The latest layout proposed for the Greenwood Trace project proposed near Glover Park. (Courtesy Loftis Real Estate & Development)
Despite reworked plans that significantly scaled down one of the projects, two proposals to add more homes in Henrico received an unsupportive response from the county planning commission this month.
The commission recommended denial of a zoning request to allow a 52-home subdivision on 15 acres near Glover Park. The wooded tract is between Greenwood Road and Interstate 295 and on the west side of Braxton Avenue.
Henrico-based Loftis Real Estate & Development proposed the project, which it significantly scaled down from an earlier plan that called for 145 units, including townhomes and houses. The latest proposal was for only detached homes, with larger lots along Braxton that company principal Rob Loftis said were aimed at providing a transition from even larger lots across the street.
Loftis is under contract to purchase the wooded site from Woodman Investment Co., a local group that bought the land in January for $1 million. The county has assessed the two parcels that make up the site at just under $10,000 combined.
County planning staff had recommended deferring the request to allow the developer time to address concerns that the lot sizes would not fit with the area’s “established residential character,” as well as right-of-way issues relating to a possible shared-use path to connect Glover Park with RF&P Park and the future Fall Line Trail.
However, Brookland District representative Christopher Phelps led the commission in the denial recommendation, contending that there had been three community meetings on the project and the proposed lot sizes are still smaller than those found in the area.
“We’ve had multiple designs, looks, everything we can do to make this work here, but at this time I’m going to go with staff on this. This is an R-2 area. There’s no R-5 in the area,” Phelps said, referring to the county’s respective zoning districts for 18,000-square-foot lots and for more medium-density, 5,600-square-foot lots.
Loftis, whose career has included stints with builder-developers HHHunt and the former Atack Properties, said after the meeting that he was tweaking the project’s proffers and layout in response to neighborhood concerns and other issues brought up in the meeting. A group of area residents spoke in a public hearing during the meeting about the project’s ecological impact and other concerns.
A site plan oriented with the right side as north shows the proposed condos between the shopping center to the left and the Lakeview Landing condos to the right. (Screenshot)
Also recommended for denial was a request from local builder Ridge Homes LLC to rezone a 2-acre parcel beside Brook Run Shopping Center to allow 28 condos. The vacant lot is between the Brook Road shopping center and the neighboring Lakeside Landing condos and townhomes.
Ridge Homes, led by owner Eric Walker, had previously proposed 21 townhomes for the site but withdrew that plan last year, planning staff said. The one-over-one condos in two-story buildings were proposed with a connection to the shopping center but not to the adjacent Lakeside Landing condos, whose homeowners association had opposed a vehicular connection to the project.
Andy Condlin, a local attorney with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin who represented Ridge Homes, said it had also added a wall on the Lakeside Landing side of the site to address the association’s concerns about pedestrian spillover from the new condos, as well as the restricted vehicular access, which he said neither the county or his client preferred.
“We would like to have that connection, the county would like us to have that connection, but unfortunately, it’s privately-held property and they have the right to say no. We can’t force them to agree with us to be able to make that connection,” Condlin said.
In light of that, commission chairman Jaron Dandridge, who represents the Fairfield District, said he couldn’t support the project with the connectivity concern and others outstanding.
“I appreciate your open-minded approach to what you were looking to get accomplished, and the way that you went about trying to address the concerns, the connectivity. Like Mr. Condlin said, you can’t force those things, HOA,” Dandridge said. “But with that being said, there’s still quite a few issues where we’re just not getting the alignment that we would like to see.”
The denial recommendations go to the board of supervisors, which could consider the requests at a future meeting, unless they’re withdrawn.
In other business at the Oct. 15 meeting, the commission recommended approval for Pinnacle Living’s plan to replace the Virginia Crossings Hotel & Conference Center at 1000 Virginia Center Parkway with a 350-unit, $150 million senior living complex.
The commission deferred to its Nov. 12 meeting rezoning requests for a 20-home subdivision proposed for the site of the so-called “Cactus House” on Staples Mill Road, and for Oasis Point, an outdoor recreation and event venue proposed for the former Hadad’s Lake site at 7900 Osborne Turnpike.
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