There was a time when the Morrises felt comfortable sending their 15-year-old son from their home on Blueberry Road on his bike down Route 20. But that was more than 25 years ago. With many proposed changes coming to the rural area around Key West, some old conveniences may be compromised, says Cal Morris. But based on what he has experienced, he says the friendliness and character of the neighborhood will remain unchanged.
At a glanceDistance from Downtown: 3.8 miles
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After leaving the community in 1974, Morris, father of four and UVA grad, said he thought it was time to come back a decade later. Morris said one of the original builders and developers, Butch Schwav, offered him a lot in the last section of undeveloped land in the neighborhood. When he realized it was the plot of land where he used to take his children camping and spend family time together, Morris said he was sold. He says he felt a personal connection with the land and with the neighborhood.
“We didn’t come back to Virginia, we surely didn’t come back to Charlottesville. We came back to Key West,” Morris says.
While Morris says the community spirit hasn’t changed over the past 20 years, some things have: There are now at least 220 homes, and the types of residents are different. Morris says there has been a fair amount of turnover in homes as older residents are starting to move away and younger families begin to occupy the area. Morris says he likes that the neighborhood is getting younger, but he thinks more people need to participate in neighborhood activities and give more energy to the neighborhood’s various associations.
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Key West is a quiet, well-established neighborhood around which the pressures of development sometimes churn. |
“I would like to see more of the younger group getting involved, however I also understand that this is a very busy time in their lives,” Morris says. “It’s just not conducive to getting new ideas.”
Nagging concerns
Morris has few complaints about the neighborhood, but there are a few challenges to its residents. The last parcel of land in the community was developed in the early 1980s, and while Morris says the newer houses are probably a little “higher scale” than most others in the neighborhood, two of the roads were not built to state specifications and require residents on Steubin Lane and Explorers Road to maintain them. This means residents are responsible for snow removal in the winter and general maintenance year-round. Also, up until a few years ago the neighborhood relied on a community system of wells for its water, but according to Morris, the water became contaminated from a by-product of gasoline. Now the entire community uses water from the county.
As a mother of two and the neighborhood newsletter’s author, Claire Chantell said she thinks many residents are worried about plans for an Eastern Connector, which would divert traffic from the 29N corridor to Route 20 on the way to Pantops. This promises increased traffic outside her neighborhood’s entrances, but Chantell says she is not concerned with a growth in traffic within Key West because of its self-contained layout.
Morris is less concerned with issues of development. As a member of the Planning Commission he was informed about traffic proposals and new housing development projects such as Franklin Farms and Riverside.
“You know, you just hate to see all the growth,” he says, “but that’s right in containment with the development plans. You can’t just say, ‘O.K., I just moved here. Let’s just shut and lock the doors.’ We know [growth is] going to come and as long as it’s planned, we can put up with it,” Morris says.
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The pool and tennis courts are a key amenity here, shared with residents of other nearby developments. In fact, growth may bolster club membership. |
Some residents say they are almost excited about new neighborhoods in the area. President of the Key West Club, Dennis Roethlisberger, says he looks to new developments as potential sources of new members for the neighborhood’s club facilities. Resources and profits from an increased membership base would allow for more funding to fix cracks in the community’s two tennis courts, maintain the pool, and install more appealing features to the club, like this year’s addition of a basketball court. Roethlisberger says only 47 percent of the neighborhood is active within the club and many of its members come from other residencies along Route 20 or from Ruckersville.
Whether because of the neighborhood’s aging pattern or as a result of proposed developments, homes in the area have been relatively available and cheap for the past 18 months. During this time nine homes have been sold, most of which were built in the 1960s and ’70s; the most expensive was priced at $490,000 and the cheapest sold for $285,000, according to Real Estate III agent Len Mailloux. Recently the original manor home, built in 1852, was purchased for $1,190,000, Mailloux said. Two homes are on the market now, asking $349,900 and $525,000.
A family feel
Change and development doesn’t seem to faze Kaki Pearson, a resident and mother of two. She has fond memories of neighbors getting together on snow days to find the biggest hill they could sled, and of her children heading to the pool to hang out with their friends almost every day of the summer.
“There are great people and great neighbors,” Pearson says, “and we have three or four gatherings a year. We have a great Fourth of July with fire engines, and Uncle Sam, and floats, and kids riding bikes they’ve decorated. I’ve even seen kids with dogs all dressed up,” Pearson says.
In a safe community with a quiet setting and friendly neighbors, it’s hard for any residents to be unhappy with their neighborhood. Big soccer goals take up yards, sunflowers fill sloping gardens, and a red golf cart sits parked in a neat driveway.
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“When you are at your home you are in quiet surroundings, no one bothers you, but if you ever need help you have swarms of people coming to help you,” says Morris.
Change and development does look like it is on the way for the rolling hills surrounding Route 20, but residents say they care about preserving the friendly, welcoming, and quiet character of the neighborhood. Indeed, the values of the Key West community have survived growth before.