Proffers and Tricord

I was amused at the Chair attempts at “parliamentary procedures” and brought
back memories of prior BOS days conducted similarly.

The county, for years and years routinely approved subdivision after subdivision
without collecting adequate fees for infrastructure and then finally after an
election on growth – got more serious about the issue – To Their CREDIT.

However, TRICORD is a home-town developer who has demonstrated a
commitment to Spotsylvania – the preservation of Slaughter Run for an
example.

I watched the broadcast and I can see where Mr. Vaughn might have taken
some umbrage but I had given Mr. Maupin the benefit of the doubt on the
points he was making – and I thought his points were substantive.

The county needs to collected proffers – there is no question about this but they
do need to be fair, targeted and up-to-date and county staff has struggled over
the years to justify their methodology to insure the proffers are defensible
policy.

What Tricord did essentially was compute the number of kids that would be
likely from a development with homes with less total bedrooms that
development with larger homes with more bedrooms each.

I think had a point and they found a bit of a chink in the county’s proffer armor.

But even more important was the discussion on what is classified as “affordable”
and what incentives the county should be offering for “affordable”.

I think the county does have a responsibility to it’s deputies and teachers and,
in fact, all the folks who actually practice so-called “Smart Growth” by choosing to
work locally for less salary – and they need an affordable place to live or else
we’ll be encouraging them to leave Spotsylvania and head north with the rest of
the thundering commuting herd.

I don’t think the county should roll over on the proffers. They need to not repeat
the errors of the past but they may need to set up a process to make them
more targeted (which may be hard legally) and a process to more automatically
adjust to the economy.

Finally, the point made about tying the proffers on a per capita share of the CIP
deserves a harder look but a careful look because it seems to presume that the
CIP is a truly complete accounting of future infrastructure needs and that may
not be true as the county.. despite all of it’s efforts at estimating proffer costs
has up until now – always assumed that VDOT would be building SOME new roads
and that is no longer the case – and what that means is that no matter what
level of growth we end up with, whether it’s 5% (I sure hope not) or 2% – even
at 2% – the county WILL need to expand/improve roads – and that money will
have to come from the folks who move here (and already live here) because it’s
not likely going to come from Richmond.

So.. if I had to predict…. Tricord will win the battle and lose the war. The County
might revisit the number of kids per dwelling issue and adjust in Tricords favor
and then revisit the road issue and wipe out whatever reduction made.

It was one of the more interesting and relevant PC meetings in recent memory
though the deja vu imperious approach to parliamentary procedure was
downright embarrassing.

this may well be one of those “beer” questions that takes a while to work
through.

But I’ll ask – who should pay for a water/sewer hookup?

Should it be the person who buys that house or should it be county
taxpayers?

In other states – with impact fees – they are not “voluntary”.

Any new homeowner must pay their fair pro-rata share of water, sewer, fire
house, rescue squad building, libraries, schools and roads.

All taxpayers pay for the operation and maintenance of the infrastructure –
that’s fair.

but who should pay for the infrastructure for new homes?

If you believe that the folks who buy the homes should pay but you
disagree with how much is charged – that’s one path

but if you fundamentally disagree with the concept of new homes paying
for infrastructure -that’s the other path.

which path are you advocating?

give me a break…there are 107 or more homes under foreclosure in the 22408 zip code alone! Most unaffordable homes 2 years ago are now affordable. The Realtor/Developer/Mortgage Banker/Wall Street/White House/Congress/Idiots housing bubble is over. No more can Tricord expect 300K for a townhome and 500K for a new McMansion. Proffers were not incresed when these people were reaping the windfall but they what us to bail them out now. Should have saved for a rainy day and a more realistic housing market.

“Of course, I do understand the concept of passing along new costs to new homes”

I just don’t think we should call it a voluntary proffer when clearly (both in action by the county and in your eloquent explanation of why) it is not voluntary, but a necessary part of new development.

It does pain me to know that this cost is usually doubled due to interest over 30 years, and again, that it results in the taxing of taxes, which somehow seems inherently wrong.

I’m no financial wizard, but it seems like it would make more sense for some sort of payment system over some period of time, made directly to the county, rather than lumping this cost into the value of the house and financing.

This is probably not practical, but hey, that doesn’t seem to be a problem for some levels of government these days, so why not…

I’ll start out working from June 10, 2008. It’s on the County website under Board of Supervisors, June 10, 2008 AGENDA. The Board was supplied a copy of the 2007 Major Land Use and Planning Legislation: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AREAS (UDA)-15.2-22223.1, Code of Virginia [HB 3202]. Your read will be just one of the stepping stones to what’s in store for Spotsylvania County.

June 24, 2008, the Board was presented with an Affordable Housing presentation which came with a Power Point presentatiion on Affordable Housing Guide Principles, Goals and Policies to the Comprehensive Plan.

