Salem neighbors concerned about proposed townhome development

SALEM, Va. (WDBJ) – Residents of a Salem neighborhood are worried about a large housing development that has been proposed near their homes.

ABoone Real Estate is looking to rezone a 40-acre property on Newman Drive that currently houses the old WSLC radio station and several radio towers to build a 171-unit townhome community called Creekside Park.

“We plan to continue to pursue development of a townhome community to create a new housing community that will have lots of amenities. It will have lots of options for people. It will help Salem grow its population, and it will help people who already live in Salem find a home. We were looking at the MLS listings yesterday, and there are fewer than 50 listings of all types in the City of Salem, which is a tiny percentage of what it needs to be,” said Alexander Boone, President of ABoone Real Estate.

People living in the neighborhood next to the property have concerns about the size of the project and what it will mean for their neighborhood.

“My biggest concern would be the traffic; that’s going to be a big deal. Whenever you’re looking to buy a home, there are certain things that you look for, and our house is on two dead-end streets. Doyle is a dead end, and Newman is a dead end, so it’s the quiet neighborhood that we were looking for and that is looking to change,” said Chris Nelson, who lives on Newman Drive.

The primary concern neighbors have is the potential traffic impact of the development. The project’s traffic analysis estimates it would add more than 1,300 daily trips to the intersection of Newman Drive and Doyle Street.

“The number of proposed units is 171. If everyone has two cars, that’s nearly 350 cars that we are adding to our neighborhood to make more than one trip daily. We are not used to that. That would be an immediate change to our neighborhood,” said Dr. Jake Roudebush, who lives in the neighborhood next to the property. “We all moved here because we love Salem, we love the quiet. It is a down-home feel. We are homeowners, but we are also parents, grandparents, and neighbors. When you begin to add 350 extra cars to the neighborhood, it changes the entire dynamic.”

Neighbors are also concerned that Newman Drive would be the only entrance and exit for the development.

“So you’ll have one entrance and one exit to this big proposed development, or any development that goes up there, and that would be a concern. It could act as a bottleneck, especially during emergency or evacuation events,” said Lauren Strong, who lives on Doyle Street, near the proposed development site.

Alexander Boone said the traffic study conducted for the project shows it will not have a major traffic impact.

“The roads in the Forest Lawn and Parkdale neighborhoods have more than enough capacity to handle the traffic. They are at very low traffic capacity right now,” said Boone. “We looked at what’s going to happen at the intersections, what’s going to happen when you pull off onto East Main Street, and the average wait at the heaviest traffic times is an extra two seconds. The capacity that’s there now will be increased when we’re at max buildout by less than 5%.”

Lauren Strong said she is also concerned that the density of the project does not fit with the existing neighborhood, which is made up of single-family homes.

“Part of the comprehensive plan in Salem is to maintain the integrity, the character within the neighborhoods, and have that historical feel. 171 townhomes just don’t fit, especially smack dab in the middle,” she said.

Alexander Boone said a single-family home development was considered for the property, but it is simply not feasible.

“The utility grading and the infrastructure costs are the same at 171 townhomes as 60 single-family homes,” said Boone. “There’s so much grading on the site that we could only fit 60 houses, and unfortunately, the numbers don’t work. It costs millions and millions of dollars to do the development and infrastructure. What happens is you get the same infrastructure and site costs for 60 lots as you do for 171, and it makes it completely unaffordable for anyone to buy.”

Lauren Strong is an environmental compliance specialist. She said she is also concerned about potential flooding on the property due to runoff from the development and the replacement of permeable surfaces with impermeable ones.

“There are people who live downstream of Gish Branch, and they have flooding issues. You also have Carey Avenue and Brand, which are kind of near the Oakey Field complex; they have flooding issues from the massive impervious surfaces at the HSN network that was put in in the ’80s. This development, as big as it is, could really cause a lot of issues for not only the proposed development, but also the surrounding neighborhoods,” said Strong.

Alexander Boone said the project is in compliance with Salem’s stormwater management standards, and there are no environmental concerns.

“The amount of the stream that’s in the watershed that flows down into this neighborhood, our percentage is less than 1% of the overall flow of water through this community. So it’s really a very small amount, although it looks like a large community,” said Boone.

The concerned neighbors say they would be open to a smaller housing project being built on the property. They say many people living in the neighborhood have voiced their opposition to the project to city leaders.

“I think we all are realists. We realize that change is going to happen, but listen to the community. Realize that when the whole neighborhood is speaking out about how much traffic is going to change, and how much it’s going to change what we love, I just hope that people take that into consideration,” said Nelson.

Alexander Boone said townhomes will only be built on about half of the 40-acre property; the rest will be conserved or turned into amenities like walking trails and pocket parks.

“We’re only going to develop 20 acres. We could develop a lot more of it, but we do have streams on it and we want to make sure that we conserve the streams and leave them to be part of the amenities and the things that make this such a nice community,” he said.

Boone said he understands the concerns of neighbors, but the project will help move the Salem community forward.

“Our neighbors and our residents will be part of the community. Our parks, trails, and playgrounds are going to be open to the entire community, not just the members of our community. We want it for the Forest Lawn neighbors, we want them to be part of our community, we want them to use our playgrounds and to walk on our trails,” said Boone.

The Salem Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the project. The Salem City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposal on August 11.

If the project is approved, Boone said the goal is to begin work on the property sometime in the winter, begin construction next summer, and have people living at Creekside Park by Christmas of 2026. He said the project would take around 3 years to be completely built out.