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This map, created by The Smithfield Times, shows the approximate location of the proposed roundabout.

This map, created by engineering firm Kimley Horn, shows areas where residential or commercial development is expected by 2029 at the intersection of Benns Church Boulevard and Turner Drive. A roundabout is planned at Turner. (Image courtesy of Kimley Horn)

Developers building within a half-mile of the intersection of Benns Church Boulevard and Turner Drive over the next five years could share in the cost of building a one-lane roundabout on Turner, under a proposed 2029 master transportation plan that Isle of Wight County staff unveiled Aug. 15.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board in June approved a new six-year improvement plan through 2030 that includes a $2.2 million state grant from revenues conditioned on the county matching the amount dollar-for-dollar. The county received notice of the grant award on Aug. 1.

The six-year plan calls for an additional $972,000 in funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation through Smart Scale, the state’s cost-benefit formula for funding road construction based on regional needs, which will require the Isle of Wight to pay $4.5 million, or 60% of the estimated $7.6 million cost of the roundabout project.

The cost estimate includes the roundabout and the creation of two westbound left-turn lanes from the four-lane Benns Church Expressway onto the two-lane Turner Drive. According to Jamie Oliver, the county’s transportation coordinator, the county has 90 days, or until Nov. 1, to officially accept the revenue-sharing grant. If it doesn’t, VDOT will reallocate the $2.2 million to other municipalities.

“The concern I hear most often from citizens regarding growth and development, especially in my district, is about traffic. … I don’t think we can let this money go to waste,” said Supervisor Renee Rountree.

Supervisor William McCarty agreed, saying it would be “catastrophic” if the Isle of Wight lost its revenue-sharing grant, “not just for the county, but for every single applicant” who had submitted plans to develop the area.

Oliver said accepting the grant would result in separate agreements, one between the county and VDOT and individual agreements with participating developers, with the county responsible for any cost overruns.

“The funding agreements we make with the state must cover any cost overruns needed to complete the project at the start of the project. Once you start, you are obligated to finish it, even if the original amount is exceeded,” Oliver said.

The county Board of Supervisors voted to apply for the revenue-sharing grant in 2023, citing expected growth along the Benns Church corridor. This year, the City of Smithfield received an application from Charlottesville-based Greenwood Homes, but it has not yet been approved, proposing a mixed-use development called “The Promontory” that would create 262 apartments and five commercial lots along the corridor.

In May of this year, county supervisors voted 3-2 over the objection of the Isle of Wight Planning Commission to designate Sweetgrass, a proposed 615-unit residential development on the Isle of Wight side of the city limits, as a mixed-use zone. In total, the development would create 73,000 square feet of commercial space in front of Benns Church at the intersection with Turner across from The Promontory.

The county had already received an application in 2021 from Frontier Development of Miami and Henry Layden of Smithfield to build a Wawa gas station and supermarket at the corner of Turner and Benns Church, but the project is still stalled.

“We have to look at the bigger picture and not just at individual aspects,” said Oliver.

How would the costs be divided?

The 2029 master plan, Oliver said, is the result of input from a stakeholder group that included landowners, commercial and residential developers, representatives from Isle of Wight County Schools, county and city staff, VDOT and outside engineers. It proposes two scenarios for passing on the $4.5 million in costs to developers, one developed by county staff and the other by Henry Layden, who owns the land on which Wawa, Sweetgrass and The Promontory are to be built.

Three parcels totaling 28 acres, referred to as “Turner North” in the 2029 plan, would be assessed just under $600,000, or 13% of the $4.5 million, under both the county and Layden proposals.

According to Don Robertson, deputy county administrator, the 28 acres is not a specific development but a “land use grouping” based on the county’s 2020 comprehensive plan, “Envisioning the Isle,” which identifies the area as ideal for businesses and jobs on its future land use map. Aside from Wawa, no other developers have applied to the Isle of Wight county to rezone this land, Robertson said.

Turner South, another land use group that includes land slated for The Promontory’s commercial phase, would pay $767,256, or 17 percent, under the county proposal, compared to $400,000, or 9 percent, under Layden’s proposal.

“Cypress Run South,” a third land use group, overlaps with land slated for the residential phase of The Promontory and would bring in $586,725 under the county proposal, compared to just over $1 million, or 24%, under Layden’s proposal.

Under the county’s proposal, Sweetgrass would pay $1.4 million, or 33 percent, while under Layden’s proposal, it would pay $500,000, or 11 percent.

Isle of Wight County Schools proposed in 2022 to replace Westside Elementary, a 1960s-era grades 4-6 school in Smithfield, with a grades 5-7 middle school on a site across Turner Drive from the existing Smithfield High School and Smithfield Middle School campuses just outside the city limits. That new school, if built, would cost $180,531, or 4%, under the county’s proposal, up from $785,000, or 17%, under Layden’s proposal.

Both the county plan and Layden’s plan assume that all of the land use groups mentioned will be fully developed by 2029.

For all other construction at the Benns Church and Turner intersection, which is expected to be 50% built out by 2029, the county proposal would total $947,786, or 21%, compared to $1.1 million, or 26%, under Layden’s proposal.

They include a 178-acre undeveloped lot and three lots totaling 22 acres fronting Benns Church Boulevard, all on Smithfield’s side of the city-county line between Sweetgrass and the existing Waterford Oaks development. According to Tammie Clary, Smithfield’s director of community development and planning, the city has not received a request to rezone the property, which is designated for residential and mixed-use in the city’s 2022 comprehensive plan.

According to projections contained in the Master Plan, 100 percent development of all land use groups mentioned and 50 percent development of all other possible future developments along the Benns Church and Turner intersection would account for 24 percent of the traffic at this intersection by 2029.

“The stakeholder group developed assumptions on average traffic volumes that were consistent with the usage projected in the compensation plan,” Robertson said.

As of 2022, the intersection had 22,000 to 24,000 eastbound vehicles, the same number westbound on Benns Church Boulevard, and about 3,000 vehicles daily on Turner, according to VDOT data.