All News Archives
BRMC 2012 Cavalcade of Music Fund Raiser
Posted March 6, 2012 at 7:19 PMWe have a great show lined up for the Cavalcade of Music on Sunday, April 29. With the early notification that we sent out, some may be tempted to put it aside for later response, and then forget. Why not do it now, and assure your support for this, our only charity fund-raiser of each year. Better still -- sell some tickets to your friends and/or extended family. They will be glad you thought of them.
Valentine's Day event on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Posted February 1, 2013 at 12:28 AMJoin us for a Very Special Valentine's Day event on Sunday, February 17, 2013 !!
Enjoy a special evening of Fine Dining at the elegant Brandermill Woods Club House. The evening begins at 6:00 with a welcome Open Bar Cocktail Reception featuring a full selection of spirits and wine, with butler served Mini Quiche and bar snacks. Dinner begins at 7:00 p.m.
Please note that the cost per person listed following the choices of entree is all inclusive -- the reception, the dinner and unlimited beverages throughout the evening == including beer, wines and spirits (scotch, vodka, gin, rum, etc.) soft drinks, the entertainment, door prizes, taxes and the gratuity.
Dinner begins with: Baby Spinach Salad with glazed pecans & Manderins pre-set Raspberry Vinaigrette)
Your entree and dessert choices are:
- Surf & Turf Lobster Tail & 4oz. Filet Mignon -- $66 per person
- 6oz Petite Filet Mignon Bearnaise -- $56 per person
- Baked Salmon Filet & mustard/dill sauce -- $52 per person
- Chicken "Oscars" -- $50 per person
Each entree is served with rice pilaf and California blend vegetables.
For dessert: your choice of Carrot Cake or German Chocolate Cake.
Following dinner, we visualize being in a "supper club" and welcome popular & talented vocalist -- Joe LaLuna -- offering our favorite selections -- the soothing strains of some oldies -- and some not so old.
Note that tables will accommodate 6 or 8 persons. Therefore, we suggest that when making your reservations please indicate with whom you wish to be seated, otherwise we will randomly assign seating.
Reservations will be accepted on a first paid basis and must include each person's selection of entree and dessert. Reservations must be received before Monday February 11.
We also encourage you to invite relatives, friends and neighbors to join us. Simply add their names, entree & dessert selections to the reservation form.
Complete and mail the reservation form, with your check(s) payable to BRMC, to
Bill LaLonde 14207 Chimney House Road, Midlothian, VA 23112
------------- Print & cut -- or provide info on separate sheet ------------
Name ____________________ Entree _____________ Dessert ____________ $ _________
Check(s) Total: $ _________
May 3, 2012 Meeting
Posted March 16, 2012 at 10:29 AMMonica Hughes. the Executive Director of the Chesterfield Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI), will be the speaker for the May meeting of BRMC.
LLI, is now in its ninth year of meeting that thirst for knowledge and the challenges of seniors through daytime college level courses, lectures, events and other activities. LLI is about intellectual curiosity and the joy of learning for learning’s sake: all goals of seniors not ready for an inactive and stoic retirement and who are looking forward to a future with challenges and opportunities for personal growth.
Guided tour of the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Posted January 14, 2013 at 10:13 AMThe BRMC has arranged a special guided tour of the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, adjacent to Washington Dulles International Airport.
The date is Wednesday, March 20, 2013.
This popular event will fill up quickly, so early reservations are encouraged.
Paid reservervations must be received by March 1, 2013.
Contact Bal Dighe for details: 804-639-6960.
National Monuments, April 18
Posted March 15, 2013 at 1:34 PMBRMC Social Committee Vice-chair Bal Dighe has done it again !!
He has arranged a wonderful day-tour of two National Monuments, with transportation by luxury motorcoach at just $35.00 per person, including taxes and gratuity,--- provided we have a minimum of 40 persons, and we can accommodate up to 56.
The monuments are....
Appomattox Courthouse National Park, which is comprised of many historical structures plus several reconstructed buildings. The village itself is the site of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant, thus ending the four year civil war. We will see documents and the many artifacts of that tragic event, including the pencil used by General Lee for additions and corrections to the treaty.
The D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. That town suffered the highest per-capita casualties in the nation. The National D-Day memorial honors the allied forces that fought in the invasion of Normandy France on June 6, 1944. The English garden, a haunting tableau of the invasion, and the victory plaza pay homage to the brave forces and sacrifices of our fallen heroes.
Note that the entrance fee for Appomattox is just $3 or is free for those who hold Golden Passport (senior citizen) passes. Since many of our members are holders of this passport, they are entitled free entry with two more persons.
Similarly, the D-Day Memorial waives the small entry fee for Veterans. Thus, the prudent option is to have each person handle their own entry.
The details are:
- Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013
- Leave Market Square @ 9:30 a.m.
- Arrive Appomattox Courthouse @ 11:00 a.m.
- Leave Appomattox @1:00 p.m.
