• Stoneport - a mixed use development featuring Bojangles, Wendy's and Wal-Mart
   
  
• a proposed 37 acre student housing community on Reservoir Street
   
• The proposed rezoning of 238 acres by Sentara RMH per their new proposed master plan.
   
• An affordable housing complex being developed off Reservoir Street across from Fieldale Place.

After the workshop (11:30 AM) the Board of Supervisors will hold their regular meeting at 3:00 PM today.

From today's Daily News Record article....

County Administrator Joe Paxton said supervisors are concerned because the growth of JMU and the need for housing are uncertain.

Supervisors want to decide what type of development should go in the area to best spur growth, Paxton said.

"The type of housing that you allow to develop in that area will drive the type of commercial that you get," Paxton said. "So, there needs to be some intentional thought ... in deciding what type of residential development will go in that area."

Deputy County Administrator Stephen King said the workshop will "give an overall look of what is there, what we know is coming, what we've been told is coming," and allow the board to start developing a plan for the area.

Certain types of housing can attract certain people to an area, Paxton said, and the demographics will determine which businesses want to move to the area.

"The income levels are critical to attract different types of commercial development," Paxton said. "If you don't have some kind of plan, then you will just get what happens."

• 2010 = 1 sale ($200K)
• 2011 = 3 sales ($189K median sales price)
  
• 2012 = 2 sales ($113K median sales price)
• 2013 = 5 sales ($135K median sales price)
  
• 2014 = 2 sales ($86K median sales price)
  
• 2015 = 5 sales ($107K median sales price)
  
• 2016 = 1 sale ($99K)

• 70 Single Family Home Lots
• 96 Duplex Lots

View a larger version of the proposed new plat here.

You can review the entire rezoning request here.

Rockingham County staff is recommending that this re-zoning request be tabled.  The Planning Commission will be reviewing this request at their meeting this evening.

• the community would be a mix of detached homes, duplexes and quads
• amenities would likely include a clubhouse with fitness center and study facilities, outdoor swimming pool, outdoor gaming courts and extensive walking and biking trails
• this community would have no more than 178 residential units and no more than 715 beds (bedrooms)

You can view lots of details about this proposal by downloading the full packet of information from the rezoning request which includes the master plan and illustrations of the front elevations of some of the potential dwellings to be built.  Download it here.

• Krispy Kreme has signed a lease to build in Shoney's old location as shown above, but they are in a due diligence period, so everything is not finalized.
   
• Olive Garden is researching the possibility of building a new location on the site of the Best Western as shown above.  This is even less certain than Krispy Kreme at this point.
  

• Symi International, a water importing company, announced in January, 2014 that it would open an office and a warehousing and distribution center in Harrisonburg within 18 months where it would employ 18 people.
   
  
• DBT-Data, which operates a data processing center in Harrisonburg, announced in January, 2014 that it would expand by adding 35 new jobs.
   
  
• Ice House. Construction was completed in the summer of 2014 on this fully renovated 80,000 square foot structure that was originally built for ice and cold storage in 1934. JMU leased approximately 30,000 square feet of office space at the building to house university departments, such as Communications and
  Marketing, Public Affairs, the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center, and the Center of Economic Education. The building is located on the corner of South Liberty and West Bruce Street.
   
  
• Approved Colleges, which markets services focused in online education, announced in January, 2014 that it would hire 40 additional employees in Harrisonburg in a newly renovated space at 126 West Bruce Street.
   
  
• Shenandoah Processing announced in December, 2013 that it would open a new poultry plant in Harrisonburg where it would employ 102 people. It will serve the market for organically raised and "all-natural" chicken.
   
  
• Bellaire at Stone Port. This is an assisted living community currently under development along Stone Port Road across from the Rockingham Memorial Hospital. The facility will include 64 assisted living apartments and 24 memory care apartments in an 80,890 square foot complex. Completion is expected by mid-2016. At least 40 new jobs will be created.
   
  
• Walmart is constructing a 128,000 square foot store in Timberville. The supercenter would create about 300 jobs. Construction is planned to be completed by 2016.
   
  
• Sentara RMH Medical Center. Ground was broken in November, 2014 on this two-story, 52,000 square foot medical facility that will better serve the needs of advanced imaging, orthopedics and sports medicine patients. The facility opened in Fall, 2015.
   
  
• Bridgewater Retirement Community plans to renovate and add 36,000 square feet to the Huffman Health Center, which houses approximately 130 residents in long-term nursing care. The project is currently in the schematic design phase. Currently most residents are in shared rooms, but in the new model, about 70 percent of the rooms will be private. Completion of the project is anticipated for late 2016 or early 2017.
  
  
• Serco, a records management and patent processing company, announced in November, 2014 that it would expand by adding 40 new positions at its Harrisonburg location.
   
  
• Special Fleet Service, a commercial truck body fabrication company, announced in September, 2014 that it would add 45 employees to its Harrisonburg location.
   
  
• Shenandoah Growers announced in March, 2015 that it would expand its organic herb nursery greenhouse and production facility in Rockingham County by adding 15 new jobs. Shenandoah Growers will install a new 78,000 square foot nursery greenhouse at its current facility.
   
