Significant commercial and residential development is currently planned for areas directly north and west of Forest Lakes.  These and additional areas surrounding Forest Lakes are part of the county's northern Growth Area and will eventually all be developed.  How some of these areas will be developed (or maintained) will be determined as part of the county's planning and rezoning process.  As such, we encourage you to get involved in the planning process, express your concerns, your desires, and provide input to help maintain and enhance the quality of life we have in this area

Residents can receive information via Email automatically from Albemarle County concerning upcoming Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings.  To subscribe, click here.

New County Development and Erosion Control Policy
Sep 09: The county Board of Supervisors recently enacted tighter rules on developers to help avoid the "moonscape" situation that occurred with the Hollymead Town Center - Phase I, where the site was graded and left idle for a long period, with little or no grass to hold the topsoil in place. For Forest Lakes, this led to substantial erosion and run off that dumped tons of silt into Lake Hollymead - we have all seen those "red water" days on the lake after storms. FLCA owns half of Lake Hollymead (the Hollymead Citizens Association owns the other half), and we have been stuck with the potentially substantial costs to remove the silt and clean up the lake. In the future, county developments will have a fixed nine month period before permanent vegetation must be installed. In addition, major projects will, as determined by the Supervisors, be required to have in place "state of the art" mitigation measures that are designed to capture 80 percent of erosion (vs. about 60% normally). These enhanced controls will apply to the second phase of Hollymead Town Center (see write-up below), which was approved in 2007. Here is an article about the new ordinance.

The Board of Directors supported these stronger measures, but has also pushed for (1) more active country staff oversight, (2) addressing the cost of siltation that has already occurred, and (3) developing tighter policies on clean up of the remaining 20& of siltation that will still flow downstream to communities such as ours. You can read Scott Elliff's testimony to the Board of Supervisors here.

If you are interested in helping to ensure that the new ordinance is followed, and/or to help advance the other positions listed above, please contact the FLCA Office.

Rt. 29 and Ashwood Blvd Intersection
An FLCA sponsored meeting to discuss safety improvements for the Ashwood Blvd and 29 North intersection was held 7/1/08, during which 160 residents attended.  VDOT responded to residents concerns by making the following changes:

In addition, FLCA moved the South Entrance sign further away from Rt. 29.

 
Hollymead Town Center
The Hollymead Town Center is directly across Rt. 29 from Forest Lakes North. The development currently includes Target, Harris Teeter, Petsmart, and various other retail stores and dining establishments.

Notes from the joint FLCA-Hollymead Hollymead Town Center Forum on Oct 23rd, 2007 are available here.

The county Board of Supervisors approved the next phase of the Town Center at their September 2007 meeting. The Daily Progress recapped the meeting.  Board member Jim Grace attended and spoke at the meeting on behalf of Forest Lakes. The expansion was approved at the meeting but not until a promise was made by the developer to assist Forest Lakes with rehabilitation of our lakes due to silt runoff from the Town Center construction.  Thanks to the efforts of Jim Grace, this is a step forward toward preservation of our lakes.

Places29 Connector Roads
Forest Lakes has won regarding the potential "trailer park" entry to our community.  The Places29 plan is being changed so that the proposed jug handle intersection at Ashwood will not go through the trailer park - it will be moved to the south side of Ashwood and will be shown as using the already county-owned parcel, as we requested.  Thank you for your involvement.  The newspaper article that discusses the situation and the resolution of it is pasted in below.

The proposed "connector road" that we had also been most recently concerned about has been significantly downgraded and a number of specific provisions and assurances have been included, so that it would, in my personal opinion, not have any appreciable impact on our community.

That road would run from Polo Grounds Road somewhere near the SOCA site and go west-northwest through the undeveloped property parcel south of Forest Lakes, and terminate approximately at the new Ashwood-Route 29 intersection:  it would not go through Forest Lakes at all; would be built only in conjunction with the sale and development of that parcel, projected well out into the future; would be designed as a two-lane winding road with a low speed limit (25 or 30 MPH max) with some significant hills involved; would be designed solely to provide an entry/exit access for residences in that parcel when it's developed and not to accommodate any through traffic; and improvements would be made to Polo Grounds Road itself at the same time or beforehand.  The North Free State Road that would have been an extension of the long-planned but still unbuilt Meadowcreek Parkway, and would have connected to Polo Grounds Road and brought traffic into this area, is no longer on the Places29 plan.  In the event that an "eastern bypass" to connect the 29 North corridor with Route 20 is ever proposed at some point in the future (no proposal exists today; the task force process is in the early stages only), Polo Grounds Road would be one potential site for it, and if it were ultimately selected then we would want to ensure that it is designed appropriately so that local residential streets are not involved.

With these conditions, I don't think the road above would really affect us here in Forest Lakes.  Naturally, anyone is welcome of course to continue to express their own views on this as the process of finalizing the Places29 plan continues.

Other connector roads that would have affected Forest Lakes and that we had opposed some months ago, through a written petition and other actions, had already been removed from the Places29 plan.

We all want to retain the quality of life and superior property values we have here in Forest Lakes.  Your involvement has made a difference.  We all need to remain mindful and diligent of the continued development plans all around us in order to continue to be successful in this regard.

Thanks again, Scott Elliff

Daily Progress Article Regarding the Connector Roads

Places29 Master Plan
Sep 09: The County Planning Commission recently asked for public comment on potentially expanding the growth area to allow additional development along the east side of Route 29 between Polo Grounds Road and Hollymead Town Center. The FLCA Board of Directors provided comments, opposing this expansion due to concerns about traffic, transportation infrastructure, and additional erosion and siltation of Lake Hollymead. You can read the full comments here.

Places29 is a community planning project that will help shape the future of northern Albemarle County communities, including the areas surrounding Forest Lakes.  The Places29 planning process is underway and is bringing residents, business owners and other interested parties together to map out the best possible shared vision for this critical area of Albemarle County.

Forest Lakes residents are strongly encouraged to attend and provide input at Places29 public meetings that will shape the future of the Rt. 29 corridor and growth area of which Forest Lakes is a part.  For additional details, including maps, see the Places29 Web site.

We encourage Forest Lakes residents to get involved in the Places29 Planning Process.

North Pointe
The North Pointe project is a commercial and residential development on approximately 270 acres on Route 29 North, north of Proffit Road and 84 Lumber.  It will include up to 893 dwelling units in single-family detached homes, townhouses, and apartments and up to 664,000 square feet of offices and retail commercial use. The Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning request for this development on August 2nd, 2006 by a 4-2 vote.

In the July 25th meeting on Connector Roads held at Hollymead Elementary School, Mark Graham announced that the developer had agreed to a timing change concerning the construction of the southern most signalized intersection on Route 29.  This intersection will be constructed at the beginning of the project which will require extensive regarding of the south bound lanes of Route 29.  This intersection is estimated to cost the developer approximately one million dollars.  The middle intersection originally planned at the beginning will be constructed after 290,000 feet of commercial space has been completed.  This change had been requested by the Forest Lakes Board in a letter to Ken Boyd, our County Board supervisor, and the county planning staff.

Additional details on North Pointe