Surplus bonanza

Monday night’s charrette by Crossroads brought together 50 community leaders to think about more than 200 developable acres at Eastern State. They got to think about what’s good about the area surrounding the site, what’s bad, and what would work there.

Ray Gindroz of Urban Design Associates led the exercise. He’s been an architect 44 years and taught at Yale. His question was, “What are the aspirations of the community for this place?”

You can pretty well rule out what we don’twant the property to become. We don’t need more conventional subdivisions, even though developers would pay dearly to be so close to town

Instead, the ideas that emerged suggest a small community rather than a winner-takes-all concept. Eastern State still has Phase 2 to build near the front entrance, and a small section of special housing won favor for those who are developmentally disabled. That would continue a tradition dating to 1773 when the hospital was founded.

It seems important to develop the property as a whole rather than piecemeal to avoid fragmentation. But there’s a curious thing. Wetlands divide the property into three parts, requiring at least three different access points. They are likely to remain discrete because it would take an estimated $1 million to build just one bridge connecting two parcels.

A third parcel, to the north, was once eyed for two schools but nixed by the state. That may still happen, but it might work better as an “urban” school without all the ballfields that typically are required and in total consume 30-40 acres for each school.

At least two people homed in on preserving the site, one suggesting in perpetuity by land banking. But the societal demands of our community may preclude that. In any event, fully half the 500 acres is untouchable creekbed. The configuration breaks into three parcels, neatly divided by wetlands.

Workforce housing and apartments got considerable support, since we have tens of thousands of service jobs coming and no place to put the workers. J-1 visa housing is another need, for at least 2,000 foreign student workers.*

Time and again Monday night, walking was emphasized as a need and an opportunity. The proximity of the site to town makes it ideal for workers to walk or ride their bikes.

Economic development choices leaned not to stores or big boxes, but to R&D that would feed off William & Mary. Others pushed for nursing and research services that play to the geriatric movement.

By way of comparison, nearby New Town drew considerable criticism for being too big, too much retail, too cold. too pricey, too much. Instead, we have a chance to recast a site proximate to many jobs in an urban setting and more family-friendly. You could walk to school, imagine that. The proper application of density could make this a superior little community with just the right scale.

Interim W&M President Taylor Reveley hosted the charrette. His administrators have cautioned privately that the college is a facilitator, not a driver. The college seems to have little interest in the land since it has already secured sites for the major schools, but you never know. New Town remains the other obvious suitor, but it’s outside the master plan and didn’t get raves.

Crossroads is determined not to turn this into a land grab by vultures, even though the state will require considerable cash from no matter who gets it. That’s because the original project to build a new mental hospital in a more compact campus was designed to sell off the surplus land for the Virginia Mental Health Trust Fund. The goal is better mental health, not land speculation.

This is by far the largest site close to the city that hasn’t been seized. Everything hinges on zoning, since that drives usage. That decision belongs to the James City supervisors, several of whom where following the proceedings carefully.

Urban Design Associates was heavily involved in rebuilding the Mississippi coast after Katrina and Ivan. A small team of architects and planners has spent the hours since Monday evening crunching the input to roll out ideas for part 2, Wednesday night. Curiously, the general public is excluded because it’s a Crossroads internal meeting. But the composition of the group ensures the highest levels of community leadership are in the room. We have many years to go to sort this out, and the charrette is an excellent start toward finding a framework.



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*No need to wait. The college should promptly lease the two dorms at Dillard Complex for this season’s J-1 workers. It’s a no-brainer.

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