A Bon Air village to live, eat and linger
Chesterfield is rewriting its long-range land plan, called PlanMod. The current draft limits options for the Bon Air village to adapt to the changing needs of the community to live, eat and linger.
A short note from you, a real neighbor, tells the Planning Commission that Bon Air wants a village where people can live above its shops, eat outside and walk to dinner.
Grow in, not out.
It takes about two minutes. The county counts one comment per person, so yours matters.
What we're asking for
- Live: a real village center. Give Bon Air, at Buford Road and Forest Hill Avenue, the same rules the draft PlanMod gives Midlothian's village: up to five stories of housing when a project adds a public green, and homes above shops. Name the Bon Air Shopping Center a place to rebuild, with shops up to the sidewalk and parking behind.
- Eat and linger: room to sit outside. A small village green or square, easy patio dining, and a café allowed at the neighborhood pool.
- Walk there: safe paths in. Dedicated bike lanes and sidewalks from the surrounding neighborhoods to the village, so a family can walk to dinner or grab an ice cream, and kids don't ride their bikes along a fast road.
This is not about towers. It is duplexes, townhouses and shops with apartments above, the kind of village Bon Air started as.
See the county's draft land use map (opens the county's Story Map).
1Send a short note
Pick the note that sounds most like you. Add your name. Change any words you like; a note in your own words counts the most.
- To
- planning@chesterfield.gov
- Cc
- cp@chesterfield.gov
- Subject
Send it before Monday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m.
If the email button does nothing, copy your note, open your email, paste it, and send it to planning@chesterfield.gov. Then press send. The note only counts once it's sent.
Prefer the county's form?
Paste the same note into the county's Planning Commission comment form. Choose the PlanMod public hearing for Oct. 20.
Rather call?
Leave a short message for the Planning Commission at 804-748-1125. Say your name, that you live in Bon Air, and that you support the three asks above for PlanMod.
2Tell Chris you did it
Reply "sent" to the text or email that brought you here. I'm keeping a count so I can tell the Commission how many Bon Air neighbors wrote in.
3Come Tuesday, if you can
- When
- Tuesday, Oct. 20. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.
- Where
- Public Meeting Room, 10001 Iron Bridge Road, Chesterfield, VA 23832
- Note
- PlanMod is the last item on the agenda (14A), so it may come up late. You can speak for up to three minutes, or just sit with your neighbors. A full room says a lot.
- Watch
- It streams live on the county's YouTube channel and on Comcast 98 or Verizon 28.
Fair questions
Isn't the county growing too fast already?
Growth is coming either way. The question is where it lands. A home on new land at the county's edge needs new roads, pipes and often a new school. A home in Bon Air uses the ones we already paid for. Growing in is how we slow the sprawl.
Does this change my street or my lot?
No. PlanMod is a guide for future decisions. It doesn't rezone anyone's property, and nothing here forces a change on any house.
What about traffic on Buford Road?
Homes and shops within walking distance mean more trips on foot and fewer by car. Safe paths are part of the ask for exactly that reason.