NEW POST -- National-security interests could nix plans for a proposed town-style development in rural Spotsylvania County, within a few miles of Fort A.P. Hill.

The conflict comes after the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission cited residential encroachment as its primary reason for wanting to shutter another Virginia military installation, Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach.

Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors member Vincent Onorato, whose district includes the proposed 1,550-home New Post development, said county officials would be remiss not to consider lessons learned during the BRAC process.

"I'm very sensitive to encroachment issues," Onorato, a former Marine, said last week.

Spotsylvania supervisors are scheduled to hold a public hearing Oct. 11 on Tricord Inc.'s request to rezone the 418-acre site along the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg. The board could vote on the matter at that time.

The project would be at U.S. 17 and state Route 2 near the border with Caroline County, home to the Army's A.P. Hill.

Spotsylvania planning officials recommended that the board approve the rezoning request in July, but the board deferred action after Fort A.P. Hill officials raised concerns that the development could affect military training at the 76,000-acre Army base.

Base officials have cited the development's proximity to helicopter and transport-plane flight paths, night-vision activities and A.P. Hill's plans for a $26 million urban-warfare training center. They also say they fear that potential residents might complain about noise from the base in the future and that a future base-clos- ing commission might take such complaints into account.

The BRAC panel, for example, has set a March 31 deadline for Virginia Beach and state officials to decide whether to buy up homes in Oceana's crash zone, where some residents had complained about jet noise. The buyback could cost $500 million, according to some estimates.

Ken Perrotte, A.P. Hill's spokesman, said BRAC awarded high marks to the Army base during the current round of closures and realignments. "Certainly, part of that is the ability to conduct training that is unconstrained by encroachment. We're trying to protect that," he said.

Last month, Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III, commanding general of the joint forces headquarters for the Washington/National Capital Region, wrote Spotsylvania supervisors to urge them to reject the rezoning request.

Mike Jones, Tricord's co-owner, said the company is trying to address some of A.P. Hill's concerns. The company is willing to require that homebuyers sign an acknowledgment of the impact from A.P. Hill, including noise, traffic and vibration, to help alleviate the base's concerns about future complaints.

Jones also said the company would use "dark skies" technology to reduce light that might interfere with night-vision exercises. He said that under the current zoning, an industry could build on the site and use whatever lighting it wishes.

"We're ensuring that [A.P. Hill] can end up with a better solution," he said.

Spotsylvania Planning Director Ric Goss said the neotraditional town plan represents "smart growth" in Spotsylvania, which has struggled with an influx of new residents, many of whom commute to jobs in Northern Virginia and Washington. The county's population of more than 113,000 has nearly doubled since 1990.

As planned, New Post would include recreational trails, a riverfront park, about 120,000 square feet in commercial space and a range of home prices. As part of a $53 million proffer package, the developer would contribute $20 million to transportation improvements, including $6 million toward possible construction of a Virginia Railway Express commuter-rail station.

"Is it a panacea to growth? No," Goss said. "But it sure does bring into focus how we could reorient growth."

Spotsylvania Supervisor Gary Jackson isn't so sure New Post is a smart-growth approach, given the development's proposed location "out in the boonies."

"You can call it whatever you want," he said. "At the end of the day, this is a massive, sprawling subdivision . . . out in the far reaches of the county."

Jackson, who said encroachment of Fort A.P. Hill is not his primary concern, said the proffers are inadequate to address water, sewage, law-enforcement, fire-protection and other infrastructure and service needs.

Tricord's Jones counters that the proffers exceed Spotsylvania's guidelines and that the development would be in what the county has identified as a "primary settlement district."

Jackson, though, sees New Post as "a mixed bag," even before factoring in the proximity to A.P. Hill.

"Then you add the encroachment issue," he said. "That's a tough one to get past."