“land availablitity decreasing fast”
Brent Finnegan -- April 4th, 2008
In December, I posted about the seven-story building going up on the corner of Devon and Port.
There’s a story in The Breeze about the project, which is currently underway.
…Rent prices will be noticeably higher at the Shoppes and Residences at 865 East. But Da[i]n Hammond believes the rooms will be well worth the cost.
“Something like this has never been done before,” he said. “If someone is willing to pay for more upscale accommodations, the views, the security of the building, and its proximity to campus, they will find themselves very happy with these new apartments.”
The building will be the first high-rise in Harrisonburg to use R-5 zoning, which allows buildings above three stories. With all recent and projected growth at JMU, Alex Adjei, the coordinator of Off-Campus Life, believes that high-rise construction may become more common.
“Unless the city can continue to expand outwards, we will have no other choice than to expand upwards,” Adjei said. “Land availability is decreasing fast.”
Hammond believes his new development may even lesson the current strain of traffic.“It’s close enough where it’s feasible to walk to campus,” he said. “The buses are going to increase their scheduled trips as well. Traffic studies by VDOT say [the new building] will alleviate heavy traffic because stores and restaurants will be so close by. Instead of people driving to these places, they can just walk there.”
That bit about the land availability relates to some of the things I’ve written about the annexation moratorium.
Speaking of land, I stopped by the newly opened Turner Ashby Monument on Wednesday and was met by a wonderful volunteer. For the life of me I cannot remember his name but he lives on Westmoreland Avenue and he has 1000′s of daffodils on his property you just have to see along with some cool looking blue plants. JMU built the new entrance and road and such and is going to move the huge concrete power poles plus gave the area a 25′ buffer zone. This gentleman has donated ALL of the plants and flowers and it is crazy to see how many trees he has also planted. http://www.usa-civil-war.com/Civil_War/harrisonburg.html
On June 6th there will be a service to show case this new site…get there before then…
I don’t believe The City has a chance of improving the traffic problems until they 1) figure out how to synchronize traffic lights to maintain flow, 2) get adequate traffic capacity in turn-lanes (Reservoir, Port, etc), and 3)over come the desire to connect roads into poorly planned intersections (Forest Rd/University@Port Rd.).
Port Rd @ I-81 is a perfect storm involving all of the above. Into the storm swirl interstate tourists, speeding students, and hapless locals. Cars akimbo, blocked intersections, and more on the way! I’m guessing the Harrisonburg Traffic Planner is some Amish person with a stern mandate to pinch the pennies.
Bubby,
I realize Anabaptists can be difficult to differentiate, but it’s Mennonites around here, not Amish. Regardless, please list your denomination in any reply so I can mock it.
And the Port Rd./I-81 mess arises from two things: first, the Interstate takes precedence on all the lighting patterns, despite what the traffic flow may demand. That’s federal law, not city planning. Second, the city and the University grew too fast. Both entities were able to handle it as far as utilities, housing, public safety, bus service, and fast food. Everything but roads. Closing one of the feeds into that spaghetti bowl is on the drawing board, but not on the map because there’s no money for it. If you have any, that’s not being spent on education, public safety, and the other core functions of a locality, feel free to apply for a tax hike.
I’m not mocking the Amish, I’m just saying they wouldn’t be my choice for sorting out our traffic problems. I’m mocking the City. They have traffic flowing at buggy speeds which suggest they are equally clueless. It isn’t like this problem just sprung up – annexations and the growth of JMU were a long time coming. And while I fully realize that JMU probably takes a huge bite out of Hburg’s property tax base, they do impact things like traffic. I’m wondering if the City has JMU on-board to help fund the congestion that they create, and what our our Representatives Lohr, Obenshain, and Hanger have done to help fund those kinds of offsets through University funding .
Where are the development proffers from the folks that are about to build a high-rise chicken coup on the hill above this mess? Mumbling about students walking to school might have carried the day at Planning, but I’m not buying.
As it is, my tribute to the City already exceeds $1 on every $10 of food or lodging. A steep price for this County bumpkin.
Proffers? What the city can charge is a state issue. Payments in lieu of taxes? Again, state. JMU’s doubling, much of it at — wait for it — state insistence, took 20 years. Not that long in terms of a community’s growth, when one misstep — such as funding West Market instead of a southeast bypass — takes a long time to be apparent, and longer to fix.