July 8, 2008 the Board set for approval an Affordable Housing RESOLUTION. The Spotsylvania County Planning Manager provided their background comments which reads “Planning Staff had work sessions on affordable housing with the Board of Supervisos on April 22, 2008, June 24, 2008 and with the Planning Commission on February 20, 2008.

I can also recount a presentation made before the Board in 2008 when the Fed, on the issue of affordable housing pitched to the Board dollars availble from the Fed that could assist the proposition of affordable housing for the County.

The Boards first question of the Fed. about the monies was whether these sums of money would or could be considered “discretionary spend.” The Board was visably disappointed when the presenter said that all money’s used to support Affordable Housing would have to be documented and come with receipts.

The Planning Department supplied me with their DVD video of the Commissioner’s May 6, 2008. This morning I got to view the April 28, 2009, again.

Worked from there to previous and current comments on the issue of Tricord, one of this County’s favorite sons. and necessarily immune from the ravages of failure and fiscal crisis.

I will never question the leverage this County’s favorite sons have on their vision of what Spotsylvania County will look like in the next ten years.

I’m still trying to get an invitation to the Planning Department’s May 14, 2009, 1PM Focus Meeting with construction, development, engineering and assorted other levels of experts in the field of plotting our destiny. I know Mary Lee Carter is looking for an invitation too.

Back to the playing field.

The first of 9 comments on this blog came from from “thatguyb”, titled HD Development. When i read “Let’s see, rezone 100 3ac lots out in the middle of nowhere-check no problem. The last time I heard this description was at the Board of Supervisors on March 10, 2009, was when Supv. Gary Skinner gave testimony to the fact he had already negotiated 100 3acre lots. I’m not sure how the Constitution would handle this conversation, but I’m not going there at this moment.

Part of the TRICORD track record starts with their New Post project, just down from Mallard Landing (Rt 2 and 17) that made it to the drawing board, but three questions later, when the subject of financing the project was fully vetted by then Supv. Vince Onorato, the project was pulled. I recall the proffer amount somewhere in excess of $50 million and residents were quite enamored with that kind of cash flow to the County until TRICORD announced where that money was really coming from.

The next project was Summitt Crossing and 5,900 additional building sites in the Lee’s Hill district. While the project was rejected by the Board of Supervisors, it is still on the Boards. Check with Planning if you have doubts. Simply said, it is really just a work in progress, and the Board of Supervisors have not as yet changed every land use and taxing “ordinances” to accomodate a project of this size. It’s coming though. Last weeks 3 hour tour by the Planning Commission has yet to be detailed, but we will first see it described under title of “Smart Growth”

When we pull up the Massaponax Corridor Traffic Study, you will see another piece of the puzzle. The County Administrator and Capital Improvement have copies for public inspection. I know the FLS has a copy since we attended the same meeting where the documents are displayed.

When you pull up the FLS’s copy of the VRE MASTER AGREEMENT 07-2007 you will understand better why joining VRE is really nothing more than a money pit and it has nothing to do with a 2% gas tax being sold by the Committee of 500, Stafford County, Frederickburg City, the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce or members of FAMPO.
One day you’re going to have to ask yourself how the Commonwealth of Virginia can put up $300 million dollers to CSX to build a 3rd rail from Richmond to Washington, and can’t afford to have VDOT conduct any more than one grass cutting per year. Money is short everywhere. How does VRE/CSX/Amtrac, etc etc manage their business model.

The best is yet to come and I’m at 95% of my reader comment. I’ll start from this point with an interpretation of how Mallard Landing fits into what can reasonably be described as a big picture, without polite conversation or distractions.

Proposals will be made. Some of the problems and issues that the county have are not due to
conspiratorial ruminations as much as just plain old human nature… different ideas about growth and how
it should happen….when,, where, how, etc.

So you end up with Planning Commissioners who essentially do not agree with the Comp Plan nor do they
willingly accept the idea that UDAs should be designated.

UDAs are essentially a mandate to … Master Plan growth. Something that Spotsy and most other
smaller/growing counties find challenging… and not inviting…

Are there developers, PC, BOS folks and others who favor certain projects… on certain places that may or
may not fit into any kind of a proactive plan for growth? In other words is there with us – an Ad HOC
…somewhat Foobar approach to growth?

of course.. it’s the nature of human beings…

Tricord is making proposals… in my mind .. proactively and with some innovation that challenges the status
quo… and they’re doing this in part because the county does not have a tight focus of where they really
want growth to occur (and not).

Bottom Line – Growth IS going to occur on the Route 17 corridor. The only question is whether or not it will
be Master Planned or ad hoc… or something in between the two.

