If you drive near schools in Spotsylvania, you might want to slow down.
The county’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday night to create an ordinance that allows for the installation and operation of photo speed-monitoring devices in school crossing zones.
The idea is to encourage drivers to lower their speeds around schools. If they go 11 miles or more above the speed limit, cameras posted near schools would take a picture of their car and the license plate. Then they would get a ticket in the mail.
They would face a civil penalty of $50 for the first violation, and $100 for a second or subsequent violation. The infraction would not generate points on an individual’s driving record, however. A similar system goes into effect in Fredericksburg later this month.
It’s unclear now how many cameras would be installed or which schools they would serve. To start the initiative, which county staff said has been successful in other jurisdictions, the supervisors would still need to approve a contract with a company that will operate the cameras. That could come next month.
There will be a process for challenging a ticket if someone other than the registered owner of a vehicle was driving at the time of a violation, and personal information collected by a photo speed-monitoring device will not be part of the public record. The ordinance even establishes a penalty for disclosure of such information.
Board Chairman Jacob Lane said no one should think the regulations mean the county is “out there trying to get over on them.” If you don’t speed, you have nothing to worry about.
“And even if you do want to be a knucklehead in those areas, you’ve got, unfortunately, you have a ten-mile-per-hour wiggle room,” said Lane, who represents the Livingston District. “I think that’s pretty gracious. Especially when we’re talking about speeding around our children.”
Supervisor Lori Hayes, who represents the Lee Hill District, also said residents should be assured that the addition of cameras is not “policing for profit,” or just another way the county can make money.
Instead, it’s about changing poor driving behavior, Hayes said.
“So, hopefully, we’ll get zero dollars from this,” she said.
Former Spotsylvania School Board member Dawn Shelley said in a public hearing on the subject that she agreed with Hayes’ characterization, and she thanked the supervisors for acting.
She said those who have decried the speed cameras online are likely the same ones who speed through school zones.
“So they need to get over themselves,” she said.
Visions of a grocery store danced in their heads
Also Tuesday, the supervisors voted, 6-1, with Hayes dissenting, to approve the rezoning of 12.65 acres from rural and commercial to mixed-use for an addition to the Spotsylvania Courthouse Village project, which will have a mix of residential and commercial uses.
The decision came despite the county’s Planning Commission voting unanimously to recommend denial of the development, which will be northwest of the Lake Anna Parkway and Brock Road intersection. County staff also recommended denying approval.
But a majority of the supervisors seemed swayed by the presentation of developer William J. Vakos III. He’s a member of a prominent Fredericksburg-area family, and the new project would add to the existing Spotsylvania Courthouse Village development.
The elected officials also seemed taken with the notion that the new construction could bring a grocery store with a pharmacy to the area.
“Those of us that live here have been waiting twenty-five years for a grocery store,” Vakos III said. “Well, we have somebody that’s really interested.”
Lane said a grocer would be a first for his district.
“That’s the selling point for my constituents,” he said.
More rules for data centers could come
In addition, the supervisors voted, 6-1, with Berkeley District Supervisor Kevin Marshall voting no, to direct county staff to prepare potential regulations for data centers, including possibly making them require special-use permits.
Spotsylvania officials have been specifically trying to attract data centers, buildings that store and manage large amounts of digital data, to the county since 2011.
They are sought-after because of the tax revenue they generate, but they’re also controversial, with criticism that the power and water they require is overwhelming. Data centers use water to cool their facilities, and their effect on community water supplies is often a worry.
“This really is of great concern to me,” Hayes said, “and my constituents, for that matter. You know, I’m not sure that many of them know what’s coming at this point.”
How much of a big deal are data centers? More than 10 million square feet of them, covering about 1,000 acres, have already been approved in Spotsylvania, county staff said. And another 16-plus million square feet on more than 1,217 acres are pending.
Additionally, more than 2,000 acres could be developed in the county without approval from the supervisors.
In other business Tuesday, the supervisors:
- Voted, 5-2, to approve the Roxbury Commons subdivision project. The development would consist of 60 single-family homes located on the west side of North Roxbury Mill Road, less than a mile from its intersection with Larkin Chew Road. Lane and board Vice Chairman Chris Yakabouski cast the dissenting votes.
- Commended Treasurer Larry Pritchett for his more than 50 years of service to Spotsylvania. He was first hired as a county staff accountant in July 1974.
