To the Editor,
Southern Chesterfield County could one day be home to a facility engaged in heavy manufacturing. Residents learned this significant development not from our county leaders, but from the governor announcing the exciting news as a done deal. Six similar industrial properties dot the Commonwealth, and four of them stand empty.
The only activities going on at those industrial centers are engineering studies, utility upgrades, and roadwork. Who is paying for that, one might wonder? Citizens across the country are paying for grants and subsidies from Washington, D.C. Virginians, too, are paying through a variety of state agencies that offer millions. Our county leaders already plan to build new roads and develop the property at taxpayer expense for phantom jobs.
In the meantime, we must await a decision from the Planning Commission, who will decide if these residential parcels should be rezoned industrial at the request of the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority. Will the county deny its own application? Will the commission consider its own zoning ordinance language that reads, “This district should not be located adjacent to existing or proposed residential, office, or commercial areas?”
We shall see. There is much to be lost here, and not just land and tax dollars; trust in county leadership hangs in the balance.
Julie Ranson
