HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Urban planners met with residents and business owners at the Belmont Recreation Center Monday night to discuss a 320-acre redevelopment initiative that would transform the old Best Products headquarters in the Brook Road corridor into a new mixed-use community.
The plan includes a mix of hotels, residential housing, office space and small businesses surrounded by green space. The centerpiece of the proposal is a 17,000-seat arena near I-95 and I-295 designed to attract concerts and sporting events, along with overpasses, trails and sidewalks intended to connect what planners describe as currently fragmented communities.
Henrico County
Henrico to demolish Best Products HQ; hopes to lure new arena to Virginia
Many residents expressed support for the walkability elements of the plan.
"I appreciate the walkability because I walk everywhere. I try to cross Brook Road and it's terrifying," said Salimah Ismail.
"Like you said, it's not walkable right now. I'm sort of isolated in my neighborhood in a lot of ways," said Seth Chart.
But others raised questions about building heights, developer selection and what the changes could mean for longtime and lower-income residents.
One attendee asked whether developers like the Stanley Martin Group would come in and build tall buildings or tall condos.
Jane Stout, a Hilliard Road resident, raised concerns about parking access for older neighbors.
"Now, I don't consider myself that old, but we do have neighbors who are and walkable is great but you still need, if you drive, you need to have a parkable place that you don't have to walk four or five blocks to get to," Stout said.
Ismail also raised concerns about affordability and displacement.
"The Food Lion and the Dollarama, it's affordable so it attracts people who need that affordability. So what happens when the developments price those people out?" Ismail said.
Joe Emmerson, the county's planning director, said the county has spent the past year holding workshops and town hall meetings to gauge community priorities as it works to form an overlay district that blends into the current landscape.
"A lot of the larger concerns were how will the area redevelop and what will happen? What will the preservation be of certain things? How will that assimilate into the existing development?" Emmerson said.
Emmerson said outdated zoning has prevented new development in the area and expressed hope that residents would see promise in the envisioned changes.
"We are addressing all those different aspects. It will take time. It's not going to happen overnight but all those are in the plans," Emmerson said.
Two additional public meetings are scheduled before the Planning Commission considers the comprehensive initiative. The first is Tuesday, June 2, at the Deep Run Recreation Center, and the second is Thursday, June 4, at the Eastern Recreation Center. Both meetings run from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the comprehensive plan on June 9, followed by the Board of Supervisors on June 23.
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