Goochland TOD Public Meeting Reconvenes on 9/25 – Please Attend!

The 9/18 Goochland Planning Commission meeting was packed with more than 300 concerned citizens of Goochland & surrounding counties to share feedback on the proposed Technology Overlay District (TOD) and amendments to zoning ordinances.

We’ve seen a lot of questions and even more confusion online and many of the news articles just cover that “a lot of people showed up at the meeting” and highlight concerns about nuclear power and don’t really seem to answer the basic questions, so here goes…

Is this about the data center proposed near Wyndham in Hanover? No folks, that’s different and is still working it’s way through the Hanover Planning commission – no meetings have been scheduled at this time, but we and many others are watching that closely.

What is the Goochland Technology Overlay District (TOD) and how is it Different than what we know today as West Creek?

Goochland wants to attract businesses to their eastern designated growth area to drive tax revenue and economic growth. West Creek is a large, existing business and light industrial park located at the intersection of Route 288 and West Creek Parkway. The 3,500-acre park was developed to attract a range of businesses, and it is already home to major office tenants such as Capital One, CarMax, and Performance Food Group. West Creek makes up a significant part, but not all, of the TOD.

Technology Overlay District (TOD) is a special zoning tool that adds additional guidelines to the existing zoning. It allows specific business uses under certain conditions, including requirements for building setbacks, landscape buffers, and design standards, to ensure compatibility with nearby properties. Establishing a TOD will involve updates to both the Comprehensive Plan and the zoning ordinance. View the proposed changes to the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance. In this case it allows heavier industrial type development than is currently permitted and allows it by-right, (as opposed to conditional use permitting which allows for public feedback and board review/approval for each major project).

A Technology Zone (TZ) is a separate designation that provides financial incentives to encourage private investment and job creation within the designated area. While the TOD sets the planning and design framework, the TZ offers the economic incentives to attract businesses. View the proposed ordinance establishing a Technology Zone.

Based on the maps posted on the Goochland County planning website, the TOD and TZ in this case have the same footprint, so we’ll refer to everything going forward as the TOD.

Most of this is already a business park – why are people freaking out?

As one resident put it, “we are here because of a series of oversights in planning”. To cover bond debt after the infamous Motorola backout and trouble finding other business tenants, Goochland decided to sell residential lots in West Creek. Solving one problem created another. Mosaic at West Creek was approved for 520 homes and Blufftons another 29. There are two other neighborhoods directly adjacent with close to 400 additional homes and many more neighborhoods close by in Eastern Goochland. The folks who live in Mosaic are now looking at the risk of having a 120 foot tall noisy monster of a data center powered by an SMR in the backyard of the homes they were told would neighbor only agricultural or light industrial businesses (for example Carmax offices). Residents are feeling that the County has changed the game and is putting their concerns aside now that there are big dollars to be had in data centers.

People far outside of Goochland County across the area got concerned with the recent amendment of clause 15-500 (definitions clause) to include small modular nuclear reactor facility (SMR), natural gas peaking plant, and utility generating station, as these types of industrial development have a much wider range of human impact that doesn’t simply end at county lines. Adjoining landowners were only notified of this amendment on 8/25 and those outside the county found out after the 9/8 public meeting reporting hit the news.

Where exactly do they want to put the most industrial development?

The TOD runs from just south of Kain road/north of I64 down the Henrico County line to Patterson Avenue with 288 down the middle. The area that is proposed to support the heaviest industrial facilities – Data centers, SMRs & gas peaking, etc. is between Kain Road and I64, close to Short Pump and adjacent to the county landfill and Luckstone quarry.

The first image below is from the presentation shared at the 9/18 meeting showing in dark purple at the very top the area that will be zoned M2 – Industrial General. It’s circled in Red.

The same area is circled above in red on the google maps image with familiar Henrico and Goochland landmarks highlighted in yellow. Because this was added in the latest version, residents are rightfully concerned it could be changed again without notice.

What are people asking the Planning Commission to do?

The message we heard over and over was “what’s the rush?” “Slow this down and do your homework.” “Please listen to the concerns of your homeowners.” They’d like business development to focus on firms like Eli Lilly and stay away from data centers and their known energy/noise issues. They want Goochland planners to talk to counties that have been through this and learned from it like Loudon and Chesterfield and take those learnings into account. They want protections against noise day and night, they want shorter buildings and the best space buffers possible and they don’t want parking lot size reductions (smaller lots means noisy buildings are closer to their homes). They want the option for SMRs removed completely. They want all projects to be conditional use permit (CUP) and not by-right approval so new challenges can be addressed as they arise.

Even Delegate David Owen (R-HD57) has asked them to slow down the process and stated that “The TOD as currently proposed is not in the best interest of the citizens of Eastern Goochland County and should be deferred until the Goochland County staff can work with citizens to achieve the needed balance between quality of life and economic growth in Eastern Goochland County.”

What’s Next? – there is still time to share your feedback before the commission votes on 9/25

The meeting will reconvene on Thursday September 25th at 6:30PM in the Goochland HS Auditorium. 3250 River Rd W, Goochland, VA 23063

Concerned citizens from any locality who did not speak or cede their time on the 18th are welcome to speak on the 25th. It looks like you will have to sign up to speak when you enter the high school.

PLEASE pack the auditorium to provide your feedback and ask for the planning commission to:

• Defer the vote until they’ve had plenty of time to address the full range of resident concerns
• Remove SMRs and gas peaking outright
• Replace by-right approvals with a CUP process