In my mind – Tricord had made a proposal that had some Master Planning aspects to it. It had some
issues… that required counter-proposals… negotiations.. and on the part of the county itself – some
thought about how to put their own Master Plan around the Tricord proposal and what they did basically was
to bail out of all of it… essentially… saying… that they’re going to go back to dealing with growth – one ad
project at a time – to some – that is easier and much less threatening than Master Planning.

so you have two choices for the Route 17 corridor – do it like we’ve always done development – Ad Hoc..
then later react to infrastructure deficits.. or Master Plan.. but the one option you do not have is to say that
Route 17 is not going to be developed.

Mr. Gross is absolutely correct. Rt 17 will be developed, whether we like it or not.

The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors have been changing the landscape of Spotsylvania County with their land-use agenda that’s been in play for the last two years. In oder for us to be where we are today, the Board has changed and put into place Ordinance language that serves only this County’s favorite sons; Silver, Cosner, Welsh, Meadows, Tricord, Committee of 500, etc. etc.

The 4 lane “clover-leaf” bridge over Rt. 95, roads leading to, around and past the hospital, currently under construction is the first leg of a “Planning Agenda” for Spotsylvania County that’s already on the boards. The Cosner taxing districts have already been put in place. As a matter of record Silver Cos. couldn’t get financing in the open market, so they came to the Spotsylvania County Board of Supvisors to use the County’s line of credit and the purchase of General Obligation Bonds to finance the construction of the bridge over Rt 95 and road infrastructure necessary to support the Hospital. Had the Board not conceded the bond purchase Silver would not let the Hospital get their occupancy permit. Simply said, the hospital was being held hostage until Silver brokered his proffer and the deal County Supervisors approved just weeks ago.

If you were to pick up a copy of the Massaponax Corridor Traffic Study’s September 2007, you will catch a glimpse of what the relocation of Rt 17 is going to look like, that comes with Supv. Gary Skinner’s vision of what the Lee’s Hill District will look like. Simply said, Rt 17 is already planned. It’s going to be a major throughway to the east coast. Our tax dollars will pay for the relocation and reconstruction of Rt 17.

With the VRE Master Agreement, Mr. Skinner will get his Train Station, parking lot and roadway at tax payer expense, with VRE and CSX staging the need for yet another train stop only 3 or 4 miles from the Fredericksburg train station and tracks owned by CSX. VRE and Amtrac just pay for the right to put their business on CSX property and train tracks with a 2% gas tax initiative that doesn’t look anything like the VRE Master Agreement thatno one wants to talk about. Larry Groos has his copy but is not allowed to detail the terms, conditions and contract language of the Agreement. Why? You’ll have to take up this part of the discussion with your BOS representative.

When the subject of return on investiment for Stafford County and Fredericksburg comes up, and the only number recited is $24 million, you will want to divided this number by 7 before you speak next. You may or may not come to the same conclusion I have. What’s the big deal? Fredericksburg’s share of the money went to the construction cost and debt service that came with building a parking garage in downtown Fredericksburg. If I’m not mistaken, all money’s received from VRE go toward paying off the cost of the garage and nothing else. If heard wrong, please tell me so. I got the message from Matt Kelly during a Town Meeting being conducted by Hap Connors, for his constituents and the VRE equation. There were two reporters in attendance at the meeting. They were recording the event and all I did was take copious notes and ask a few question that got no answer.

Now that the Lee’s Hill District has been better defined, it would be absurd to think or believe that “smart growth” would be the calling card to sprawl.

TRICORD continues to mount their attach and lay seige to the County’s proffer and calculation guide lines.Since the battle is being waged in the outskirts of the Lee Hill District, with little at stake, it makes since to negotiate the parameters of proffers downward. If Tricord’s efforts are successful and make there way to County Proffer Guideline books, I would caution this County to watch out for what Tricord is wishing for. This is not about Mallard Landing and 150 townhouses. It’s about 5,900 homesites, two and three layers thick in the Lee Hill District, that can’t get off the ground until the price is right…for TRICORD, not Spotsylvania County. Once the proffer guidelines are mangled beyond description, “smart growth” will certainly raise it head and take off running.

Summitt Crossing is still on the boards for want of appropiate funding. What better way to go than with proffer incentives/guidelines on the books that don’t come anywhere close to reality.

It’s not my position to speculate about “smart growth” The writing is already written on the walls, No amount of paint will ever make it go away. Smart Growth is high density populations and will consume thousands of acres in land on either side of Rt 17. and all points of contact with our eastern shore line.

My next stop will be Spotsylvania County’s “Technology Centers” I took one look at their “Client List” and wondered whether I was in a war zone or not. Multi-Module transportation is no longer theoretical.

I can only assume Minuteman has a distaste for details. I have no affiliation or knowledge of his/her business agenda, but will assume enlarging this website doesn’t fit within his/her version of knowlege and the value of soundbites.

Maybe the FLS should withdraw. Censorship comes in all kinds of disguises, and maybe we should just keep the comments section to 512 characters so Minuteman can cruise the internet and this blog, without having to reflect on another version of the truth.

