We all made it happen, Congratulations!

The Ni Village project has been in the making for many years, with the first meeting taking place in 2006, where chosen partners and team got together to brainstorm on what to do with 330 acres of land.  Today we are very excited and proud to announce that Luck Development Partners will be creating a LEGACY for future generation to come! 

Thank you to the community of Spotsylvania County and the Board of Supervisors for allowing Luck Development Partners to provide a world class development to the area.  We will not let you down, even though this hurdle is over we still want to hear from you so don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.

Here is a link to the article in this mornings paper: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/102011/10122011/657887

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/092011/09082011/650436

Dear Ni Village Supporters,

We are inviting you to attend the Planning Commission Public Hearing Wednesday August 3^rd, 7:30pm at Holbert Building, 9104 Courthouse Road, Spotsylvania VA 22553. Thank you for your interest and support so far of our sustainable development, Ni Village.

For your convenience, attached is the official County notice that was mailed to all adjacent neighbors for the upcoming Planning Commission’s Public Hearing.

Additionally, I have included a fact sheet. We hope you’ll find informative and helpful in answering any questions regarding Ni Village.

Please feel free to contact Eileen Dahlstedt, General Manager at 804-784-6343 or email her at edahlstedt@lucklegacy.com with any questions. We also encourage you to go through the contact page should you need further information or if wish to share your comments and/or suggestions.

Sincerely,

Luck Development Partners

Attachements:

Ni Village Fact Sheet – External-FINAL _2_

Letter adjacent property owners

TECHNICAL DATA

Traffic Impact Analysis: Complete Traffic Study 11_08_10

Fiscal Impact Analysis: REV Exhibits 3_11 FIA

GENERAL INFORMATION

Rezoning Application Summary: 1936.3RR_TakeAway_web

Smith Mill Education Center

Thank you to all of the Spotsylvania Community and supporters that came out to our March 24, 2011 Community Meeting Update at the Massaponax High School.  Below you will find a article written by the Free Lance Star in Spotsylvania County summarizing their view of our meeting.

3_26_11 ‘Quarry town’ traffic an issue

Lifelong Learning is a key cornerstone in Luck Development Partner’s Ni Village.

A sustainable development, Ni Village will evolve around a shared educational center integrating multiple institutions focused on resource conservation, green technology development and sustainable living.

The Smith Mill Education Center will be a major attraction for talent, a broad range of local and regional participants and various resources. The Center is designed to accommodate an integrated university and community college campus and conference facility focused on green curriculum.

Designed for Learning

Located on the west side of Ni Village, the Education Center is designed as a new version of a classic mill yard with brick, stone and masonry architecture and plaza spaces -interconnected buildings designed as a precinct within the Ni Village. Buildings will be required to incorporate a high level of energy and environmental standards. A central commons provides a social and academic heart for the Center.

The Smith Mill Education Center and Ni Village in its entirety will be a place of innovative research and higher education, where school policies and programs are created and visions for lifelong learning are shaped and accomplished.

Spotsylvania Greenways Inititive (SGI), a local non-profit trail building group will be celebrating America Recycles Week on November 13 from 10:00 am till Noon using the Salamander Loop of the Ni River Trail.   This trail, built soley by the hands of Boy Scouts, SGI and local volunteers for the Spotsylvania community.  The trail is a nature trail, you won’t find any blacktop here! Please come by on November 13th and show your support.  We can build a healthier community!

The Salamander Loop, the first phase of the Ni River Trail, was created to help inspire local residents to learn about nature and fitness.
BY JEFF BRANSCOME

Photo taken by LDP (not a part of article).

Chris Folger walked about 100 feet along a wooded trail in Spotsylvania County. She stopped and looked at her surroundings. “It’s such a different feel,” she said. “Route 1 is right over there, but yet you get back here, and you just have this sense of being in nature.”

Folger, who chairs the Spotsylvania Greenways Initiative, on Saturday welcomed more than 200 people to the opening of the first phase of the Ni River Trail. The event coincided with National Trails Day.

The 1.75-mile Salamander Loop is behind River Run Business Park off U.S. 1, across from Massaponax High School. It’s on land owned by Luck Development Partners and has a half-mile handicapped-accessible path covered with stone dust.

The trail also has ponds and more than 20 types of trees, including Virginia pine, American holly, white dogwood and Southern red oak.

“It took a good chunk of the community to make it happen, and that’s nice,” said Spotsylvania Greenways Initiative member Paul Gehring.  Since February, he said, as many as 100 volunteers have spent 2,000 hours preparing the trail. Boy Scout Troop 165 of Spotsylvania, for instance, constructed two wooden bridges, Folger said.

Folger’s grandson, 9-year-old Aidan, and his friend, 9-year-old Eliot Baker, searched for frogs in wetlands near one of the bridges. At one point Aidan stuck his entire hand into the muck, but turned up nothing. Earlier, Aidan said, he contributed a frog to a special attraction at Saturday’s event featuring salamanders, turtles and other creatures.
“There’s lots of wildlife out here, and it’s not completely polluted,” Eliot said. “It’s fun to find stuff and catch it.”
“And to get dirty,” Aidan added.

Spotsylvania resident Jennifer Cline came to the trail opening with her daughters, Katie, 7, and Julie, 9. Cline, who is a nurse at Mary Washington Home Health, spends a lot of time on the road and said she hopes to walk the trail after work. She said she passes it on her way home. “I have been waiting to have somewhere to go hiking near me for so long,” Cline said. “To have trails so close to home is just awesome.”

Folger plans for the Ni River Trail and a network of other pathways to connect to the four battlefields within Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The next phase is an approximately 3-mile path to Patriot Park on Smith Station Road. For now, Folger said, she’s happy creating the trail one mile at a time.
“You can forget the cares of the day and be at peace.”

Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com
________________________________________
The Salamander Loop
The Spotsylvania Greenways Initiative, which created the trail, is a nonprofit founded to locate, preserve and create greenways in the county. The trail is called the Salamander Loop because volunteers found unusual salamanders in a vernal pond on the property.
It is open daily from sunrise to sunset and has several rules, including:
Visitors must stay on the designated paths and take their trash home with them.
No picking flowers or damaging plants.
No smoking or alcohol.
No hunting, fishing, camping or fires.
No loud music.
Pets must be on a leash, and owners must pick up after them.
________________________________________
Copyright 2010 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.

Map of planned Ni Village areas

1. East Campus
2. Smith’s Mill Education Center
3. Lewis Square
4. Tuppelo Steppes
5. The Slip
6. Market Square
7. Ni Terrace
8. Ni Basin
9. Alfred’s Bend

Artists rendering of Ni Village's green infrastructure

Above is an image that conceptually describes the form of the green infrastructure designed and intergrated into the community. Pedestrian ways, watercourses and drainage ways are aligned allowing the walker to trace the path of water flow from the top of the watershed in the community to the tributaries of the Ni River.

Along this route are stormwater mitigation and conservation measures such as green roofs, gutters and rain water cisterns at the upper end of the watershed in the village or campus. Rain gardens, falls, wetlands and retention ponds would be found at the lower end route toward the woodland edge. Lining the whole system are native plants and wildlife habitats in the form of wetlands, meadows and the structuring elements of canopy trees and hedges.

This progression of environmental conditions along pedestrian ways inspires closer understanding and appreciation of the watershed and nature. Educational signage at key points help illuminate this design.