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Last Updated: Sep 10, 2009 - 12:28:52 PM |
The Bermuda Advocates for Responsible Development (BARD) released a statement last week that asks “HH Hunt – What’s happening? – The true ‘stakeholders’ want to know!”
BARD issued its statement in frustration over waiting for information that would identify the location of an east/west freeway that would access the Branner Station project, a 1,611-acre mixed-use development that would consist of over 5,000 residences and as many as 11,000 people.
“We feel like there’s not enough information coming out. Not even a recent change of the schedule of the planned public meetings on the road location has been made public. This is a culmination of not getting information and what seems like a lack of caring on their part,” says Mike Uzel, BARD president. “If Hunt is going to say we’re stakeholders, they need to stand behind what they have said, and thus far we have not seen that.”
BARD says Bermuda District and Chester residents have waited too long. “The off-site roads to Branner Station are coming our way, but we continue to know almost nothing about them.”
According to BARD’s press release, the zoning for Branner Station was passed last year on a still-questionable 2-1 vote by the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors. There were only two public meetings concerning the development prior to the vote, neither of which addressed the off-site roads that the developer is supposed to build as part of the proffers for the development. Since then (almost 12 months), despite repeated requests, neither HH Hunt nor Chesterfield County has called any public meetings with residents to discuss and address the impact of these new roads on the existing communities they will go through.
BARD states that they and the Chester Community Association have continued to try to obtain information from HH Hunt and the County about the off-site roads. HH Hunt called the surrounding community “stakeholders” in the project, and promised to keep the groups informed, but thus far, the little information they have received has been at their request.
The Chester Community Association (CCA) formed the committee Chester Connections in response to the lack of communication with the county and the developer and is collecting signatures on petitions online and in local businesses. Both BARD and the CCA will address the Board of Supervisors at this month’s meeting on September 24 at 6:30 p.m.
“We are in total support of BARD’s efforts,” says CCA president Dr. Robert Owens. “We’re all in this together.”
More information about BARD and Branner Station can be found at www.bardinfo.org and
www.chesterconnections.org.
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