By URIAH KISER
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — It’s no secret developers in Woodbridge have shifted their focus west of U.S. 1, which for years has been known for strip shopping centers and auto dealers.
But a new plan to add 143 homes just off Featherstone Road has one businessman pinning his hopes on the future revitalization of the corridor, and n uptick in business his Featherstone Square shopping center.
If it’s approved, new condominiums and town homes known as Featherstone Square Plaza would be built across from the shopping center of the same name, which includes a Food Lion, K2 Restaurant, and other small shops. The homes – 114 multi-unit homes and 29 town homes – would sit on a combined lot where three older homes sit now. The land would be bordered by Featherstone Road to the south and a neighborhood of single family homes on Woodside Drive to the north.
Owner of the Featherstone Plaza and chief spokesman for this project, Joe Jacobs, says the land on which he wants to build is now zoned for high-density development where about 16 housing units per acre are required.
“If you live in Oklahoma, three units per acre would be high density. In New York City 30 units would be low, so high density is a relative term and its still something Woodbridge is trying to wrap its head around; what does it all look like?” said Jacobs.
The homes would sell for $350,000 each and would be constructed in a similar manner as homes at Potomac Club near Wegmans, a burgeoning town center where the idea is to walk – not drive – to do shopping and other errands. A crosswalk would be installed at an entrance to Featherstone Plaza on Featherstone Road to connect the housing development and shopping center. Two existing shopping plazas at the corner of Featherstone Road and U.S. 1 that now include a 7-Eleven and an African-themed shop would remain standing and are not on the land where the homes would be built.
“For years we’ve built our shopping over here, we put our homes over here, and we put our jobs over there and you have to get into your car to go to all of these places,” said Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi.
A development like what is proposed here could begin to change that notion and improve traffic congestion in the area, he added.
A plan to allow street side parking along Featherstone Road was denied by state and county transportation officials, as was a plan to reroute traffic from Featherstone Road onto Blackburn Road to Reddy Drive as it is frequently used by tractor trailers traveling in and out of a nearby industrial park. Jacobs said, however, there will be plenty of resident and guest parking for those who would move in to his housing development.
Nearby Featherstone Elementary School would also benefit from the project, as Jacobs wants to add a new sidewalk along Blackburn Road that would provide access to an improved ball field at nearby Featherstone Elementary School – the sidewalk and improvements Jacobs said he would pay for with proffer money.
Some residents that live on nearby Woodside Drive said the new homes would take away their mostly wooded views, that there isn’t an adequate buffer space between their houses and the new homes, and that they don’t appreciate the high density development requirement of 16 homes per acre.
Jacobs said there is a 10-foot buffer that will include trees that will separate their homes from the new development, but added the general idea of high density mixed use development is to provide easy access to all adjacent properties.
The housing project comes as crews are set to begin widening U.S. 1 from four to six lanes between Featherstone and Neabsco roads. Transportation officials still need to review what’s known as a traffic impact analysis of the Featherstone Road area to determine how the new homes would affect travel here.
If the project is approved, the first new homes here could be built in 2015.
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