Hollymead developers fail to deliver road on time

The developers of Hollymead Town Center, otherwise known as the Target shopping center on Route 29, have failed to deliver a promised connector road, and the Albemarle County Planning Commission showed no mercy at their September 5 meeting, unanimously denying a developers’ request for a two-year extension.
In order to curry favor with planning officials, development projects applying for rezoning or special permits usually make “proffers”—pledges of cash, road construction, affordable housing or other such sweeteners to entice local governments to approve the project. Part of the trick is that proffers must be voluntary—legally, a planning commission can’t come out and demand that developers offer a certain concession.
To win Hollymead approval, developer Wendell Wood included proffers to build part of a road, now called “Meeting Street,” as well as other road segments that would provide a more extensive grid for future residential and commercial development around the shopping center. But three years and one new owner later, the Meeting Street portion, as well as part of Town Center Drive, have not been built, despite summer deadlines.
What power do governments have when developers don’t fulfill these proffers? The County last month began denying occupancy permits for new Hollymead businesses (which does not affect those already open, like Target and Harris Teeter) because of the Town Center Drive segment, though that moratorium will cease as soon as the road is bonded. In the case of Meeting Street, the County could decide not to renew the bond, and either force the road to be built or “call the bond,” taking money from Wood to build the road themselves.
At the meeting, local attorney Steven Blaine asked for two more years on behalf of Hollymead Town Center LLC, which is comprised of the Target Corporation and a Florida-based realty group. Blaine argued that his clients, who bought the property from Wood, have little control over the road’s construction, and have given Wood $400,000 for their portion of Meeting Street. Because Wood owns the land, Blaine says they can’t build the road without a drawn-out court battle.
“We are being penalized for a remedy that, as a practical matter, we cannot bring about,” said Blaine. “I think we’re being held to a standard that is not just.”
Commissioners took issue with Blaine’s characterizations.
“We did not decide to build those businesses without knowing about that road,” said Chairwoman Marcia Joseph. “You know what the requirement was.”
“I’m not trying to get out of it,” says Wood, who didn’t attend the meeting. “I have to build it, I intend to build it. If there’s a discrepancy, you know who wins that one—[the County has] my money” says Wood, referring to the bond. If the County threatened to call the bond, Wood says he’ll build the road.
“One of the problems is that the County has been one of the biggest holdups in approving the road plans, and the County has changed the design of the road about three times,” he says. The proposed road has changed from the two-lane connector Wood originally proffered to a four-lane road with a median strip.
Mark Graham, director of community development, says that the real hold-up is getting Wood to decide to go ahead and build the road.
The two-lane road originally proffered lacks only blacktop and a curb, says Wood—but he insists that it makes no sense to complete it now.
“The road today goes nowhere,” he points out. “The buildings it’s going to serve are not there.” Those buildings include 380 town homes he’s currently constructing. If he completed the road now, Wood says, the curb would only be cracked later by supply trucks for the town homes.
The Board of Supervisors will make the final determination on extending the deadline at their October 11 meeting.