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Public comments on Tricord's Summit Crossing proposal Date published: 8/3/2007
By DAN TELVOCK Spotsylvania residents had mixed reviews last night of Summit Crossing, Tricord Cos.' proposed 5,925-home development, which officials say would attract 14,000 jobs. The project proposed for 1,000 mostly rural acres east of Interstate 95 and south of U.S. 17 near Massaponax would be phased in over up to 20 years. Tricord is proffering that the development will not outpace the road improvements. "We're linking land use and transportation really for the first time," said Tricord spokesman Hart Rutherford. "Developers don't usually do that." Tricord wants Summit Crossing to be Spotsylvania's first mixed-used town center where homes, shops, offices, jobs, trails and transit coexist. More than 100 residents viewed elements of the proposal last night during a public showing at Germanna Community College. Nathaniel Young turned away from the glossy diagrams depicting Tricord's vision and flashed a smile. "I think it's a great idea," he said. "I like the combination of jobs and the possibility of forcing the county to join VRE." He's just not sure land for two school sites will be enough for the school system. "That's not bad," he said, "but there might be some additional proffers needed." One placard had in bold words that Summit Crossing's proffers are more than $215 million. A good portion of that money goes to road improvements, according to Tricord officials. Julie Tringali and Christine Lynch debated the pros and cons of the project. They looked at pictures of tree-lined roadways, spectacular architecture and wide sidewalks to accommodate pedestrians and Segways, as a man conveniently rode one of the motorized scooters past them. Is this really the future for Spotsylvania County? "I think this is a good thing," Lynch said. "It's that new urbanism." "But you have to realize, you probably don't live in this area," said Tringali, who lives in Timberlake subdivision on Massaponax Church Road. She was right. "We moved here to get away from this," said Tringali, who had lived in Prince William County, and before that, Southern California. But Lynch, a historic preservation graduate, said the Summit Crossing proposal has it all. "Everything is in one spot," she said. "That preserves the open space outside that urban node and discourages sprawl."
Read more stories about Spotsylvania Date published: 8/3/2007
Finally a developer has realized that the county is truly lacking in a detailed segway infrastructure plan. The dark ages of bipedal locomotion are best left to the chimpanzees and penguins. Kudos to those gifted planners with the vision to see that human beings have evolved too far to be shackled by the use of their feet!
someone is thinking long term - we need to plan now so we DONT become Fairfax. I will be urging supervisors to approve Summit. Kuddos Tricord!
No more huge tract developments. Our community is saturated with developers plowing under forests and meadows. The real estate housing market is flat nationwide and yet developers are pushing ahead at breakneck speeds trying to pave over every available patch of green they can find. The infrastructure is overburdened, traffic is horrendous and taxpayers need relief. I say vote every council member who approves this rampant growth out of office. It's time for a change.
Before any new roadway and development come to Spotsylvania, there need to be connecting road and bridge built from Rte 3 in Spotsylvania to Rte 17 in Stafford located approximately 10 miles west of Interstate 95. Make it a toll too, but allow residents of Spotsylvania and Stafford to be exempted from paying the toll.
Sure 6,000 more homes that nobody around here can afford so the nova dwellers will buy them and add another 12,000 cars out on the roadways everday. Sure they'll spread it out over 20 years, but think of Spotsy 20 years ago and today. A lot happens in that time. "new urbanism" sounds like trash to me.
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