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Isle of Wight supervisors table Route 17 rezoning after residents warn Brittway cut‑through would endanger Ashby neighborhood
Summary
After a lengthy public hearing and detailed staff presentation on traffic, schools and environmental impacts, the board of supervisors voted to table a conditional rezoning that would allow 147 townhomes and 1.5 acres of commercial on Route 17 until its August meeting to allow further work with VDOT and staff.
Amy Ring, the county’s community development director, opened the public hearing on July 10 with a staff summary of a conditional rezoning request to change two parcels at the intersection of Deep Bottom Drive and Carrollton Boulevard to a conditional planned development‑mixed use (PDMX) district. Ring said the application would allow “up to 147 townhomes and 1.5 acres of commercial” and that staff’s traffic analysis estimated the new plan would generate about 2,137 daily trips and 43 new students for local schools, which schools said they can accommodate under current enrollment.
The applicant’s team said the project reduces density compared with an earlier approval and increases preserved open space. Amy Bocchicchio of Land Planning Solutions described the proposal as “a down‑zoning” from the older multifamily plan, highlighting a 70‑foot Route 17 buffer, a looped road system with pocket parks, and a proffered phase‑1 environmental and cultural resources study. Christine Early of Allied Properties told the board the Brittway connection has been shown on recorded plats since 2006 and that vested rights and engineering constraints shape feasible access options.
More than a dozen residents from Ashby and Brittway urged the supervisors to require an alternate access or further study. Richard Robton told the board residents were “opposed to the Bridal cut through” and asked the board to “consider the alternatives to the Brittway cut through and, again, not allow the wishes of one to disrupt the dreams, peace, and quiet, and serenity of an entire neighborhood.” Several speakers emphasized narrow streets, absence of sidewalks and streetlights, and children playing in the roadway, and argued the proposed cut‑through would add roughly 400 vehicles per day to a small residential cul‑de‑sac.
Speakers questioned whether Deep Bottom Drive or other options had been fully explored and urged VDOT review or variances where appropriate. In response, the applicant and staff said wetland impacts, Army Corps/DEQ permitting, and the Route 17 Arterial Preservation Plan limit some access locations; the applicant said VDOT had approved the traffic impact analyses used to advance the rezoning to the planning commission and board.
After questions from supervisors about lost commercial square footage, traffic modeling assumptions, archaeological study removal and proffer tradeoffs, Supervisor Acree moved to table the Bridgepointe Commons conditional rezoning for further work with staff and VDOT. The motion to table the application to the board’s August regular meeting (Aug. 21) carried on recorded affirmative votes.
The board did not adopt or deny the rezoning; it postponed a decision to allow staff to pursue additional traffic/access analysis and to give the applicant time to respond to concerns raised at the hearing.
