Letter: Asking developer of Harvest Farms to revise plan does not mean committee has decided to support it

Dear Editor, 

In response to the article on Harvest Farms subdivision proposal, which was presented to the Transition Area/Interfacility Traffic Area Citizen’s Advisory Committee on Thursday, July 5:

The committee requested that the applicant return with a plan in keeping with the guidelines for the area, which, depending on staff calculations for density, might include up to 100 homes rather than the 164 currently proposed for the subdivision of 121 acres.

I want to clarify that this does not, in any way, mean that I or other members of the committee approve of the proposed plan or that we will find an altered version amenable to the area. 

Development in the Transition Area must be reviewed in a sensitive manner. There can be no room for doubt that the work this committee does reflects their commitment to considering the vulnerability of this land to sea level rise, rucurrent flooding, subsidence and more significant weather events. The committee is also committed to considering impacts to quality of life of current residents of any type of development in the Transition Area.  

Our request to see an altered plan with a density and commercial drawback simply means that at the very least we would like applications that come before our committee to be in keeping with the painstakingly created guidelines the committee spent countless hours revising for approval by City Council. 

The fate of this subdivsion remains to be seen, and robust public input is necessary first to determine how the area feels about this kind of proposed change to the landscape. 

— Dr. Karen Beardslee Kwasny, Ashville Park


Ed. — The author represents the Princess Anne District on the Virginia Beach Planning Commission and serves a member of the Transition Area/Interfacility Traffic Area Citizens Advisory Committee.


© 2018 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC

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2 thoughts on “Letter: Asking developer of Harvest Farms to revise plan does not mean committee has decided to support it

  1. How the area feels about this kind of proposed change to the landscape was made abundantly clear when the same development group made the same proposal (under a different name) at the same time last year. Just how much robust public input is required before the consistent message from the community is acknowledged? Or is this simply lather-rinse-repeat until those who won’t fall in line get worn down? In the end, are residents going to be forced to watch Pungo become what developers want it to be?

    In view of all the high density developments that are still expanding in the (former) Transition Zone – Kingston Estates, Malbon Farms, and Ashville Park, for a few examples – that process appears to be already well underway. Building yet another high density project right at the edge of Pungo Village seems like the final step before finally mowing the Green Line down.

  2. People, make YOUR voices heard, and send YOUR robust input to your City Council Members. Here are their email addresses where you can send YOUR letters:

    https://www.vbgov.com/government/departments/city-clerk/city-council/pages/city-council-members.aspx

    The NEXT TRANSITION AREA COMMITTEE MEETING IS THURSDAY, AUGUST 2 at 5:30 pm: Municipal Center, 2416 Courthouse Drive, Building 19, Room A.

    The single raindrop does not think it is responsible for the flood: BE A RAINDROP.

    (Yes, we’ve seen this principle in action – and IT WORKS)

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