Here’s a novel predicament: Virginia Beach city council members are worried because they’re experiencing too little residential growth.
Reports Dierdre Fernandes with the Virginian-Pilot: “When City Council members approved increased development in the Princess Anne area, they assumed that hundreds of high-cost homes would quickly replace the woods and soybean fields and help pay for much-needed road improvements.”
That hasn’t happened.
In 2003, the City Council approved up to 3,000 homes for the transition area, 9,600 acres between the suburban north and rural south.
In the past four years, the council has allowed for 1,376 potential homes. But by the month’s end, 50 are expected to have been sold. That’s far less than the 700 homes Beach officials projected would be generating tax money by this point. …
The transition area funding plan had called for a portion of real estate revenue from projects … to be set aside for road projects in Princess Anne. A city analysis showed that the overall development in the transition area could pay for itself and create a $187 million surplus in tax revenue.