I’ll assume from the request, Minuteman must have voting stock in the Free Lance-Star. If he’s having problems with the dialogue maybe he/her should just stop reading the comments section of this blog and stick to the headlines.

Not knowing is a good thing, if you only want your version of your truth to be the only truth.

I gather you are one of Spotsylvania County’s favorite sons.If you and the FLS want to ignore my messages, it’s really very simple to cut the line back to 512. It’s only then that I would have to use Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, etc, etc to say the same thing that I can say in a single comment.

Let’s agree on one thing. When you see a comment authored by MAVRICKinc, MGWORK or Marty, just page down to the next comment. Maybe lgross and Gramps are more to your liking. I’m not required reading nor ever will be.
To page down shouldn’t take you any more than a nanosecond. You can make me as invisible as you want.

You get to make the decision, not me. If you don’t like what I’m saying is a matter of opinion, and you certainly have that right to confine your life’s agenda to 60 seconds.

Please note with some level of concern, you haven’t said anything except to ask the FLS on how to best conduct their business.

If you wish to be nothing more than a sound bite, that’s OK. Different strokes for different folks, unless of course your 60 seconds are as good as it gets. Unless advised to the contrary , I’ll assume you have drawn your line in the sand and not open to developing a constructive dialogue. That too is OK. I’ll list you on my spreadsheet as 1 with 120,000 more to go.

I just came half way. The other half is solely your call.

Larry: I gather from your remarks and characterizton of my work, your feathers have been ruffled much along the same lines afforded me by the BOS in Septembe 2007 when they attempted to renegotiate freedom of speech under the terms and conditions of a changed By-Law that would call for me not to come to their podium to speak except every 6 to 3 months. Struck a nerve? Yes. Over what?

It’s a matter of public record. By sepate cover I will address your comments but without your anger an angst.

At the moment I’m caught up with developing today’s presentation to the BOS. I’ll make room for you in today’s presentation.

Later then

Larry: Thought I would round out my day with responses to comments at this blog site dated May 12, 2009 8:58am and May 12, 2009 4:03pm.

I gave up complaining a long time ago. It’s an avenue to only one way conversations This is why I show up, detail what I have found by connecting the dots, and discretly ask hard questions. The math is simple and easy; 2+2=4.

So, at the end of my business day I add everything up. If it doesn’t equal 4 and comes back as a different number, I do what anyone would do; take a recount. How else would anyone balance their check book or budget?

I don’t confine my findings or conclusions to a single line item, time or topic. I don’t whack away at anything or anyone. Saps your strength and ability to stand on your own two feet.

Personalities don’t desrve too much of our attention. It’s the very foundation of stealth, disguise, and our many perceptions of reality and ourselves. We lie to ourselves and others all the time. Personality is just veneer. Do I trust. Yes. I trust everyone along the same path we took 30 years ogo to present time. The thing about trust is that it’s constantly being measured against “not being found out.”

“Dollops” is a word I had to look up since I’ve never had occasion to use the word. In its stead I normally use the term “lumps or blobs. Apply either to your constructive evaluation of my writing. This is what it reads like in your words: I (lgross) don’t find your writings effective at anything other than great dollops (lumps/blobs of generalized hate and discontent.

I for one would not consider this an invitation to sit down and put puzzle pieces together. My objective is to depict the big picture, as best I can, on limited information, with the rest being stacked behing closed doors. If you’re looking for my vision you will be dissappointed.

I make informed decisions and arrive at conclusions when we have all the documentation, most of which is still stacked behind closed doors.

Larry, I’ve been doing this for a long time, with and without the emotions. I started this journey October 2005. It’s abundantly clear you haven’t read anything I have written. If you need to bone up on what I’ve said in the past, to current time, you can always stop by the County Administrators Office. I’m not a secret.and my opinions and ideas are a matter of record. We even have it on film (DVD and VHS). Our local library’s have copies as well.

What corner did you have in mind to back me into? I can assure you that I don’t have to back anywhere. Instead of me slowing down, you might want to consider picking up the pace.

Please feel free to leave the room any time you want. I’not in a “-issing contest. You are, with me, for more reasons than even you can account for. Why else would you keep coming back to this blog to diasect yet another part of my dialogue for want of having me become invisble.

My cards are on the table. I have no secrets. I’m really nothing more than an open book. Turn any page, turn to any chapter.

When the BOS makes their agenda on growth and the VRE equation as transparent as the few hairs I have on my head I won’t be holding back. I’ll probably be somewhere at the front of the line.

Instead of calling me out, you might want to consider sitting down with your district leader and see what their vision is. The paper trail starts with them, not me. I’ve already written my book, and can assure you I didn’t hold anything back.

What you should be looking for is your truth, not mine. Happy hunting.