- Lunch stop @1:15 at The Porterhouse Restaurant in Lynchburg, were each person can order his/her own meal from the menu and pay accordingly.
- Depart Lynchburg @2:00 p.m.
- Arrive and tour the D-Day Memorial @ 2:30.
- Depart Bedford @ 4:30 p.m.
- Arrive Market Square @ 6:30 p.m.
- Paid reservations are required for this special offering, and must be received before Monday, April 1st. If we do not have the minimum 40 paid reservations BEFORE that date, the tour will need to be cancelled and your checks returned/cancelled.
Send your checks, payable to BRMC, at $35. per person, to:
6112 Duck Cove Road Midlothian, VA 23112
Questions? Please call Bal at 804.639.6960
November 6, 2025 Meeting
Posted October 15, 2025 at 1:40 AMThe November 6 speaker is Jessica Schneider, Clover Hill District Supervisor on the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors. Her topics will cover updates on several projects in this district.
CDOT lays out plans for Powhite Parkway extension
Posted October 15, 2025 at 12:03 AMBy Greg Pearson
Phase 1 of the Powhite Parkway Extension from its intersection with Charter Colony Parkway westward to Woolridge Road is already underway. Funding in the amount of $200 million has been secured, according to Bill Arel, principal engineer for the Chesterfield Department of Transportation (CDOT). Arel was the featured speaker at the October meeting of the Brandermill Region Men’s Club (BRMC).
Phase 1 of the Powhite Extension also includes connecting Woolridge Road at the traffic circle with Old Hundred Road north to the Woolridge Road exit off Route 288. Much of that area was zoned residential about 18 years ago and then went bankrupt in the real estate crash of 2008- 09. Known as Roseland, it included sizable commercially zoned developments plus zoning for over 5,000 single and multifamily homes. Connecting both ends of Woolridge Road together will begin in 2026 and take an estimated three years to complete.
Unlike the existing Powhite Parkway, there will be traffic lights at the intersections of Charter Colony Parkway, Brandermill Parkway and Woolridge Road. The Charter Colony intersection will be refigured and pass over the Powhite Extension. The Powhite Parkway PowerPoint presented by Arel is here.
Watermill Parkway will also pass over the Powhite Extension. Further west, the Powhite Extension will dead end at Woolridge Road until Phase 2 commences. Phase 2 will have the Powhite bear to the left and continue further westward through the Magnolia Green community and ending at Route 360 near Grange Hall Elementary School. Currently, there is no funding for Phase 2 and no timetable for starting or completing Phase 2.
Brandermill commuters headed home can exit the Powhite at Brandermill Parkway but not be able to turn left in order to enter the planned community. They will be required to turn right and head north on Brandermill Parkway away from Brandermill. But after a short distance, those commuters will enter a traffic roundabout and be able to reverse directions and head south back to Brandermill.
The road improvements also include extending Centerpointe Parkway at Tomahawk Middle School and building an expensive bridge across Tomahawk Creek to reach Woolridge Road. Extending the Powhite is a joint effort between CDOT and VDOT. Arel has previously worked for VDOT and his connections there will aid the cooperation between the two departments. “Our relationship with VDOT is like brother and sister, which means from time to time we fight,” he said.
With the demise of the Chesterfield Observer, the BRMC began inviting non-members to its speaker programs to help fill the void of news coverage for Chesterfield. Jessica Schneider, Clover Hill supervisor, will be the speaker at the November 6 meeting of the BRMC. She will likely be asked about the numerous multifamily developments in western Chesterfield and the status of the water park on Genito Road.
Free coffee and pastries begin at 9:15 am, and Supervisor Schneider starts speaking at 10 am at the Brandermill Church. All county residents are invited to attend.
Police Chief: multifamily growth is biggest change in Chesterfield in past 5 years
Posted August 13, 2025 at 10:25 PMBy Greg Pearson
When Police Chief Frank Carpenter said the biggest difference in Chesterfield County during the past five years has been the increase in multifamily housing, many of the 53 members and guests of the Brandermill Region Men’s Club nodded their heads in agreement. Col. Carpenter was the speaker at the September meeting of the Brandermill Men’s Club (BRMC).
Carpenter was to have spoken on how growth in the 360 corridor would affect crime and traffic safety, but he said the county’s transportation department asked him not to get into its topic. Officials of CDOT are doing a PowerPoint presentation to the BRMC at 10 am on October 2 covering the extensions of the Powhite Parkway and Woolridge Road. As usual, the meeting will be at the Brandermill Church.
But there is good news on the recruitment front. The Chesterfield Police Academy has 28 recruits, the largest class in the past nine years. Their training takes nine months to complete. Currently, CCPD is authorized for 564 sworn officers and has just 531, which includes those still attending the Academy. A sworn officer carries a badge and is authorized to make arrests. The Virginia State Police also has a staffing shortage.
While the environment is improving for recruitment, Chesterfield and Henrico County have about the same number of sworn officers. But Chesterfield has twice as many square miles as Henrico to police.
