County supervisors will address
open space issue

Posted September 10, 2007 at 12:41 PM, Filed Under: BCA News, Village Mill

By Wendy Parker
Managing Editor

Last week, Brandermill property owners received a public notice in the mail from Chesterfield County announcing that on September 26, the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors will consider an amendment regarding the Brandermill open space issue.The open space issue came to light last year when a proposal was received to build town homes on Brandermill Country Club property.

According to Jane Peterson, planning department special projects manager, the purpose of the amendment is not to take away any open space in Brandermill that is currently in place, but to clarify what uses could go into existing open space. “Twenty-seven acres in Brandermill were developed that should have been left for open space,” Peterson said at a recent NRC meeting. “The amendment will bring Brandermill into compliance for the amount of open space acreage.”
BCA Board President Ryland Reamy notes that new language recently added to the proposed amendment came as a surprise. The BCA has retained attorney Will Shewmake to determine if the additional language is a potential cause for concern and to interpret how the new language could affect Brandermill in the future.

“Based on the legal anaylsis,” says President Reamy, “the BCA will follow up with county officials to make sure the community’s interests are adequately protected.”

Previously, permitted uses of open space were listed as limited to: “rights-of-way, naturally vegetated and landscaped areas, active and passive recreational uses primarily serving the surrounding residential community, including but not limited to walking and biking paths, playgrounds, golf course, pools, tennis courts, and temporary activities and events such as art shows, annual celebrations, and special outings that support the recreational nature of open space.”

New added language regarding the country club includes the following accessory uses within the facility to serve and support the facility: “conference rooms, exercise rooms, restaurant, cocktail lounge, offices to provide sales, reception/information centers for the exclusive use for sale/rental of Brandermill property, beauty and barber shop, clothing and sporting good sales (pro shop), and childcare.”

Citizens can review part of the application at the planning department on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
In summary, the planning commission is requesting the amendment to rectify the development case requiring 940 acres of open space by reducing the requirement to 912.9 acres. Open space would consist of 473.3 acres owned by Brandermill Community Association, 24.5 acres owned as private open space, 173.2 acres owned by Commonwealth Golf Property, LLC, and not more than 241.9 acres within existing road rights-of-ways.

BCA President Reamy encourages residents to attend the meeting in the public meeting room at the Chesterfield County Administration Building, 1001 Iron Bridge Road on September 26 at 6:30 p.m.