Caroline County... (Richmond, Fredericksburg, Madison: new home, buying, construction)

[kenny34]

Any thoughts on the future of Caroline County ...will it stay rural or develop into the next hot spot ?

[EricD]

Originally Posted by kenny34

Any thoughts on the future of Caroline County ...will it stay rural or develop into the next hot spot ?

Or both?
:P
-----------------------------------------------
Are you buying that house or not? Just move here already. I have word that one new amenity will be built this fall, and another by mid summer next year (won't say which), and more of the walking trail has been paved (they did it today)

Anyways, my thoughts on Caroline… I tend to ramble a little...

I believe that Caroline will basically become a bedroom community for Fredericksburg, with some people commuting to Richmond or NoVa. Fredericksburg is getting more and more jobs moving down, and with the housing prices so high there, and traffic so bad, people will be tempted to move just down the highway. Especially as the HOV lanes are extended, making commutes into NoVa easier, I think you'll see people moving further and further south.

Germana Community College is looking to open a campus down here in Caroline. Other development is coming, but you have to put it on scale... a lot of development for a county having only around 24,000 residents is a lot different than a lot of development in a bigger county. Something like a CVS opening up will still make the County Administrator's monthly message...

Caroline will for sure grow, there's no question about that. Caroline is the connecting piece that will attach Richmond to the Megalopolis. (DC, Baltimore, Phili, NYC, Boston) You go south, and you hit city, you go north, and you hit Fredericksburg... the gap will just close until it's all cities. This may take like 25-30 years... but I believe it's inevitable.

Caroline's development plan of approving large planned communities is a good step in preserving the rural areas of the county. Ladysmith Village, Pendleton, Haymount... between the 3 developments, there will be almost 11,000 new homes. All three have been approved, and are in differing stages of development. All three have developers donating land for schools, and proffers to help off-set the cost to the county of all of these new people. All 3 developments are on main roads, and will supply their own side roads (so they will not fill the back roads with new traffic) By having development concentrated in these areas, it will allow Caroline to develop more of a community, instead of a lot of little developments spread out all over the county, where people don't interact.

A lot is coming to Caroline, but it will be slow for the first few years... you have to have the population to support more commercial, and Caroline just isn't there yet. Once these 3 big developments really get rolling, and get their amenities built, you'll see more population increase, and then the commercial will come. Like I said, it's only a matter of time.

[kenny34]

LOL....Eric i knew i was going to hear from you...well i went back to Atlantic and made them another offer on that Dolley Madison, and they did accept it, so i will be writing the contract this week, i'am in south river section by the school, which by the is looking good.

[EricD]

Aww, you'll be on the other side then
:P
all by yourself... well, I think maybe 2 people are living over there now...

I could never do it, you'll be living with construction for the next 2 or 3 years at least.
=x
But being near the school should increase your property value

I'll probably get to walk through your house then, since Atlantic said I could walk through a dolly madison when they start building one.

[DEE37]

Is there a website for Haymount? I would like to receive info on open houses and pre construction pricing.
Thanks

[EricD]

http://www.dpz.com/pdf/8920%20Haymount.pdf (broken link)

This is the best site I could find... it'll give you basic info ont he sommunity, but it's a little old. Haymount has been int he works since 1989, but it hasn't been until recently that the county has approved the zoning. The main haymount website was up a few months ago, but it was mostly 'under sonstruction'. I could not find it now, but I am sure they're working on a marketing campain and a website. I'd say it'll probably be another two years before homes will actually be built though, but that's my guess.

That community is a great idea, and I hope it works out, it'll be great for the environment. (There's also a page for Ladysmith Village, the community I live in, on that website)

[vasinger]

Originally Posted by EricD

Or both?
:P
-----------------------------------------------
Are you buying that house or not? Just move here already. I have word that one new amenity will be built this fall, and another by mid summer next year (won't say which), and more of the walking trail has been paved (they did it today)

Anyways, my thoughts on Caroline… I tend to ramble a little...

I believe that Caroline will basically become a bedroom community for Fredericksburg, with some people commuting to Richmond or NoVa. Fredericksburg is getting more and more jobs moving down, and with the housing prices so high there, and traffic so bad, people will be tempted to move just down the highway. Especially as the HOV lanes are extended, making commutes into NoVa easier, I think you'll see people moving further and further south.

Germana Community College is looking to open a campus down here in Caroline. Other development is coming, but you have to put it on scale... a lot of development for a county having only around 24,000 residents is a lot different than a lot of development in a bigger county. Something like a CVS opening up will still make the County Administrator's monthly message...

Caroline will for sure grow, there's no question about that. Caroline is the connecting piece that will attach Richmond to the Megalopolis. (DC, Baltimore, Phili, NYC, Boston) You go south, and you hit city, you go north, and you hit Fredericksburg... the gap will just close until it's all cities. This may take like 25-30 years... but I believe it's inevitable.

Caroline's development plan of approving large planned communities is a good step in preserving the rural areas of the county. Ladysmith Village, Pendleton, Haymount... between the 3 developments, there will be almost 11,000 new homes. All three have been approved, and are in differing stages of development. All three have developers donating land for schools, and proffers to help off-set the cost to the county of all of these new people. All 3 developments are on main roads, and will supply their own side roads (so they will not fill the back roads with new traffic) By having development concentrated in these areas, it will allow Caroline to develop more of a community, instead of a lot of little developments spread out all over the county, where people don't interact.

A lot is coming to Caroline, but it will be slow for the first few years... you have to have the population to support more commercial, and Caroline just isn't there yet. Once these 3 big developments really get rolling, and get their amenities built, you'll see more population increase, and then the commercial will come. Like I said, it's only a matter of time.

I shudder that Richmond would ever be part of the Megalopolis. Does that mean Raleigh and Atlanta will too?

[EricD]

Originally Posted by vasinger

I shudder that Richmond would ever be part of the Megalopolis. Does that mean Raleigh and Atlanta will too?

Maybe eventually... I think Richmond will be first, and then it'll go down I-64... williamsburg, newport news, hampton roads, VA Beach... it's already really developed down there, and the gap between that area and Richmond is closing too.

Raleigh and Atlanta would take a while... but it may happen. If they add a highspeed train which allows people to live further from where they work, and also having Karr lake and that other lake inbetween Richmond and Raleigh already gaining in population, I suppose it's only a matter of time... but that could take a long time. I'm thinking that the Megalopolis could extend to VA Beach within 50 years... maybe less.