Crazy, it looks like Las Vegas!

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Another plot of forest ruined for something so trivial.

What a corporate looking cluster fuck, way to go Chesterfield

Yay. We get this monstrosity but have to fight tooth and nail to keep Southside Speedway.

Yea… I live right down the street and I’m not thrilled with the complete lack of infrastructure upgrades happening in the area around this 105 acre site. They want everyone to come enjoy this new “attraction” yet have failed to plan for what happens if people actually do. On another note, sadly we’re getting a Sheetz, it’s currently under construction across street from this development, I was really hoping for a Wawa. Oh and on a third note… it’s not at all sketchy that one of the C’field board members who voted for the development also received a $2500 campaign contribution from the developer

I think it’s a cool concept.

I will be shocked if this makes it through the looming recession

Sure, just pile it on more with the current clusterfuck down 360 west of 288.

Plus, there is supposedly a new neighborhood development to come between Market Square and 288. I cannot fathom what it will look like for the intersection when going west from 288 onto Hull. It’s already Wild West driving out there.

I don’t understand how anyone can view Southside Speedway as if it was a public amenity. It was a private business with a VERY small economic impact which closed and sold. It would be the same as if the Wal-Mart down the street closed and sold the property to the county. Would anyone be fighting the county to re-open a discount superstore?

The county is interested in the best use for the land for ALL county taxpayers, and I can’t see how that could or should be a speedway. And I’m sure the vast majority of the neighbors would agree.

Fortunately, the county decided to hire a consultant (who specializes in assessing properties for motorsports development) to prepare a report of the options for that property. I think that’s a reasonable approach, using economic projections to make a reasonable fiscal decision but I’m sure it won’t make the hundreds of former SSS patrons happy.

Not to sound further gloom-ridden but I needed to get this off my chest here:

Fuck the BOS.

I just want to say that I love your username

Yeah, I get your point. The comparison is a little off though because there's tons of Walmarts but very few racetracks left nowadays. Everything that has been proposed for that spot (mixed use, more soccer fields, etc) are already over-saturated in the area anyway. How is that best for the taxpayer? Also, in the grand scheme of that area, the racetrack is a very small footprint and not a huge loss acreage-wise. Neighbors directly next door are a junkyard so they don't care about noise. Why not keep a little bit of history and bring back some races? I always had fun going as a kid and looked forward to bringing my kids.

I too am glad they hired a consultant to get more info on feasibility. Hopefully they will decide that it's worth reopening and not just plow it over for more faceless development.

Lol fuck this shit. How about more parks, woods, natural areas, stuff like that? How much more corporate garbage can chesterfield cram in?

I appreciate you ✌🏽

There’s more woods today in chesterfield compared to 100 years ago and an entire state park. It’ll be alright

Agreed, but it's not just that. It's all of the growth west of Woodlake and all of the housing developments popping up in the area that concern me more. The addition of the water park on top of all that shit certainly doesn't help. Powhite North is going to be a nightmare once it's extended past Magnolia Green and Hampton Park. It's already bad at the two tolls in the mornings and afternoons. All of the HOA's in the area need to start working together to start putting pressure on the county to start thinking about infrastructure and new facilities.

The state park makes up just 3 percent of all the land in the county and is hardly sufficient to sustain the biodiversity we require. I would appreciate more info about the first part of this statement though.

I don’t know enough about the proposed Powhite North yet to make an informed decision yet but my initial reaction is that, in theory anyway, it should help alleviate some of the heavy Hull st traffic from 288 down to Magnolia Green but time will tell. That being said, I used to live in Amelia and as they started building west and putting in new stop lights, I’d joke that it takes me 30 mins just to get to where it takes me 30 mins to get into town. Progress… what can you do.

It will, economic conditions are improving and prices for materials are coming down.

Thank god they warded that land into Pocahontas State Park. Imagine if it wasn't done?

Yes, but I'm curious about something. Have they started the construction yet? I haven't seen anything about that and what is the timeline for completing this project? I can't imagine it will be done anytime soon (within 5 years?)

For now

I’m not gonna be able to find a direct source for the forest part easily but knowing chesterfields (and for most part virginias) history from the 1800s-1950s our reliance on wood for construction and energy along with needing cleared land for farming use dramatically reduced the acreage of forests that we have today.

You can google vintage aerial photos of the area back to the 50’s and see how much land was cleared for farms and the lack of woods.

They are sinking a lot more County money into this than SportsQuest, which had to file for bankruptcy and the County got less than they initially told citizens what they were getting with their public investment.

That’s kind of why I don’t know enough about it… first; it really doesn’t matter what I think, it’ll happen or not happen regardless of my thoughts on the matter and second; I haven’t seen anything actually confirming it’s even going to happen other than rumors here on Reddit. As far as a timeline of completion, I think 5 years is ambitious for any roadwork in C’field… I remember when they widened Courthouse rd… that took 10 years and was a fairly straightforward expansion… can you imagine how long they’ll take with a brand new major highway. I’d say the 288 extension wasn’t too bad but that was only like 5 miles of road they were responsible for, plus the added pressure from the other counties to meet the deadlines.

It feels like a classic example of the sunken cost fallacy… if they just keep pouring more money into the area, it’ll revitalize and legitimize the SportsQuest investment. On the other hand, if they go all out with this investment, maybe people will stop talking about their foolish SportsQuest decision. I think my biggest issue with this whole thing is the county and the developer are the only entities that benefits from this new development. We as citizens won’t see a single benefit. It’s not like they’re going to lower our taxes with the addition of the new tax revenue (which I read everyone, with the exception of the housing developers, will be getting an 80% tax break) and we’re not going to see any infrastructure improvements, just more traffic. It’s starting to feel like the NoVa transplants want to recreate what they escaped the past few years.

