Isle of Wight County’s Planning Commission postponed voting on a revised concept for Bridge Point Commons after more than a dozen Carrollton residents who spoke at an April 22 public hearing said they opposed plans to turn a dead-end road into a secondary entrance to the proposed development.

County supervisors approved Bridge Point in 2008 as a 350-unit apartment and condominium complex slated for just under 43 acres adjacent to the existing Ashby subdivision and the Carrollton Volunteer Fire Department at Deep Bottom Drive and Carrollton Boulevard, also known as Route 17. It was one of several to stall in the wake of the 2007-09 Great Recession and a nationwide housing crisis fueled by foreclosures on high-risk or “subprime” mortgages.

The original concept had called for more than one direct connection to Carrollton Boulevard and secondary access via Deep Bottom Drive. A Dec. 3 application by Quality Homes of Currituck, which seeks rezoning to mixed use for 147 townhouses and a 1.5-acre commercial site, proposes instead to have only one right-turn-only access point in and out of the development on Carrollton Boulevard and to relocate the secondary access to Britt Road, which is currently a cul-de-sac in the 135-home Ashby subdivision.

“What is now a quiet street would become a thoroughfare – busy, noisy and unpredictable,” said Kassidy Fisher, a resident of Britt Way.

Only a handful of empty seats remained during the nearly hour-long hearing that saw 14 speakers, all from Carrollton, raise concerns with the revised plan for the resulting traffic.

John Springfield, another Ashby resident who opposes connecting his community to Bridge Point, asked during his remarks that all residents of Ashby rise. Nearly everyone in the audience stood.

Several speakers urged keeping the Deep Bottom Drive access from the 2008 plan. But Ramone Pierce, who gave his address as Deep Bottom Drive, said he and his neighbors also don’t want the additional traffic from Bridge Point.

A traffic study included with the rezoning application estimates the residential phase would generate just over 500 vehicular trips in, and another 500 out, daily. It projects the same for the commercial phase for a total of just over 1,000 in and another 1,000 out, or 2,137 in total. The traffic study states at least one of the tenants of the commercial phase would be a coffee and doughnut store.

Christine Early, land entitlements manager with Allied Properties and Quality Homes, said locating the secondary entrance on Britt Way wasn’t the developer’s first choice, and is being required by the Virginia Department of Transportation. Both companies are based in Moyock, North Carolina, and are unrelated to the Suffolk-based Quality Homes proposing to develop the “Cottages at Battery” development in Smithfield.

“This is not our choosing,” Early said. “VDOT has required it of us and required the two accesses, one on (Route) 17 because it’s a limited-access highway.”

A limited access highway refers to a road designed for through traffic that would require any break in the traffic flow to accommodate a new intersection be approved by Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board. VDOT spokeswoman Kelly Alvord told the Times Route 17 “is not a limited access highway” but “is on the arterial preservation network,” which includes major highways needed for state connectivity.

“Current subdivision regulations require a new residential subdivision development to have two access points, unless qualifying for an exception,” Alvord said. “These subdivision regulations were updated in 2009 to require a minimum of two accesses, increasing from the previous requirement of one, which now is applicable for the updated proposal.”

The regulations would require a minimum of three access points for communities proposing 200 or more units, Alvord said.

“The existing cul-de-sac on Britt Way was originally platted to allow for the extension of the street to the adjacent parcel, and is currently classified as a temporary cul-de-sac” or “stub out,” Alvord said. “The regulations also require a proposed development to connect to an existing stub out when an adjacent one exists.”

Keeping the Deep Bottom Drive access “wasn’t a consideration to us because of the environmental permitting, which would take years,” Early said.

Isle of Wight County supervisors had also endorsed a VDOT plan in 2023 to eventually turn Deep Bottom Drive into a cul-de-sac and cut off its access to Route 17 to reduce traffic queues on the four-lane divided highway, which Early said would defeat the purpose of putting an entrance on Deep Bottom Drive.

Despite their concerns over the connector to Ashby, most of the speakers and Planning Commission members said they favored the 50% reduction in density compared to the original plan for Bridge Point that had called for 120 rent-controlled “workforce” units and 230-owner-occupied multifamily condominium units, with 116 of those being age-restricted. The revised concept also calls for a 65% reduction, from 75,000 square feet to 26,136, in the amount of commercial space.

None of the 147 townhouses shown on the revised plan would be age-restricted or workforce housing. A project narrative by Land Planning Solutions, a consultant for Allied Properties and Quality Homes, states the revised concept for Bridge Point Commons would create a “moderate density, walkable townhome community with a commercial property at the site’s entrance.” The narrative states the townhouses would be “moderately priced.”

The original developer, Brown, Jolley, Brown LLC, had proffered in 2008 to pay $1,470 per age-restricted unit, $5,790 for each unrestricted unit and $632 per 1,000 square feet of commercial space. The revised application by Allied Properties removes those proffers.

“For a locality to accept cash proffers for schools there has to be an identified need,” said attorney Bill Riddick, who represents the applicant.

An April 15 email from Isle of Wight County Schools spokeswoman Lynn Briggs to Isle of Wight County Community Development Director Amy Ring, included with the rezoning application, states the revised concept for Bridge Point is expected to generate 43 students – 13 at Carrollton Elementary, 11 at Westside Elementary, six at Smithfield Middle School and 13 at Smithfield High School.

“Based on program capacity, and enrollment from September 2024, we do have enough space to accommodate the students currently,” Briggs’ email states.

Amy Bocchicchio, a planner with Land Planning Solutions, described the reduction in density as a “downzoning” from what was proposed in 2008.

“If this downzoning is not approved, another property owner would still have the ability to develop per the 2008 design,” Bocchicchio said.

“I think there’s a lot of good about this potential development. … The reduction in size is something that’s been expressed as a desire by the public,” said Commissioner Thomas Distefano, who presided over the meeting in the absence of Chairman Bobby Bowser.

Other commissioners, however, wanted more detailed information on the school and traffic impacts.

“We are at an impasse where if this doesn’t get approved they could go back and do what was approved in 2008,” said Commissioner James Ford, whose motion to table the matter passed unanimously.

Once the Planning Commission votes on a favorable or unfavorable recommendation, the application will advance to the Board of Supervisors for another hearing and final vote.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:19 p.m. on April 28 with comments by VDOT spokeswoman Kelly Alvord.