Doris Frazier remembers when about 50 families lived in Chesterfield’s Westland Acres neighborhood. The land was sacred to the families because it was purchased in 1881 by their ancestor William West, a formerly enslaved man.
Today, there are only about eight families remaining on the land, as taxes have become unaffordable for many, and several public services are unavailable. However, after decades of fighting to rebuild the land, redevelopment could be on the way.
Chesterfield City Council voted 8-0 Monday to amend a bill that would repeal a zoning ordinance to change the boundaries of the E ½ Estates District and the Non-Urban District to a new Planned Unit Development for 56.31 acres of land located north of Strecker Road and east of Church Road, which would include parts of Frazier’s land.
Family members had hoped the council would vote to push the redevelopment forward; however, the council will engage in more dialogue with the developers and neighbors about potential plans. They have also asked the developers to provide designs that will better align with the city’s code before voting on the bill next month.
The family said this stalls the process and continues to drain the developer’s pockets.
Frazier said that some descendants have been trying to get the land redeveloped since the 1950s, so the heirs could live in an area with updated infrastructure and maintain their families.
“When I got married, I could see all of the things that needed to be done in the neighborhood and with the people in the neighborhood,” Frazier said. “Developing the land was one of the dreams that we had, we [she and her late husband] dreamed that the community could be a place where all races, all levels of income, could live together and be happy. That just never happened.”
Valley Park’s Provisions Land Development LLC plans to develop 50 single-family detached homes with outdoor space, meditation gardens and walking trails.
Frazier has worked with about ten developers over the last few decades. She said they have all received pushback from the city of Chesterfield. The first hurdle the family faced was dividing the nearly 130 acres between two cities – Chesterfield and Wildwood. She said Chesterfield is quickly developing all around their community.
“The other thing that has stopped us [from redeveloping] is we don't have anything,” she said. “We don’t have water … gas and sewer. We have to use propane gas, which is so expensive, and some of us have well water or cisterns.”
Chesterfield’s Planning and Public Works Committee Chairperson Merrell Hansen said at Monday night’s meeting that the committee is concerned that the proposed redevelopment plan does not include features that are compatible with all land users.
“This can become a premier neighborhood for our city; it's a step, and so I would be willing to accept that as long as these other conditions are met,” Hansen said.
Frazier, 94, said rebuilding the land has been a decades-long dream of hers, and she hopes they do so before she passes away.
“This thing that I want to see, and y’all can help me see it before I cross over, is that the area of Westland Acres will never forget our ancestors for establishing, buying, and we still have the land there on the hill in Chesterfield," she said.
