Proposed tech park near Moseley heads to Chesterfield Planning Commission

The county-initiated rezoning of the Upper Magnolia Green property would pave the way for a technology park and high school on 1,700 acres near Moseley on the western side of a proposed Powhite Parkway extension. Images courtesy of Chesterfield County.

Planning commissioners are slated to weigh a proposed new technology park in western Chesterfield Tuesday, after months of public meetings and against a backdrop of opposition from some county residents.

The county-initiated proposal would rezone a total of around 2,400 acres, teeing up a technology park on the bulk of the land as well as hundreds of homes and several public facilities on the so-called “Upper Magnolia Green” property.

The technology park would be built on a 1,700-acre site to the west of a proposed Powhite Parkway extension and would include about 100 acres of public facilities. To the east, and handled in a separate rezoning case, would be about 700 acres designated for single-family homes and more public facilities.

Both cases are scheduled for commissioners’ consideration Tuesday. The Planning Commission’s votes will be on whether to recommend the Board of Supervisors vote to give final approval to the rezoning cases.

Chesterfield officials pitched the original vision of the project late last year as a hub of manufacturing, light industrial and research companies that would employ nearby residents of what’s one of the fastest-growing parts of the county.

Though there have been tweaks, the vision has largely held true in preceding months of public information meetings despite criticisms from some county residents opposed to the project.

The proposed new zoning, general industrial (I-2), would allow more than 200 uses by-right or with restrictions, the county has restricted development of the technology park to seven principal uses and four accessory uses.

Those principal uses are proposed to be computer equipment manufacturing, data centers, electronic component and accessories manufacturing, laboratories, offices, pharmaceutical products manufacturing and research and development facilities.

Accessory uses include plastic products manufacturing and warehouses. Plastic products manufacturing was originally among the original primary uses but public opposition motivated a paring back of its presence at the park.

Building heights would be limited to a total of 150 feet, or 13 stories. Telecommunication infrastructure and water tanks would be exempt, according to the staff report.

The proposed technology park portion has shrunk to 1,600 acres since its initial plan, as county officials shaved off about 100 acres to put a high school and fire station into the proposal for the western side of the project based on public feedback.

County officials have increased the park’s buffers after criticism from nearby residents of the initial buffer plan. The change effectively further decreases the usable space at the technology park.

In addition to the technology park proposed as part of the Upper Magnolia Green project, a separate rezoning request would allow construction of 600 single-family homes and public facilities on the east side of the project area, shown here.

The combined buffer areas will occupy about 380 acres, which is about 24 percent of the overall technology park site. There would also be a buffer along the proposed Powhite Parkway extension.

That’s due to the new proposed buffers of 750 feet intended to provide a wooded screen for existing homes to the west of the technology park. The measurement starts at a given house, rather than its property line, so it’s a more variable and tailored buffer than would be seen in other development projects. Assistant Planning Director Stephen Donohoe said in an interview last month that the buffer exceeds any existing county land-use standard.

“If your house is 100 feet from your own property line, you have 650 of buffer from the project,” Donohoe said. “That’s really substantial and something I’m not sure has been done before.”

Prior to the approval of plans tied to development of facilities in the park, the county would be required to hash out a plan to build a four-lane divided extension of Powhite Parkway to Route 360, along with a financing plan and project timeline, that would have to be approved by the Board of Supervisors, according to the staff report.

The county has said that the technology park’s creation would increase the likelihood that the county could secure funding to build the road extension. The county pegged the cost of the extension at more than $700 million, according to a January post on Chesterfield On Point, a county-run blog.

The 700-acre eastern portion of the project area would be occupied by up to 600 lots for single-family detached homes on 550 acres. The remaining 150 acres would be home to a middle school and library and potentially an elementary school, according to the rezoning case’s staff report.

The total assemblage is comprised largely of property the Economic Development Authority bought in 2020. An additional 600 acres not owned by the county is also included in the proposal.