Townhomes project proposed on White House Road in Moneta
A 32-unit townhome development is planned for 7 acres on White House Road in Moneta, a busy stretch in an area near Virginia 122 and Smith Mountain Lake.
The Bedford County Planning Commission voted 5-0 last Tuesday to recommend approval of a special use permit to landowner NBI Development LLC and applicant Jamey White. The proposed townhome project is in an area of White House Road where the former Mayberry Drive-In Theater and Diner opened 19 years ago and operated for roughly a decade.
The project will be served by water and public sewer and is on property zoned AV (agricultural village center). The concept plan includes 32 units, an internal private street network and a connection to an adjacent townhouse development through interconnected roads and a shared entrance.
The plan also identifies 30 accessory storage units, each measuring 10 by 15 feet, for use by townhome residents.
William Burns, who lives on White House Road near the proposed development, said during a public meeting last Tuesday that the stretch has constant wrecks. He and his wife voiced traffic concerns to the commission.
“People want to use that stretch of road like a racetrack, and they zoom down that stinking road, and there are always accidents,” Burns said.
Burns said his mailbox was taken out in a single incident involving a vehicle. He said the two moved to that area nearly 30 years ago for its rural nature and beauty, and they enjoy sitting on their porch with a cup of coffee and enjoying the view.
“Now, when we look over there, we’ll see tons of houses,” Burns said. “We like privacy. We’re too old to move again. I guess we’re stuck.”
Edna Burns, his wife, said that in the summer, traffic going to and from Smith Mountain Lake is especially heavy.
“It is horrible traffic going up and down that road,” Burns said, adding she has been rear-ended twice.
John Coulahan, a Huddleston resident who travels along White House Road frequently, said he’s lived in the lake area for just more than a decade, and the growth and difference in traffic are “mind-boggling.” He said a left-turn lane is needed in that area for safety purposes.
“At times, there's a mind-boggling amount of traffic,” Coulahan said. “… I’m not against development. I can sympathize with these folks. They’re dead right on the amount of traffic, they really are.”
White said the developer understands the traffic concerns, but in that area they do not meet the warrants that the Virginia Department of Transportation says are the threshold to require right- and left-turn lanes. The project will rely on requirements VDOT sets forth for traffic safety, he said.
“They are the traffic experts, they're the ones who tell us what we have to do,” White said. “We will go through that, through the site plan process, and what they tell us to revise, what we will provide to meet their requirements, that's something that we typically handle in that site plan process. And what VDOT tells us that we need to have for safety is what we will construct.”
Commissioner Mark Gwin suggested county officials look into lowering the speed limit in that area to address traffic concerns and the increased residential development.
“We can’t deny growth in the county, but we need to look at the best way to do this,” Gwin said.
The special use permit request will soon go to the Bedford County Board of Supervisors for review and a public hearing.
Justin Faulconer, (434) 473-2607
