New Post Sprawl near Fredericksburg (Arlington, Quantico: buy, living in, restaurants)

[Hudlander]

Ugh, well it seems more nearby sprawl might be on the way:

https://fredericksburg.com/news/loca...2369df3ce.html

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by Hudlander

Ugh, well it seems more nearby sprawl might be on the way:

https://fredericksburg.com/news/loca...2369df3ce.html

Just out of curiosity- wouldn't it make sense to have a development like this near that particular VRE station? Versus development somewhere 10 plus miles away?

[Hudlander]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Just out of curiosity- wouldn't it make sense to have a development like this near that particular VRE station? Versus development somewhere 10 plus miles away?

Actually it would, in general, but a) on the 95 side of the project and b) mores if this was a regular METRO service vs occasional train.

[VA Yankee]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Just out of curiosity- wouldn't it make sense to have a development like this near that particular VRE station? Versus development somewhere 10 plus miles away?

The proposed site according to the article is less than 1 mile from the Spotsylvania VRE Station, is that close enough?

[ecko_complex24]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Agree- read any news article about new developments in Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, etc you get the same thing - "I moved here from Fairfax (or Arlington or DC or Montgomery County, MD, or New Jersey, etc) to get away from all this craziness- we don't need any more development!!' They scream it loud and proud from their new homes on some former farm or forest. It's really amusing actually. My latest favorite is people from a massive 55 and over community called Heritage Hunt in far western Prince William County complaining that rezoning aging farmland near them for data center development (aka TAX REVENUE for the county) is just so outrageous and not appropriate for 'rural Prince William'- look up any news article on the subject and they've largely all moved into the area several years ago in a 1,500 plus home community that replaced a former dairy farm- it was ok for their development to be built but there can be zero development on similar parcels next to them- nope!! They'll call it industrial 'sprawl' or whatever- doesn't matter. If they weren't data centers and people would propose selling to build new homes it would be the same argument. Other people objecting largely all live in new huge developments in Gainesville and Haymarket that didn't exist 10-15 years ago.

Wait, haven’t you been critical of the missing middle in Arlington on this forum? You don’t want increased density in Arlington? Why not? You got yours, so screw everyone else?

[ecko_complex24]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

You're on a pro-urban sprawl sub-forum. Good luck changing the mind of anyone who thinks a place like South Riding or Broadlands is an efficient usage of open space.

As for me I am very YIMBY (pro-development), as long as it is RESPONSIBLE development. I live in a dense neighborhood already in a tiny rowhouse, and I want it to become even denser. When I lived in Reston I wanted to see new high-rises built everywhere, but all of the Boomers who lived in single-family detached homes balked at new projects for being "too dense" or "affecting views".

When you are in a growing metropolitan area it makes sense to cram as much new development into as small of a land footprint as possible to preserve open space, improve housing affordability, and enhance the opportunity to build new transit lines. Part of the reason why housing is so expensive in NoVA is due to a limited supply of available housing, and part of the reason for that is NIMBY's wanting farmlands to become tract housing with vinyl-clad single-family detached dwellings on 1/4-acre lots instead of condominiums that could house many more people on less land.

EDIT: Oh, wait. I see you are somehow both anti-urban sprawl AND anti-density. I can't really help you out then. The best way to preserve as much open space as possible around Fredericksburg would be to encourage more dense/vertical development so all of the people who wanted to live in/near Fredericksburg could be housed on a smaller land footprint to thereby preserve more open space overall for future generations to enjoy. I am confused as to why you hate high-rises and townhouses so much for taking up too much open space---do you not realize how much MORE open space would be lost if those dense developments were single-family detached dwellings on 1/4-acre lots instead? There would be no open space left anywhere remotely near Fredericksburg then.

Great post, I agree with many of your points. Although I am pro urban, but I despise most high rises and prefer row houses and mid rises (maybe 7 stories). High rises are very energy intensive to operate utilities and they actually don’t do a great job at creating high housing density in many areas. Some of the most dense areas in the world have few high rises, plus I prefer things to be built to a human scale. High rises can be cold and brutalist and block out the sun on the streetscape.

It annoyed me to no end when some NIMBYs blocked an apartment building from being built in the shopping center down the street from my house. I looked over the plan and it was a good plan for an apartment building to be built in an underutilized parking lot.

Again, you made some good points, just had to disagree on the high rises.

https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints...-high-density/

[Veritas Vincit]

If you don't want sprawl...move somewhere where there's no major highways and no rail. Transportation links in the larger vicinity of major metropolitan areas are a near certain predictor of sprawl. And absence of such links will generally hinder development in a very significant way. However, it also typically means absence of jobs, so those areas might be pretty poor overall.



It's not just D.C., there's now NYC sprawl in NE PA, Boston sprawl in Maine, Atlanta's reach keeps expanding into rural GA etc.



I think it's an inevitable part of the American Dream. Americans don't want to work hard all their lives just to live in a shoebox apartment in a high rise like Asians and Europeans have to do. And one thing that this country has is an abundance of open space. Even in a fairly densely settled part oft the country like the East Coast, there's still so much open land compared to say a country like Japan or places in Western Europe.

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by VA Yankee

The proposed site according to the article is less than 1 mile from the Spotsylvania VRE Station, is that close enough?

Yes- that was my point. The poster was calling it sprawl and I was saying shouldn't one with that view be encouraging this type of development close to a VRE station?

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by ecko_complex24

Wait, haven’t you been critical of the missing middle in Arlington on this forum? You don’t want increased density in Arlington? Why not? You got yours, so screw everyone else?

Nope- you clearly have the wrong guy. Live / own in N. Arlington and encourage further densification.

[Hudlander]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

If you don't want sprawl...move somewhere where there's no major highways and no rail. Transportation links in the larger vicinity of major metropolitan areas are a near certain predictor of sprawl. And absence of such links will generally hinder development in a very significant way. However, it also typically means absence of jobs, so those areas might be pretty poor overall.



It's not just D.C., there's now NYC sprawl in NE PA, Boston sprawl in Maine, Atlanta's reach keeps expanding into rural GA etc.



I think it's an inevitable part of the American Dream. Americans don't want to work hard all their lives just to live in a shoebox apartment in a high rise like Asians and Europeans have to do. And one thing that this country has is an abundance of open space. Even in a fairly densely settled part oft the country like the East Coast, there's still so much open land compared to say a country like Japan or places in Western Europe.

This sprawl is in an area that is rural, has no infrastructure, and formerly was a very quaint area with the Belvedere Planation. These development, with the light pollution and traffic, absolutely ruin the rural character.
They would be best placed in another part of the county.