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Proposed development south of Haymarket ‘indefinitely suspended’
A residential developer that proposed to build 71 new houses less than a mile south of the Town of Haymarket has pulled its plan.
Officials from Drees Homes “indefinitely suspended” a request for a 29.5 acre lot called Haymarket Estates currently zoned for agricultural purposes to be rezoned for suburban residential use, according to Fran Burnszynski of the Prince William Planning Office.
That would have meant 71 new single-family dwellings would have joined one existing home as part of the development package between Old Carolina and Carver Roads property. Most of those houses would have been on 0.25-0.50 acre lots.
There are just a few homes with larger acreage plots currently on the property and not every home owner in and around the proposed Haymarket Estates area took part of the plan.
Burnszynski confirmed that the Planning Office “had recommended approval of the application” by the Prince William County Planning Commission. The Planning Commission did just that by a 4-3 vote on May 7.
The next step would have been to win approval by the Board of County Supervisors. But Drees pulled the plan June 9 because of “internal operational issues”, according to Burnszynski.
No one from Drees Homes returned phone calls placed Monday or Tuesday of this week.
A person listed as a record owner on the Haymarket Estates proffer statement said on Tuesday that no Drees Homes representatives had mentioned anything about the rezoning request being suspended. That land owner did not want to be quoted.
Ron Burgess, the Brentsville District representative to the Planning Commission, said he voted in favor of the proposal because he did not think there was any justifiable reason to turn it down.
“It’s very difficult for us to do that. We do that on occasion. This is a Dillon Rule state,” remarked Burgess.
He also liked the proffer $2.7 million proffer package which Drees would have agreed to pay out.
Proffers are voluntary contributions developers make to the county government in order to help cover the cost of services that county departments can expect to perform in certain areas, raging from schools to road construction.
“First of all, the developers in this county have been pretty good about that,” said Burgess.
Meanwhile, the at-large commissioner Gary Friedman opposed it in part because he thought there are already more than 46,000 residential developments still waiting to be constructed throughout the county according to a recent Planning Office report.
“We don’t need to add to the backlog of housing to the county,” he said. Friedman later noted that county taxpayers are subsidizing developers because the level of county services required for a particular unit is about $51,000 while proffers levels are only at roughly $16,000 per unit.
The “indefinite suspension” of Haymarket Estates left lingering questions from Haymarket Town Councilman Bob Weir concerning any future residential developments in the area.
On transportation, he thought the Planning Commission’s number of 100 trips per day that would have come from the Hopewell Landing subdivision up to Old Carolina Road was too small.
“I don’t have a lot of faith in what the planners are doing,” said Weir, later adding that Haymarket is “turning into Centreville.”
“I would say that’s a problematic area. We know that,” stated Burgess about the roads near the Town of Haymarket.
But to say “no” to land owners that want to develop their own pieces of property can have backlash.
“Quite frankly, if the [county comprehensive plan] says that this is a development area, and let’s say it is zoned properly,” Burgess commented, “and you say you can’t develop it, you better have a darn good reason…”
The staff report also mentioned that Haymarket Estates would have added 15 new students to Battlefield High School. That school is already over capacity by 500 students.
Twenty-one elementary school and 11 middle school students were to be expected as well, according to the staff analysis.
Numbers like that are figured out through a formula the Planning Office uses. According to Don Richardson, the Gainesville District school board member, “the pace of development is such that it’s a constant struggle for the school (system) to keep up.”
However, he did state the current housing market is “pretty lousy.” That would mean that by the time enough families moved in to a subdivision like Haymarket, the county’s eleventh high school near Nokeville and Vint Hill Roads should be built.
“The school board gave us a green light on that, and I would defer to them,” said Burgess, referencing the capacity issue.
Richardson and Weir gave similar statements about how the number of students generated from new small developments eventually adds up and negatively affects capacity levels at schools.
“When is 15 kids the tipping point?” asked Weir. “They don’t consider what’s already approved and not built yet.”
“It shouldn’t be the school board going to the Board of Supervisors every time (telling them) not to build any more houses,” said Richardson.
Just because Haymarket Estates is off the radar for now does not mean it may not come back up again or something similar will not take its place.
“I thought the Home Deport was deferred indefinitely and look what happened with that,” said Weir, referring to the ongoing construction of the new big box store near the northwest intersection of U.S. 15 and Route 55 directly to the west of the Town of Haymarket.
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