A series of public workshops on Chesterfield County’s under-construction comprehensive plan will kick off this week. The sessions will run through Oct. 6 in each of the county’s five magisterial districts. The input collected will be incorporated into the plan, which will be shaped by a 34-member residents steering committee, county staff and a team of planners.

Reinforcing its interest in a Powhatan County location, Wal-Mart has filed a traffic-impact analysis with the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation. The study looks at construction of a 170,000-square-foot retail center using 25 acres of a 53-acre parcel north of U.S. 60 just west of state Route 675. The plan indicates that, if built, the development would be complete by 2011.

The public will have its say tomorrow night on a Goochland County proposal to raise utility rates and connection fees to pay for the struggling Tuckahoe Creek Service District, which provides water and sewer service to the eastern end of the county. The county’s Board of Supervisors has suggested raising utility rates by 13 percent in the district and 5 percent for the general county system. Connection fees in the district could be raised $1,000 for water and $2,000 for sewer.

A 29-foot rooftop bowling pin sign could make or break plans for a giant entertainment complex in Chesterfield County. If built, the 52,000-square-foot Uptown Alley would boast 40 bowling lanes on two floors, two restaurants with outside dining, arcades and private party rooms on a 12-acre site at Commonwealth Centre near Hull Street Road.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has declared Goochland County’s Hidden Rock Park soccer fields safe for play after a new gas-extraction system was installed to bring methane levels from the landfill beneath the fields into compliance with state standards. A letter sent last week from the state agency to Goochland County Administrator Rebecca T. Dickson stated that meter readings at the park since the new system was installed in March were satisfactory.

Goochland County’s Tuckahoe Creek Service District was envisioned a decade ago as a moneymaker and key to the county’s future. The water and sewer system serving 8,000 acres in the eastern end of the rural county was conceived years ago to help land big businesses for the 2,500-acre West Creek Business Park and open the door for developments on scale with neighboring Henrico County.

A $50,000 probe into Goochland County’s public utilities department in the wake of problems is not expected to result in criminal charges, the county administrator said. “We’ve been advised that there are no criminal findings coming out of the forensics audit,“ said Becky Dickson, who took the county’s reins July 20. She succeeded 23-year County Administrator Gregory K. Wolfrey, who resigned months ahead of schedule in April as elected leaders and the public called for answers to the utilities’ department mismanagement issues.

Nicole Bailey can’t dance. It’s not that she lacks the skills or desire, it’s that Chesterfield County zoning doesn’t allow it any longer—for now. Bailey, 32, is a regular at Murphy’s Law II, a restaurant and bar in a shopping center off Spring Run Road near Hull Street Road. She lives in the neighborhood and used to drop in every Friday night with her husband to shake a leg.

Chesterfield County is a step closer to limiting the number of family members who can live under one roof. The county’s Planning Commission voted 3-2 yesterday to recommend setting more rigid occupancy standards for single-family homes. The measure, prompted by complaints of overcrowding in certain neighborhoods, has been sent to the county Board of Supervisors, which could vote on it as early as next month.

Home-occupancy limits and windmills are up for comment tomorrow before the Chesterfield County Planning Commission votes on new ordinances drafted to address both. In response to complaints that too many people were living under a single roof in parts of the county, a proposal has been drafted that would limit the number of occupants based on square footage.

901 to 1,200: four adult occupants 1,201 to 1,750: five related adults
  1,751 to 2,400: six related adults
  2,401 to 3,150: seven related adults
  3,151 to 4,000: eight related adults
  4,001 to 4,500: nine related adults
  4,501 to 5,000: 10 related adults

Quigley Harton Chesterfield County resident-watchdogs have come together with the goal of keeping residents better informed. Midlothian resident Lisa Quigley recently read an op-ed piece by Mike Harton, an education consultant, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on the topic of school leadership in Chesterfield. She liked his message and decided to shoot him an e-mail.

The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors has raised fees on new homes while looking to cut commercial fees to spur economic growth. The board voted 3-2 yesterday to increase the county’s cash proffers almost 5 percent, to $18,966 from $18,080, keeping the county’s fees the highest in the region. Proffers are fees collected by the county from developers to help mitigate the impact of new residents on public infrastructure such as roads, schools and parks. The fees are paid at the time a building permit is issued, and the cost is typically handed down to homebuyers.

On the heels of a touchy-at-times budget process, elected officials for Chesterfield County and its school system are still having trouble seeing eye to eye. The two School Board representatives on a joint committee with the Board of Supervisors recently pulled out, citing a lack of progress on key issues. The long-standing committee was re-established last year to allow members of the boards to communicate more closely, but it produced little clarity.

NICOLE ANDERSON ELLIS On Tuesday, June 9, at 7 p.m. Henrico County’s Board of Supervisors is holding a hearing for public feedback on the latest version of Henrico’s draft 2026 Comprehensive Land Use Plan. They call it the county’s “road map for growth.“ At the same meeting, having supposedly weighed citizen input, the board “will consider adoption of the proposed 2026 comprehensive plan.“