“We are living off our reputation of being ‘Arrestafield’” explained Carpenter. “That reputation keeps some of the bad guys away from our county.”
The chief says Chesterfield cooperates with ICE on immigration problems when called upon. After such an arrest, CCPD hands off a suspect who happens to be an illegal immigrant to the Chesterfield Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the county jail and courthouse.
According to Carpenter, Chesterfield doesn’t really have a gang problem. Those youths are more likely to be “smaller in numbers more like neighborhood cliques.”
There is a school resource officer (SRO) assigned to every middle and high school in the county. If he had more manpower, Col. Carpenter would like to place an SRO in every elementary school also.
BRMC members asked questions about the intersection of Kelly Green Drive and Genito Road near the proposed water park. There have been a number of accidents there recently allegedly because that intersection lacks a traffic light. Carpenter said VDOT monitors accidents and their locations to determine when to install a traffic light. Routinely, traffic lights cost $50,000 each.
Chesterfield begins construction of flood wall around Swift Creek plant
Posted June 9, 2025 at 9:27 PMBy Greg Pearson
The 1,500-foot flood wall around the Swift Creek water treatment plant is under construction, and the four-month long pile driving effort is expected to start on or about June 20th. County officials report that 441 piles are to be sunk to protect the plant from flooding on three sides.
The noise from the pile driving will occur between 8 am and 6 pm on weekdays and be noticeable to nearby residents and motorists on Hull Street Road near the treatment plant. The pile driving will end after four months.
The flood wall will prevent flooding of the plant that has occurred twice in the past 7 years. Hurricane Michael flooded the plant in October, 2018 and put the plant out of service for a month.
And on August 15, 2020, an unnamed storm anchored over the Swift Creek Reservoir and dropped 11 inches of rain in a few hours. That torrential storm shut down the treatment plant for 9 months. Brandermill Country Club reported that the water rose to six feet above its 9th green, washing away part of its golf cart path of blacktop pavement.
The flood wall construction will cost $21 million, which includes an $8.7 million grant from
federal sources. Anne Urenda, a principal engineer with the Chesterfield Utilities Department,
said she didn’t know if the federal government might “claw back” any of its funding. Urenda and
Mike Larson, an engineering supervisor with the utilities department, were the featured speakers
at the June 5 monthly meeting of the Brandermill Region Men’s Club (BRMC).
The flood wall construction period is expected to end in July next year. The height of the wall will vary with some portions being 18 feet tall.
The second part of the speaker program for the BRMC covered a new, fourth source of drinking water. Currently, Chesterfield has three drinking water sources: Swift Creek Reservoir with a maximum capability of 12 million gallons daily (mgd); the Appomattox River Authority with a maximum capacity of 66 mgd; and the James River (from the city of Richmond) at 32 mgd. With a total of 110 mgd available, the peak usage for Chesterfield thus far on any day is 70 mgd.
Because Chesterfield is experiencing the fastest population growth of any county in Virginia, it recently purchased land near Point of the Rocks Park in eastern Chesterfield for a fourth water source. According to Larson, who is heading up the project for Chesterfield, there is the “potential for 80 mgd when the water treatment plant opens in 2033.” Currently, the county is conducting water sampling tests for the next two years.
Additionally, the county has already announced it is seeking to provide land for data centers to be built in the Westchester Commons development off Route 60 and also adjacent to the Magnolia Green community off Rt. 360. Data centers are known to utilize considerable water.
To see the 10-slide PowerPoint presentation on the developing water treatment plant, click here.
At the end of the BRMC meeting, there were reports of dead catfish and opened but dead mussels in Sunday Park from the club’s membership and guests. By email later that day, Larson reported “the [Swift Creek Treatment] plant has confirmed that they are taking regular samples of water in the reservoir and the water quality is suitable for treatment at our plant. The plant is aware of the observations of floating mussels. According to our Biologist, there are several factors that contribute to mussels surfacing. Weather, wind, water quality, temperature, depth, carp, muskrats are some of the factors. Overall, the amount of mussels is not too dissimilar to previous years, but this year has had a much narrower time window. Water temperatures have been warmer earlier in the year before dropping recently, and wind speeds have been slightly above normal this spring. Our Biologist spoke with Scott Hermann at the Department of Wildlife Resources, and he confirmed that this phenomenon has been observed at other bodies of water in Virginia this year. Mr. Hermann is going to discuss further with DWR counterparts who focus on freshwater mussels and will coordinate with the Plant staff.”
Annually, the BRMC goes on hiatus for July and August. The speaker for the September program will be Chesterfield Police Chief Edward Carpenter. Over the past 25 years, Col. Carpenter has been working his way through the ranks within the department. He will be addressing the BRMC at 10 am on Thursday, September 4th at the Brandermill Church.
May 7, 2025, BRMC Spring Picnic
Posted April 5, 2025 at 10:38 PMBRMC Spring picnic will be held on May 7 at the Brandermill North Beach Clubhouse. Price is $20 per person, and the time is from 4-8 pm.