  
• AXON Ghost Sentinel, a Harrisonburg-based cyber security firm, announced in June, 2015 that it would expand in the City, adding 29 new jobs.
   
  
• The Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative announced in July, 2015 that it would build an 80,000 square foot turkey processing facility in Hinton over the next three years. The move is expected to create six jobs and increase the co-op's production by more than 45 percent. The company also plans to invest in its feed mill in Broadway and its grain elevator in Linville.
   
  
• Hotel Madison and Shenandoah Valley Conference Center. Construction on this 21,000 square foot hotel is slated to begin in the spring of 2016. The 205-room facility will be constructed and operated by dpM Partners on land leased from JMU. The project is expected to create nearly 60 full-time jobs once the facility opens.
   
  
• Sentara Healthcare Clinic. Ground was broken in June, 2015 on a new medical facility in Timberville in northern Rockingham County. The free-standing 13,580 square foot facility will house the physicians and staff members of Timberville Health Care and Springbrook Family Medicine in Broadway. The center will also offer X-ray, laboratory and rehabilitation services. The project is expected to be completed in early-2016 and generate 20± new jobs.
  

A cash proffer is (a)any money voluntarily proffered in a writing signed by the owner of property subject to rezoning, submitted as part of a rezoning application and accepted by a locality pursuant to the authority granted by Va. Code Ann. Section 15.2-2303 or Section 15.2-2298, or (b) any payment of money made pursuant to a development agreement entered into under authority granted by Va. Code Ann. Section 15.2-2303.1.

"City officials are exploring whether the lot-size threshold should be reduced; if there should be a neighbor approval process; whether a certain number of permits should be issued within a trial period; and any other issues, according to the release."

• Supervisors To Hear Lakeview Rezoning (Jan 8, 2016)
   
  
• Planners Sign Off On Rezoning (Dec 4, 2015)

View a larger map of the area here.

"Brian Shull, the city's economic development director, said the parcel could become the first noncommercial lot of 7 acres or more along East Market to be rezoned for commercial use since 2003, when Harrisonburg Crossing was created at the former Dunham-Bush plant."

For the project to move forward, the parcel's land-use designation in the city's comprehensive plan must be changed to commercial from conservation recreation. The property then must be rezoned to general business district conditional from single-family residential district. Senior planner Alison Banks said the Harrisonburg Planning Commission approved both requests unanimously on Dec. 9. City Council also must sign off and is slated to take up the matter at its Jan. 12 meeting. The change makes sense to the city's planning staff, she said, because of the nature of traffic in the area and utilities on the site. "This portion of the country club that we'd be subdividing off along East Market Street is at a busy intersection," Banks said. "Large [Harrisonburg Electric Commission] power lines run thorough it, too." The conceptual site plan presented to the Planning Commission shows two entrances to the small center - a standard one with turn lanes off Country Club Road, and a right in, right out off East Market Street at the property's eastern edge.

• The Lakeview Golf Club has thirty-six holes, consisting of four sets of nine-hole courses developed over four separate decades. In 2013, the Club requested to rezone a portion of parcel 126-(A)- L44 to General Business District (B-1), for the construction of an event center and expanded club house.
  
• The applicant has requested to rezone a portion of the golf course to Medium Density Residential District (R-2) for the construction of no more than twenty-one housing units and to extend Lakeview Drive to serve these housing units..
  

• This proposal retains the existing character of the golf course with housing on the perimeter; however, the proposed extension of Lakeview Drive does not conform to the zoning ordinance. Staff recommend tabling the request until this is resolved.
  

"Since 2011, commercial and residential development activity has increased and Stone Spring Road has been completed.  [...] Interest in the development of commercially zoned land in this same area is expected to increase as a result of the relocation and completion of Stone Spring Road and the construction of Albert Long Park."

"According to county officials, an expanded UDA would put Rockingham County in a better position to compete for state money under the new prioritization process for transportation funding adopted by the General Assembly in 2014."

1,124 Words About Asphalt by Tim Reamer

1. Bojangles - restaurant
   
   
2. The Reserve at Stone Port - apartment complex
    
   
3. Bellaire at Stone Port - assisted living and memory care community
   
   
4. Walmart Neighborhood Market - grocery store

And yes -- Bellaire at Stone Port is the structure you'll see under construction on the right side of the SouthEast Connector Road if you are driving from Port Republic Road towards the wellness center....

"It [the park] would include a ship-themed children's play area, a "great lawn" that would host events and performances, and a broad tree-lined promenade arching from South Liberty Street south of the Turner Pavilion to Bruce Street at Blacks Run."

"Under the conceptual plan, a wing would be added to the Turner Pavilion, home of the Harrisonburg Farmers Market, nearly doubling its size. Plans also call for resurfacing the parking lot of the city's existing Municipal Building."
   
"A sloped lawn and herbaceous garden would be built at the southwest corner of the park bounded by South Liberty Street south of the pavilion. A children's area with play equipment and a water splash pad would be built next to the existing Municipal Building behind the Smith and Eastham houses."