Heated Three Chopt supervisor’s race nears end

Though the general election isn’t until Nov. 5, voters in the Three Chopt District essentially will select their supervisor for the next four years June 11. That’s because Republicans Tommy Branin, the incumbent first-term supervisor, and challenger Dishant Shah, a physician, are the only two seeking the seat. No Democrats or independents have filed for it.

Branin, who served on the county’s Planning Commission for a decade and was longtime Three Chopt Supervisor Dave Kaechele’s choice to replace him on the board, has pointed to a list of achievements during the past four years as evidence that he deserves to keep the party nomination – and the seat.

“In my district, people said, ‘We need to slow housing [growth] down,’ and in my four years we have reduced housing 50 to 60 percent,” he said. “In my district, people said, ‘We are active. . . we want to walk, we want to ride, we want to run. So we put in 14 miles of sidewalk and the first crosswalks in the county. We have put in bike lanes. We went through and we’ve renovated and upgraded all of the parks in the district.”

Shah, however, has attempted to portray Branin as an out-of-touch supervisor who is beholden developers. He’s also suggested that Branin, the national sales manager for Colonial Construction Materials, has a conflict of interest, since he sells to builders.

“That conflict of interest is really what drove me to run,” said Shah, a neuroradiologist who specializes in brain and spine imaging and provides telemedicine services to hospitals and outpatient centers.

Another motivating factor: traffic. Shah was rear-ended while stopped at the traffic light at the always-crowded intersection of West Broad Street and Pouncey Tract Road and suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery. He attributed some of that traffic growth to over-development of the district and has vowed to focus on adding more open space, listening to constituents and approving only development that makes sense.

“Over a period of time I’ve started realizing that Henrico isn’t what I’d like it to be,” said Shah, who moved to the county with his family a decade ago. “As a doctor, I know that anything out of balance – too much sugar, too much salt, too much weight – too much anything isn’t a good thing.”

But to Branin, the district has become more balanced during the past four years and there are more improvements on the way, including an interchange at North Gayton Road and I-64, the widening of Three Chopt Road in the Far West End and a Sadler Road project that’s been on many citizens’ wish-lists for years. Those projects will help ease traffic congestion, Branin said.

Branin has several longer-term goals for the district: maintaining its top-level schools; fostering redevelopment in its eastern region, near Parham Road; and making the entire district more walkable.

Shah, too, wants to see redevelopment of the eastern portion and told the Citizen that he views the district as “two Three Chopts” – the Far West End, with all its amenities and the Near West End, with aging infrastructure. To him, schools in desperate need of a coat of paint or a net for a basketball hoop are signs that small-but-important details have been overloooked and the voices of citizens have gone unheard.

“‘Nobody’s willing to listen’ – that’s a consistent theme I’ve heard” when campaigning, Shah said.

Point of contention
Ironically, a point of contention in the race is the role that a potential development project in that Near West End region, near Tucker High School, played in Shah’s decision to run. Branin believes Shah was motivated to seek his seat after Branin rejected the idea of several local men who wanted to build a hotel near J.R. Tucker High School. Shah was part of that group, Branin said. But Shah maintains that he was merely helping foster communication on the group’s behalf.

“I was never a part of any development project,” Shah said. “If that’s the only thing that he’s saying, then I’m sorry Mr. Branin, that’s not how it is.”

Regardless, Branin said, his track record as a supervisor is hardly one that many developers would laud.

“I have a terrible reputation with development community,” Branin said, pointing to efforts he’s undertaken as supervisor to ensure builders use higher-quality materials; ensure that townhomes and apartments are built larger than some developers intend; and provide for pocket parks in new communities – all of which reduce a builder’s profit margin, he said.

“And he’s saying I’m in the pockets of developers?” Branin said. “I’ve never been a developer, but he certainly wants to be.”

Shah has accused Branin of failing to hold any town hall meetings since he took office; Branin said he’s hosted three, but none attracted more than seven citizens, so he has chosen instead to address civic groups when invited and speak at other community gatherings instead.

He also meets with citizens and neighborhood groups regularly in advance of rezoning or other land use proposals, and those serve as de facto town hall meetings, he said. And on a typical day, he responds to an average of 25 constituent e-mails and one to three voice mails every day, he said.

“Not having town hall meetings monthly that are advertised does not mean that you are not engaged and helping the community daily,” Branin said.

Shah has vowed to hold town hall meetings at least quarterly if elected and seek out citizen input. But, he said, he wouldn’t hesitate to make a difficult decision that citizens disagreed with if he felt it was in the best interests of the district.

“I will ask questions,” he said. “It should never ever be about what’s in it for me. I’ll make sure that the right questions get asked.”

Identity issues
The race has featured several oddities, including Shah publicly challenging Branin to a debate “anytime, any place” – but not directly contacting Branin’s camp with the offer until after selecting a date, time and location for the event, which never took place because Branin had a conflict.

To Branin, Shah’s campaign is void of much substance, aside from one underlying message.

“Go on his Facebook page, and it’s ‘I hate Tommy – please join me in that,’” Branin said.

Shah has knocked on more than 7,000 doors, he said – losing 14 pounds in the process during the past two months.

“I know now why it’s called ‘running for election,’” he joked.

His visits with citizens have convinced him that most don’t feel connected with Branin.

“Ninety-nine percent of the doors I’ve knocked don’t even know who the supervisor is,” Shah said.

In a Facebook video, Shah chastised Branin for referring to Cheswick Park in the Near West End as “Chadwick” Park three times in campaign literature – evidence, Shah said, that Branin is out of touch.

Branin, however, points to his track record as evidence that Shah is mistaken. He spends 30 hours a week in his supervisor’s role and is most proud of the way he has listened to his constituents, he said.

“If a constituent calls and says, ‘I have a concern,’ I say, ‘Are you available on Saturday? And I will go and sit and listen.”

Branin is proud of the way he and the other supervisors work together across party lines for the benefit of Henrico.

“When we, the five board members, walk through the door, there’s no [political] party,” he said. “I’m from the party of H [Henrico]. I am 100-percent Henrico. And it is truly a team mentality, it’s not [about] what’s good for me as an individual, it’s what’s good for the county.”