HOA’s working together = an HOA cartel?

You are correct that someday in the future there will be a recession.

There's a lot of stuff that got shelved coming back up for possible construction right now. Material costs and and availablity are finally stabalizing.

I've done more bidding in the last month than I did in the previous six because most of the material I work with (wood products) have dropped by anywhere from 40-60% in the last six weeks.

Not saying there's not a recession coming, but I don't think construction is going to get hit as hard as usual.

It sucks here now. I moved into Moseley about 15 years ago before Magnolia Green and all the other cookie cutter subdivisions. Many people didn’t even know where Moseley was. It was so quiet and peaceful. Now I feel like I’m living in a soulless Nova.

Yeah this place sucks now. Used to be a nice quiet place and then all the Nova transplants wanting to escape Nova just brought Nova right with them.

Yes please!

When did you move to the area?

Not sure why you were downvoted. You’re absolutely right. It’s way better and doesn’t compare at all to a Walmart that is a chain store and there’s multiple ones in the area. I’m assuming the other person is newer to the area. SSS was a really cool spot. It was really really cool in the 90s. Tons of good memories. Don’t have many great Walmart memories.

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Like I said, I understand the sentiment. I guess a more apt comparison would be if there was a private sports team there (soccer/football/rugby/whatever) that folded and sold to the county. I'm not saying the county has an obligation to continue what a private business built, but, the fact is, SSS was holding regular races right up to covid and the family took that as an opportunity to move on. Fine. The other fact is that the people and racers that utilized the speedway are still around and would still race and spend money there. There is literally nothing else like it anywhere else in the area. Admittedly, I think it's a little bit of a pipe dream that it will survive just because of the way the area is going, but I'm still gonna make my voice heard when I can on it.

I would just hate for SSS to get leveled for something we don't need without giving it a fair shake first. Seems to me it would be a pretty cheap investment on the scale of Chesterfield to give it a shot and see if it works. Take some of the money that would have been spent on something new and work on getting traffic to flow in the area.

It's funny. I was talking to a retired Chesterfield cop friend of mine the other night about the Powhite extension. He said when he joined the force in 1991 all the maps they used had the proposed extension already on them. In 1991. They haven't been able to get it together in 31 years so I can't imagine much is going to get done in the next 5 unless they've been saving all those tolls we've been paying. Until then 360 west is just going to continue to be brutal. But hey, at least we get new chain restaurants every couple miles!

Eh, it was ‘round ought one or two. My thoughts are fadin’, so I can’t be too sure.

If they spent some money to fix it up and getting it looking nicer again, get a decent food/drink bar, and just a tiny bit of advertising, SSS would take off again and be packed. Everything is right there, just needs a little TLC.

Ok, I do have to mention now that the conversation is continuing that there are neighborhoods right across the street from the raceway. The sound is still pretty loud more than mile away, so I can only imagine what it’s like a couple hundred yards away.

If the county could make 50% of the money on a track as a different use could, I’d say “git ‘ER done!!!” I’d be willing to wager a significant sum that there are several uses which will produce FAR more revenue and will not negatively impact adjacent homes. Speaking of which, the county will be subject to many lawsuits from those homeowners if they think of reopening it as a raceway. Something about the right to quiet enjoyment (a foundational property right) and the raceway no longer being grandfathered as a permitted use comes to mind.

You need to look at your map again. Across the street is a sports field, the dump, and a bunch of industrial stuff. There's already loud concerts right up the road.. what's the difference?

What are these uses you propose that will make FAR more money? Last I checked all that was proposed was more of the same stuff that the county is losing money on (sports fields and the like).

No I don’t. I’ve BEEN to that neighborhood during a race. It’s loud. And there are homes less than 1500’feet away. You need to check your maps.

Edit: To add, it’s not the actual profit on the business that matters, it’s the additional tax revenue. Sports tourism is incredibly valuable because non residents spend money and pay taxes when they come to the events. Think of numbers of visitors, numbers of hotel rooms, numbers of meals. A small speedway with one event per week attracting a couple hundred local residents generates fractions of the tax dollars that a destination sports complex with supporting hotels and restaurants would.

Also, there's a 12 month lag in terms of the recession catching up to construction.

So which street are you referring to?

I know there are houses in the area, just not "across the street". They hear the concerts too. Should we get rid of everything that makes noise? 60 years every Friday night there was a race there and somehow people survived.

I don't want to be cruel but you always were

A pool concept even

Always were what? Soulless Nova? No way. We had so much wildlife especially by the swampy area on otterdale. Coyotes, deer, foxes, bears, etc. most all of those are trying to find new homes. It was quiet. Full of woods. No traffic. So many stars. It all changed.

Ridge Road.

The speedway existed well before those homes were built (late 80’s), so those owners had no case against the speedway. However, now that it’s closed I’m sure a case could be made that reopening it as a speedway would harm property values which have now appreciated without the issue of being adjacent to an active speedway.

I’m certainly not saying that the county hypothetically should have forced the SSS to close back in 2019, because that would have violated the speedway owners’ property rights. But it’s closed now and has been sold, so there really isn’t a speedway there at all.

Your argument still doesn't make sense. You said that if the county could make money off the speedway you'd say "Get 'er done!". We're saying the county could make money off it. Just going off what you said that should trump the issue of noise for those homeowners because it's a better use for the entirety of the county.

In taxes. Tax revenue is the goal.

I think building on woods is pretty bad. We should build in the city But yeah, for the last 12 years I've found Chesterfield to be soulless nova without traffic

I can agree with that a bit but I’m going back further than 12 years and it was so much better.

Check out the proposed East/West freeway. It’s been there forever.