll also build a new four-lane access to the curvy Eskimo Hill Road.

The 1,623-home community requires a planned development zoning classification. Industrial, commercial or rural residential development is currently allowed on the property.

The package commits to $50 million in proffers--voluntary money, land or promises developers give in exchange for a rezoning. County guidelines call for $21,086 per active adult residence, $32,796 per town home and $38,151 for each single-family home.

If approved, Gollahon would be the first to meet the full standards, since the supervisors significantly increased them last November.

About $10 million of the total would build a public indoor aquatics facility in the community. Stafford officials also will be given the option of drawing $26 million of the proffers within one year of the rezoning. Proffers are typically paid when building permits are approved, which could be two years or more.

"What it does is give the county the ability to realize something tangible that is more beneficial to the process than what typically happens," said Clark Leming, Gollahon's attorney.

County officials could then decide how to use those dollars. Proffered money usually goes toward parks and recreation, schools, libraries and transportation.

Some county officials have suggested recently that they'd like to see proffer money aid the preservation of Crow's Nest, a 3,800-acre pristine peninsula in the Aquia District. Supervisors agreed in late March to offer the owner, K&M Properties of McLean $27 million for the tract. Where that money would come from has not been determined.

Leming calls Stafford Town Station a smart-growth community, which is becoming more common in the development industry. The idea, he said, is to create self-contained areas where people can work, live and shop.

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Date published: 5/20/2006