For over 70 years the City of Fredericksburg, has been home to the Fredericksburg Trailer Park located on U.S. Route 1 and the State Route 3 intersection. After years of neglect, the park had fallen into disrepair and the owner of the trailer park sold to regional developer Silver Companies. After a few years of rezoning attempts, Silver Companies contacted Jarrell Properties Inc. and suggested JPI’s professional commercial development product would have success and sold to JPI. Jarrell Properties Inc. jumped on the opportunity to redevelop the site, and court new businesses’ to the City of Fredericksburg.

Challenges:

Jarrell Properties Inc. faced four main challenges on the Cowan Station project

1. Improper Zoning
   • The site was zoned for a mobile home park, and commercial-transitional development, neither of these uses were the highest and best for the area. In addition, the City’s Comprehensive Plan called for this area to be student housing, which was not economically feasible or desired by the market.
2. Adjacent Neighborhood
   • The Civic Association was concerned with traffic connection to their neighborhood, as well as limiting noise, light and odor pollutant users. Previous proposals brought to the Association, were looked upon negatively for their adverse impacts.
3. Road Infrastructure
   • The site was burdened by an odd shape, bordered by an out of conformance secondary road, and transected by City rights of way, established in the 1800s. Previous City comments were directed on realigning the layout of the secondary road with U.S. Route 1, with limited usable space, and other easement burdens, the Cowan Station site suffered from limited usable area to develop.
4. Ancillary Site Constraints
   1. The site had environmentally sensitive areas, telecommunication easements, transmission power line easements, and right of way conflicts. All of these constraints converged to limit to opportunity to develop 50% of the site.

Solutions:

1. Improper Zoning
   • JPI collaborated with City Officials to draft a Comprehensive Plan Amendment, that allowed for the Cowan Station site to be pursued for a Commercial Highway rezoning.
2. Adjacent Neighborhood
   • JPI was active in collaboration with the civic association due north of the project, attending community meetings, and actively seeking input to ensure a quality delivered project that compliments and enhances the City of Fredericksburg. JPI worked with City Staff and Civic leaders to limit noise, light and odor pollutant users, and well as engage in thoughtful pedestrian connectivity, and commit the project to no-vehicular connections.
3. Road Infrastructure
   • JPI worked with City Officials in an agreement to realign the secondary road, to better access U.S. Route 1, as well as clean up the existing sub-par right of way conditions, allowing for JPI’s site to be contiguous. JPI and the City agreed to a land-swap for the rights-of-way that were mutually beneficial. JPI committed Cowan Station to bring the City streets to current standards, with proper radii, width and drainage.
4. Ancillary Site Constraints
   • JPI spent considerable energy with engineers, consultants and utility companies, to ensure that the development would geometrically fit within the constraints, and through collaboration with easement holders negotiate development standards within the easements.

Result:

JPI has successfully rezoned the site into a professional commercial development, and will be working to realign the secondary road, develop the site and start to court new businesses to the City of Fredericksburg. Cowan Station has been approved for 52,000 square feet of Commercial-Highway zoned development, across 9 acres. There will be eight single level, all-brick, timeless designed buildings, allowing for a host of medical, retail, office, research and dining uses.

Overview of Project