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Spotsy kills Harrison Road Connector road Date published: 8/12/2009
BY DAN TELVOCK
The Harrison Road Connector by the Spotsylvania Towne Centre will not be built anytime soon, if ever. The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors last night voted unanimously to cancel the road project indefinitely. The decision surprised more than 50 residents who attended the public hearing on creating a special service district to pay for the road. Not one of the speakers supported the project. Most of them live near the mall and would have been directly impacted by the 1.5-mile road that would have started behind the mall and ended on Harrison Road near Hazelwild Farm. Contrary to what Supervisor Jerry Logan had told Waverly Village residents last month at a community association meeting, the mall company has no plan to sue the county if the road is not built. In 2006, the Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning for the mall under the condition that Cafaro Co. build the connector road. A promise that residential properties would never have to pay for the road was not followed, and attempts to rectify the situation didn't work. "It wasn't true," mall owner J.J. Cafaro said about the accusation that he threatened to sue the county. "I didn't want there to be any more misconception." After the vote, Cafaro said not having the road built is "fine with me." Residents urged supervisors not to create a special service district that included residential properties in the taxing boundaries. Some wore orange vests made out of trash bags and held signs that read "Stop Eminent Domain Abuse" and "Stop the SSD." Although supervisors said those residential property owners would never have to pay an additional real estate tax as long as they did not convert their land to commercial or industrial zoning, the service district ordinance did not exclude those properties from the boundaries even though state law allows it. "I think all of you should be ashamed yourselves," said Bragg Road resident Scott Smith. "This road was presented as a way to relieve traffic on Route 3. It was a total lie." Those who opposed the road said it was being built to benefit developer interests and that it could lead to a lawsuit over eminent domain.
Date published: 8/12/2009
The AG has registered his opinion, but that's hardly a legal determination. If those suing the County/CDA wish to press their case, it may well be found to have problems, but that hasn't happened yet. And, in any case, the CDA will no doubt go out of existance long before any court case is settled. Its really interesting how some folks get so wrapped up in themselves that they believe themselves all-knowing, and well suited to judge others based largely on inuendo and fantasies of their own creation.
a fairly good understanding of what was printed in the Free lance Star about this road. We do need traffic solutions in the county, but this road was never about that. I urge you to google everything that you can about this road ,go to the county get the info on the CDA and you will see that .This road was never about allievating traffic The people that stood aganist this road knew that. Now the rest of the county knows too.If you would like I will mail you a copy of the CDA restricted covenants .
that the connector road would not take traffic off of Route 3
are technically correct... but what they don't acknowledge is
that.. just like sidewalks... it's a chicken/egg situation where
progress is made.. incrementally ..where one project may
not reach it's full potential until the follow-on projects are
completed.
but we know this for sure - if you don't start somewhere and
work forward.. you will not get silver bullet, "all fixes rolled
into one project" solution.
that road WAS part of a longer plan.
as I recall, the conversation did take place and it was
VDOT's opinion that there would not be enough room for
the connector road AND potential future C/D lanes so they
would not agree to have the road located where they
thought C/D lanes might go.
What I did not understand was.. why not build the
connector road and then in the future if C/D lanes were
approved - "take" the connector road and convert it to C/D
lanes - which by the way - WOULD take traffic off of route 3.
those who say the connector road
CDA . The ordiance creating the CDA was illegal and GRICE still wanted it to stand . That speaks volumes about the man.
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