Citizen working group moves 109-acre Page Road parcel into 'economic opportunity', rejects immediate inclusion of three adjacent A-10 parcels

The Powhatan County Citizen Working Group voted to recommend that the county designate a 109-acre parcel east of Page Road as an 'economic opportunity' site, a change members said would allow more mixed-use and housing options than the current gateway-business designation. Speaker 3, presenting the subcommittee's findings, said the parcel lies inside the existing utility service boundary and "opens that 108 [sic] acres to housing," while noting the designation would not require a specific development plan at the time of the recommendation.

The vote followed intense discussion about whether to also add three adjacent A-10 parcels that abut existing low-density residential yards. Speaker 7 moved to include those parcels; supporters argued they would create smoother transitions between existing neighborhoods and new development. Opponents replied that adding the parcels would place higher-density uses directly against backyards and that extending sewer and water service is a board-level infrastructure decision, not a mapping change for the working group.

After debate, the committee adopted the subcommittee's recommendation for the 109 acres alone by a 7-3 vote. The motion recorded on the floor directed staff to forward the 109-acre recommendation to the planning commission and to the board as part of the comprehensive-plan amendment package. The committee did not direct the immediate extension of any utility service; several members suggested the board should commission a service-district study before any boundary expansions.

Why it matters: designating the parcel as 'economic opportunity' changes the future land-use category in a major growth corridor adjacent to Route 60 and could allow a mix of commercial and limited residential types consistent with the county's economic-priority goals. Committee members estimated the parcel could yield on the order of a few hundred housing units under some buildout scenarios, though members cautioned that exact unit counts and affordable-housing outcomes would depend on later zoning applications, infrastructure timing and market choices.

What happens next: the committee will include the 109-acre recommendation in its draft report and land-use exhibits to the planning commission. Members also requested that the record note the discussion around the three A-10 parcels and recommend the board review utility-service capacity before any formal extension of service boundaries.