When you say “they” in reference to the city, it’s hard to be certain to what the pronoun pertains. If to the city’s employees, then it’s unfair to call them clueless over decisions made before many of them were employed by the city or, perhaps, born.
Perhaps you mean the state delegates and senator you refer to when you say “they.” Not bad, since they actually have some say in the traffic problems you mention. But keep in mind that in the case of one of them, Lohr, the city went for his opponent in two of his three elections. The county elected him.
I assume that the City has a transportation plan segment in it’s comprehensive plan that designates road capacities, where road improvements will be directed, and where bottlenecks exist – with 5, 10 and 20 year projections. So when a developer says we are going to put 275 bedrooms plus retail space above one of the worst intersections in town – that the City will say fine, pony up money to the transportation fund to help upgrade the road, and improve the mass transit system, or no building permit. The City has that power.
Even without a reference comprehensive City transportation plan any City planner could see that Port Road is a mess. Staff may have recommended against further development until funding caught up to the problem – and been over-ruled by Council.
Regardless of who elected Lohr, he represents the City and if he has been approached about state funding for road improvements to offset JMU traffic impacts – and not stepped up, then the City should consider a resolution to rename Port Road – “The Matthew Lohr Traffic Improvement Area”, along with his legislative phone number.
This area is laughed at when asking for money by the others in the GA. Remember, their areas come first. Matt is probably dead next to last in seniority
“The City has that power.” Would that it were so. Developers, delegates and city officials blackmailing and threatening won’t do a thing toward solving the problem. Money will.
Just to voice a gripe of mine (just in case anyone cares). I hate the vine / market intersection by the sheetz. When that damn gas station went in they re-wrote the priority for 33 traffic to include their customers. what amazes me is that persons leaving sheetz get as much green time as traffic on 33! There I said it, and I feel better.
“This area is laughed at when asking for money by the others in the GA. Remember, their areas come first. Matt is probably dead next to last in seniority”
Myron, I’m sure that Lohr is laughed at because of his constant waste of time legislation proposals. Our area shouldn’t be blamed (and punished through low funding) for his inept approach to vote bartering. Unfortunately it does mean that no one takes him seriously on issues that really do matter (like real issues of transportation, not made up bs used to inflame his constituents).
David…Or Linda Lane and Rt. 33 (lights 50 feet apart) and a merging interstate traffic.
But the worst traffic planning has to be the shopping center off of Burgess Road. It’s like a roach trap, you can get in, but good luck getting out. (and when you are on either Reservoir, or inching your way back to Rt.33). There is a pattern of permitting development in the City with inadequate traffic planning.
But not to neglect the County; the BoS is on track to have a traffic light every 400 yards on Rt. 33 from the edge of Harrisonburg to the other side of Penn Laird.
I’ve said it before and I’ll do so again, put a raised four lane highway above the city both north south and east west. Limit on and off ramps to 2 per mile. Otherwise we will always have traffic problems because everyone (including myself) is to lazy to walk or ride our bikes. Thats our culture. Strip malls, Suburbans and suburbia!
On a side rant, during my limited residency in Norfolk I thought that the traffic was terrible. It took me forty minutes to get to work (15 miles) and about 20 minutes to get downtown (about 2 miles). I thought this was terrible until I got back home to Harrisonburg. I took some movies back to Blockbuster the other day and it took me 25 minutes to get from Burger King (downtown 33) to Blockbuster (easttown 33). Norfolk’s population is 229,112
I hated the traffic in Harrisonburg. Nothing like getting really pissed on your way to and from everywhere you go. Then I moved to Staunton. Did you know they have a bypass and two interstates? The traffic here is much better, but there is no Thai food. :(
But the new Marias is like an Olive Garden only not crappy like Olive Garden.
H’burg wanted a bypass, and the county agreed. A citizens’ group opposed it, using techniques that would have embarrassed TAGS, and the county waffled. It won’t be built in our lifetimes.
A mini-Hburg bypass is currently in the late stage of pre-construct. You can see the footprint hereIt includes the mysterious proffer-funding concept. The Harrisonburg bypass was VDOT crack – they couldn’t afford it. In fact, VDOT recently announced that the mini-bypass is in jeopardy due to lack of funds for construction. The inability of our House of Delegates to fund transportation means that the maintenance budget is eating up all road funds. This makes it very important not to FUBAR anymore roads and intersections – there is no state money to fix them. I’m sure the City and County would tell you the same.