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Planning for retail destination in early stages; Supervisors interested, but cautious
by John Collins
The county administrator and the chairman of the board of supervisors sat in the board conference room last week, along with a handful of other county officials, in a meeting unlike one they’d ever been in.
It was Wednesday morning, at the Economic Development Committee meeting, and the group’s main discussion topic was a rezoning and development proposal that hasn’t even been officially filed.
Strasburg Commercial Development Company LLC, represented by J. Barry Carpenter of the Woodstock firm Sympoetica, along with real estate broker R.J. Turner of Winchester and Woodstock lawyer Kevin C. Black, showed plans to build a commercial retail and business center in the so-called “Golden Triangle” area west of Strasburg. The area sits in land zoned M-1 Industrial near Interstate 81 and Route 55, adjoining the Americold Logistics plant.
Tentative plans call for 490,500 square feet of commercial property, with a mix of retail, restaurants, business offices, small hotels and a museum in the old railroad depot near Route 55. The area would be what Carpenter, the planner, calls a “lifestyle center” retail approach, with a park setting, plenty of landscaping and numerous shopping destinations in stand-alone buildings.
Currently the land is in county jurisdiction, although down the road it could fall into the study area around the town of Strasburg, meaning the town could theoretically annex it years from now.
“This is the first time in my knowledge that we’ve had anything of this magnitude,” said Dennis Morris (Dist. 5), chairman of the board of supervisors.
The issue came before the committee because the land in question is zoned industrial. Therefore, they must offer comments on any proposed rezoning, along with a handful of other agencies, including Virginia Department of Transportation, county building inspections, the health department and county fire and rescue.
Morris, Conrad Helsley (Dist. 6) and Jim Patrick (Dist. 2) represent the supervisors on the committee, which includes Susie Hill, Larry Helsley and Jeff Aimonetti. Patrick and Hill were not present.
In the end, the committee officially made no comment, but the parties will hold a work session before the next planning commission meeting.
Conrad Helsley seemed to support the plans, noting that the site would have access from both Strasburg exits on I-81. Morris also liked what he saw, but he was, like others at the meeting, concerned about losing property zoned industrial. The big question in the meeting was if the retail tax income would outweigh potential industrial machine tax.
“If we take it out of M-1 Industrial and it becomes real estate offices, financial advisors like Strasburg already has, then we’ve lost,” said County Administrator Vince Poling.
Supervisor David E. Ferguson (Dist. 3) was concerned that the adjacent industrial parcels would be negatively impacted.
Carpenter thinks that the retail center could create “synergy” to bring some types of industry to the nearby parcels.
“I think you’ll find a tremendous fiscal plus,” Carpenter told the officials.
Turner said he would pay for the county to run a fiscal impact model on the proposal.
“The economic development committee is always looking for economic development,” Morris said, adding that they’re protective of M-1 zoning “because we don’t have a lot of that in Shenandoah County.”
“I think it’s a chance for us to step up and be a leader,” he said.
Such a shopping destination – according to Morris – with a proposed grocery store, a home improvement store, restaurants and other stores would bring more jobs to the area, keep money in the county that otherwise goes to Winchester or Harrisonburg, and it could potentially bring money into the county from neighboring areas.
“I challenge you to bring in some diversity,” he said, “I think you’re on the money.”
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More stories on Shenandoah.com:
 (Shenandoah.com)
- Tuesday Aug 31 2010
(VIRGINIA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION)
- Monday Aug 30 2010
(The Warren Sentinel)
- Monday Nov 30 2009
(The Winchester Star)
- Tuesday Nov 17 2009
(Daily News-Record)
- Tuesday Nov 17 2009
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