Village concept a hit

News from Virginia:

BY SABINE C. HIRSCHAUER
   
   November 15 2006

NEWPORT NEWS -- A local developer wants to turn about 190 acres of woods along the Newport News-York County line into a village-style neighborhood that includes shops and anywhere between 1,000 and 3,000 houses, town houses, condominiums and apartments.

News of the development, called Huntington Pointe, comes at a time when residents in the northernmost section of Newport News await construction of Asheton, an upscale, 1,685-house neighborhood in Lee Hall.

Some who have seen the plans for Huntington Pointe have likened it to Port Warwick in the Oyster Point section of Newport News, but the developer disagrees.

Before Huntington Pointe becomes a reality, though, a number of things have to happen:

The developer, McCale Development Corp. of Newport News, needs to buy about 74 acres in York County along Richneck Road for at least $1.23 million.

The land, owned by Newport News Waterworks, is considered surplus because it does not drain into the city's reservoirs. In exchange, the utility wants 12 acres from McCale on Baptist Road in York County - land that drains into a reservoir.

York County and Newport News need to adjust their boundaries so that the development would be only in Newport News. That would make it easier to build a road that would connect Denbigh and Fort Eustis boulevards and would dissect Huntington Pointe.

And it would make sense for York County because the children who would live there would attend Newport News schools, said Mark Carter, York's assistant county administrator.

The City Council has scheduled a public hearing on the swap for Nov. 28.

Newport News must rezone the land to allow for the development.

If all of that happens, construction of roads, sewer and water lines could start in 2008.

"There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle," said Jonathan W. Hartley with Brandon Currence Architect, McCale's consultant on the project.

Huntington Pointe follows a design concept called new urbanism, which has become more popular as cities and counties try to rein in urban sprawl and create neighborhoods that look more like old-style villages with shops and town squares.

Port Warwick is an example of new urbanism in Newport News, but Hartley said Huntington Pointe would be very different from Port Warwick.

"The concept is not to reproduce Port Warwick," he said.

Huntington Pointe would offer more houses and focus on a more diverse and larger mix of home styles, and it would include housing that more middle class residents can afford, said Brandon Currence, a McCale consultant, who was the architect behind Port Warwick.

"We're talking about homes that teachers, firefighters and police officers can afford," Currence said.

So far, price ranges for the houses have not been set.

Huntington Pointe has support on the Newport News City Council.

"It will be a nice project," Newport News Mayor Joe S. Frank said. "It will be very attractive and well-received by the public."

Sharon Scott, one of two City Council members who represents north Newport News, said she supports the project primarily because it offers affordable housing.

"We need the market of housing (that the developer) proposes," she said.

The developer has agreed to spend about $5 million to build the road that would run through Huntington Pointe. Newport News and York officials have wanted the road for years to ease traffic congestion.

"It creates a parallel to Jefferson Avenue, which is long needed," said Neil Morgan, an assistant city manager in Newport News.

"It gives you an alternative route and decreases cut-through traffic between Jefferson Avenue and Denbigh Boulevard."

What's more, the road would offer stores in Huntington Pointe a lot of exposure, Currence said.

Link: Daily Press: Village concept a hit.