Grapevines Signal Start of Vibrant Change in New Kent County, Va.

Byline: Gary Robertson

Oct. 8-- New Kent County is a rural oasis between Richmond and Hampton Roads. In the last census, its population stood at 13,462.

Good ol' gals and guys roam the back roads in pickup trucks and the county fair is still one of the big social events of the year.

Many people know it as the home of Colonial Downs. The track seems to rise out of nowhere along Interstate 64, which funnels traffic between Richmond and Hampton Roads.

But change is coming, and New Kent's slow-paced ways may be ending.

One sign of that change are grapevines in a field at a country crossroads, state Route 249 and Old Church Road.

If Pete Johns and Pace Fonville are right, those grapevines are the start of a vibrant 4,000-acre planned community, The Farms of New Kent.

The community would encompass a wide range of residential development: gated golf-course estates, age-restricted housing for baby boomers, "primary housing" that the county planner defined as subdivisions.

Johns, a former professional football player, helped …