130-home subdivision proposed near Highland Springs

A site plan shows the 130 home lots with greenspace around them. (Henrico documents)

With a 60-home subdivision taking shape in Chesterfield, local developer Ned Massie is looking north of the river for his next residential project that could be twice the size.

Massie, who is developing the Bethany Creek Park subdivision near Providence Golf Club in Chesterfield’s Manchester area, is seeking zoning approval from Henrico for a 130-home subdivision on 66 acres at 1830 N. Washington St., near Highland Springs and northwest of the Airport Drive-Interstate 295 interchange.

An LLC tied to Massie purchased the undeveloped site earlier this year after he found a listing for it on an MLS search. Henrico records show he paid $325,000 in February for the property, which was previously owned by an estate for Robert Bluford Jr.

Massie said the homes would be targeted to first-time homebuyers and are intended to meet demand for more affordable housing options from a growing demographic of buyers: so-called Gen Y Millennials.

“There’s this huge bulge of demand coming through the pipeline because Generation Y has finally decided to settle down, buy houses and have children. Whereas we Boomers did it in our 20s, they’re doing it in their 30s, so there was a delayed reaction,” Massie said.

“I’ve realized that this surge of demand was coming, and in order to be able to have housing that would be affordable, we had to have higher density. I’m not talking about just townhouses, which is what everybody thinks of today, but higher-density, single-family detached homes,” he said. “I’m a small developer, but I decided that I was going to develop communities for the first-home buyer.”

Homes at the development, which Massie is calling Washington Park, would be a minimum of 1,500 square feet in size and priced in the upper $300,000s, though Massie acknowledged that prices would likely rise above $400,000 by the time the homes could be constructed.

Local builder LeGault Homes is lined up to build the homes. LeGault is also building at Bethany Creek Park, sharing the workload there with Eastwood Homes.

Sample elevations of the homes planned for Washington Park.

Massie said he was encouraged to propose Washington Park with Henrico supervisors’ adoption earlier this year of the county’s first housing trust fund, with an initial $60 million in funding aimed at addressing the growing affordability housing gap in the region.

“I was excited about Henrico County’s concern for affordable housing,” he said. “That was about the time I was getting ready to work on the zoning case.”

Local attorney Andy Condlin with Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin is representing Massie in his rezoning request, which was initially scheduled to go before the Henrico Planning Commission last month but was deferred to this month’s meeting. Massie said a second deferral to November is being requested due to a family trip.

He said the additional time has been spent fine-tuning the project, which he said county planners thought could use some work. While the proposed density is consistent with Henrico’s Comprehensive Plan recommendation for that area, a planning staff report said the proposed lot sizes and development pattern “are not fully consistent with adjacent communities, meaning careful consideration should be given to how the development would impact existing residents.”

Other concerns identified by the county include future road connections and conservation areas, amenities, and the lot sizes near existing subdivisions. At a community meeting in August, concerns were raised about traffic, access to adjoining subdivisions, impact on wells, loss of farmland and animal habitat, and “a general inconsistency with the existing community,” according to the report.

A conceptual site plan from engineering firm The Bay Companies shows the subdivision would consist of smaller lots surrounded by open areas and greenspace, with primary access off Washington Street and two other points of access off neighboring roads. The site includes an environmental protection area, which Massie said has added challenges.

“It’s got some real challenges. It’s not an easy piece of property. But I like infill sites, because part of the fun is taking something that’s been overlooked and turning it into something that’s an attractive community,” he said.

The project would add to other development in the works in the Highland Springs area. Earlier this year, Henrico approved plans for a multiuse development at 599 N. Airport Drive. YWCA of Richmond, Maggie Walker Community Land Trust and Children’s Home Society of Virginia are behind that project, a mix of lower-income apartments and townhomes with an early childhood education facility and a commercial building.