Albemarle supervisors voted 5-1 on March 18 to rezone 62 acres in the county for hundreds of new residential units.
After more than two decades of preparation, Riverbend Development has secured several dozen acres of land in Albemarle’s southern growth area for a mixed-use community.
“Land assemblage by our company began over 20 years ago and we’ve been in the active rezoning process for four years,” said Riverbend Vice President Ashley Davies. “Directing housing into designated development areas is one of the county’s primary strategies for preserving rural land and avoiding sprawl.”
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted 5-1 on March 18 to rezone 62 acres southwest of the interchange of U.S. 29 and Interstate 64 to allow between 275 and 600 residential units at a density of 9.6 units per acre. The commercial range is between a minimum of 100,000 square feet and a maximum of 440,000 square feet.
Without the rezoning, Riverbend Development could have had between 43 and 68 units. Davies said the proposal is consistent with Albemarle’s long-term vision.
The property is next to the Virginia Eagle Distributing Company and near the county’s future Hedgerow Park. Across U.S. 29 is the Sherwood Farm neighborhood, which is in the designated rural area.
The project will bring a full traffic signal to an area that has a four-lane highway and one the Virginia Department of Transportation considers a “corridor of statewide significance.” This will include a signalized crosswalk to allow people to get between the new community and an enhanced park-and-ride lot on the southern side of U.S. 29.
No one but Davies spoke at the public hearing.
The Albemarle Planning Commission voted 5 to 2 in December to recommend approval. One of the votes against came from Commissioner Fred Missel just weeks before being sworn in as a county supervisor. He opposed it again as an elected official out of concern the infrastructure is not in place.
“I still can’t envision and support 600 units of residential development on this property,” Missel said. “It’s a parcel that is largely landlocked. It’s just not a place for residential yet.”
Missel said he would support a commercial-only proposal to serve as an area for employment.
Supervisor Bea LaPisto Kirtley said she would prefer the property was all commercial.
“That’s not realistic because I think we do need residential and it does avail itself of residential,” LaPisto Kirtley said.
Supervisor Ned Gallaway supported the project in part because it had been cut back to a maximum of 600 units.
“I think having scaled it back some works, and I think it’ll make the commercial more viable to have that block of residential there with it in addition to the interstate and the north-south traffic on 29,” Gallaway said.
A previous version of the plan asked for a range of between 100 and 1,200 units. Davies said this was reduced because the Planning Commission was concerned about too much activity at the intersection.
