If this rezoning makes you angry, join the club! Each recently elected board member promised to “keep Powhatan Rural” and this project would break that campaign promise within months of being elected. As they vote on this rezoning case, we plan to investigate details about campaign promises, donors and their history that may surprise you. If you sign the petition and indicate which voting district you are registered in, we will also help connect you with other concerned citizens who want to “keep Powhatan rural” and might have information about back room deals that could lead them to vote for this.  This way when election day comes again, you can vote as a fully informed citizen of Powhatan County who has the right to hold our elected officials responsible in this case and future rezoning cases.

Rural counties throughout Virginia have learned that these types of high-density developments in the middle of nowhere may look nice at first but will pass along costs to taxpayers. More taxes will be needed to build road improvements and traffic signals on Anderson Highway for the 4,000+ estimated additional vehicles per day, where we already see accidents all the time with our high school student drivers and others due to traffic congestion.  We will also need to expand our schools, emergency response capabilities for the sheriff’s office and other public services.  A big concern is the limited capacity of the public water and sewer systems in the Courthouse Area, which will cost millions to expand and improve after this developer pays a small share of those future costs through a cash proffer, which is based on having no engineering studies or reliable information to base these costs on.

Powhatan’s courthouse water system was built for planned commercial and economic development but has been changed to allow residential water connections. This is how the Powhatan Village has been allowed to develop without drilling hundreds of wells that drain our aquifers.  Instead, we have five commercial wells that are deeper, bringing water into the system for storage in a water tank and distribution to Aqua Virginia customers. Unfortunately, the pipes are aging, and breaks happen more and more.  Also, the existing wells will not provide enough water for this type of development.  With two wells already situated near Goodwyn Lake and possibly impacting lake water quality and nearby residential wells, where is this developer going to put a new well?  Are the residential wells nearby going to be dry in the summer months?  Some homes in Branchway Forest have already had this problem, requiring them to drill deeper wells so how much water can be withdrawn from the ground below?  The only way to avoid higher taxes for water system upgrades is require the developer to pay for the costs of improving the drinking water system including putting new wells in a location that are proven not to harm the aquifers.  This requires detailed engineering studies that have not been done and are not being offered in the current rezoning case.

The sewer collection system that includes wastewater pipes and a pump station should be able to carry sewage flows to the Fighting Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) however the plant may be too small to handle full buildout of this project.  Also, the sewer plant has been under a consent order with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for past violations of state water quality standards, and the DEQ is currently receiving public comments about an upcoming consent order which will result in more taxpayer money going towards fines levied by the DEQ for these violations.   Moreover, the plant only has 0.1 million gallons per day (MGD) permitted capacity, and this project will likely take the entire remaining amount.  Who will pay for the $6 million estimated to upgrade the plant to 0.2 MGD?  Taxpayers will pay for this very soon if this project gets built and takes up the sewer capacity. In fact, due to taxpayer dollars going to DEQ fines under a consent order and the desire for our sewer plant to connect with commercial development projects instead, some concerned citizens have emailed the DEQ during the public comment period asking them to put a moratorium on new connections to the sewer plant until the county fixes it.  If you have concerns and want to share them directly with the DEQ please send an email to jefferson.reynolds@deq.virginia.gov.

There are many environmental concerns due to the impacts of land development on the rural character of Powhatan County.  Here are some to consider for this project.

1. Natural Conservation Land Use Map – The Countywide Future Land Use Plan (click here for image of 2021 Future Land Use Map) shows this rezoning case as Gateway Business however it has Natural Conservation and Rural Areas in the back corner of the parcel. In fact, the entire Branchway Forest neighborhood and the adjacent Branchway neighborhoods are designated Rural Areas in the future land use plan.  This helps protect the rural and low-density character of residential development we love in Powhatan County. It helps protect the stream designated as Natural Conservation, starting near the Food Lion shopping center and running parallel with Anderson Highway into the lakes you see on both sides of Anderson Highway as you enter the courthouse area. We don’t want more pollution draining into these lakes which are a gateway to the Powhatan Courthouse for everyone on Anderson Highway.
2. Goodwyn Lake – Lakefront residents and Lake HOA members for Goodwyn Lake have noted the lake filling up with sediment due to previous land clearing in the watershed and this rezoning case will accelerate the negative impacts of erosion and sedimentation in the lake, leading to tens of thousands of dollars or more to reclaim the lake and remove sediment in the future, or to risk losing the lake as it shrinks due to development in its watershed.
3. Groundwater – Commercial wells withdraw a lot more water than agricultural and residential wells. With the expansion of the Powhatan Village there has already been a need for more wells (and more water) but as long as we stay in the village limits on the future land use map it allows surrounding neighborhoods to be protected from high density residential development draining our wells dry.   Increasing the size of the village puts our water supply at risk.  Groundwater is not an unlimited natural resource.