Moving pictures in Waynesboro?

It’s real, Waynesboro. A multimillion-dollar development featuring a 12-screen cineplex in the West End is in the works, though there might be a hurdle or two from the city that will have to be overcome before they can butter the popcorn.
The cineplex would be part of a mixed-use development that would include 40,000 square feet of retail and up to 120 high-end residential units. The location is the undeveloped property off Windigrove Drive beyond the Home Depot and Residence Inn by Marriott.

Plans for the project were submitted to the city planning department last week, lead developer Bill Hausrath said today.

Talking with City Planner Michael Barnes this afternoon, it’s not a done deal that the plans will get in front of the Waynesboro Planning Commission and ultimately Waynesboro City Council anytime soon.

“The traffic-study issue is a potential hurdle,” said Barnes, referencing the city’s desire to have the development group led by Hausrath revisit a traffic study done earlier this year to get a handle on how the project could impact traffic patterns on the busy Rosser Avenue-Lew Dewitt Boulevard corridor.

That earlier traffic study looked at the impact on traffic with ingress and egress coming solely from Windigrove Drive. There is talk about having the development group undertake a second study to look at impact on traffic in the area if an entrance from Alston Court connecting what is commonly referred to as the Tiffany Drive residential area to the cineplex was constructed.

The plans as submitted do not include that second entrance to the development from Alston Court.

As it stands now, the project is slated for the agenda for the Planning Commission meeting for July 14, but that is contingent upon a quick resolution to the traffic-study issue.

Hausrath told me today that pending city approval the theater complex could be online within a year and a half to two years from now, but that would also be contingent upon a quick resolution to the traffic-study issue, it would seem.

– Story by Chris Graham