CHESAPEAKE, Va. – A proposal to build a community of 544 homes near Grassfield High School has some residents reeling over the impact it could have on property values and the school division.
Breeden Investment Properties Inc. wants to build 202 single family homes, 50 townhomes, and 292 apartments on a 119 acre lot that sits right in between Grassfield High School and Grassfield Elementary School. It’s called the Confluence at Dominion Park.
Jo Anne Gallant is a realtor and licensed appraiser who lives in the Grassfield area. She says the development will create a traffic nightmare and overcrowd schools—forcing the school district to rezone.
“If we rezone the houses and put people in different school districts that costs them their equity in their property. There is a $25,000 difference in owning the same house in the Grassfield High School (district) versus the Deep Creek High School (district),” she said.
The city’s planner told 13News Now her staff addressed these concerns and ultimately recommended denial of the application. But the planning commission voted in favor—President Marty Williams said the project meets the needs of the city’s plan to develop the Dominion Boulevard corridor.
Gallant says she’s not convinced—urging residents to show up to city council meetings to speak out against the project.
“This development will literally be robbing the equity from the current homeowners here that made Grassfield High School one of the top 500 high schools in the United States,” she said.
Torrey Breeden of Breeden Investment Properties Inc. told 13News Now he was surprised to hear of these concerns considering numerous public meetings were held, including three at Grassfield High School. He said his company has worked closely with the city of Chesapeake to ensure their plan that would improve traffic flow, especially for residents in the Marsh Creek community. In his conversations with the City, he said school redistricting would not be an issue.
The decision now lies in the hands of City Council. It was supposed to vote on the rezoning of the land Tuesday evening, but Breeden asked for a 30-day continuance, potentially postponing the vote.