The proposed campus for the new Hunter Classical Christian School campus in Powhatan. (Courtesy Powhatan County)
A 13-year-old private Christian school may soon be moving from Henrico County to Powhatan County.
Hunter Classical Christian School, which currently resides on the grounds of Derbyshire Baptist Church at 8800 Derbyshire Road in Henrico, recently earned approval to rezone around 27 acres of a 110-acre parcel at 680 Huguenot Trail in Powhatan, where it intends to spend around $38 million on building out a new campus over the next 10 years.
The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the rezoning and the conditional use permit for the new campus at its meeting last week.
Hunter Classical Christian School opened in 2012 with 26 students on a campus in Manakin Sabot. In 2021, the school moved nine miles east to its Derbyshire Road location, where the school currently has 150 students in grades K-8 and a staff of 35.
The move to Powhatan comes as the school is looking for more space after its board of directors approved a vision to expand to include students in ninth through 12th grade, with the first ninth-grade class to enroll this fall.
The 27 acres in Powhatan will house a principal school building and gymnasium, chapel, auditorium, field house, several athletic fields and associated parking areas.
Proposed square footage of the campus buildings was not immediately clear in the application. Layout of the school as shown in Hunter School’s rezoning application is subject to change during the project’s final design phase, documents state.
The new campus would be developed in phases, starting with the upper school being moved out to the campus first, and then students in lower grades. It would ideally be ready for its first students in the fall of 2029, according to a presentation presented to the board of supervisors by county director of planning Ligon Webb.
Hunter School board member Doug Albertson spoke at last week’s evening meeting, telling the county Board of Supervisors that with its expanded grade level offerings, it is simply running out of room at the Derbyshire Road location.
“We are at Derbyshire Baptist Church. We love Derbyshire. We’re going to hate leaving there, they’re going to hate having us leave there, but they don’t have the land for us to build what we want to do, and this property is wonderful,” Albertson said.
The 27-acre-parcel that will house the new campus was previously rezoned by the county in 2008 to commerce center for uses such as a conference center, amphitheater, salon/spa, inn and cottages, while the rest of the around 110-acre parcel has remained zoned for rural residential.
The property currently contains two existing dwellings at 680 and 690 Huguenot Trail. The dwelling at 690, now vacant, would remain while all other buildings would be removed or demolished, according to the school’s application. The dwelling at 680 is currently used as a public accountant’s office.
The land Hunter School has applied to rezone is currently owned by Malvern Investments, LLC under manager Timothy Benusa, according to the application. Benusa signed his consent to the rezoning by Hunter School in the application.
It is unclear if Hunter School is under contract to purchase the land. The school did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The applicant submitted 10 proffers as part of the rezoning request. Proffers include limiting school numbers to no more than 475 students and 100 staff, limited steeple and structure height and that the property owner will initially operate the campus using a private well and onsite septic system.
The applicant’s conditional use permit also includes six conditions, such as compliance with county code on limiting external noises and that the school will employ traffic control personnel if the school has 100 students or more.
The school’s application states it would widen the property’s frontage road to a consistent 24-foot width, and add a designated drop-off lane for students along the east side of the frontage road at its intersection with Huguenot Trail (Route 711).
The intersection of the frontage road in front of the campus and Huguenot Trail would also be widened to provide a four-lane configuration.
Jared Anderson, attorney with law firm Roth Jackson, is representing the school in the county approval process. He said at last week’s meeting that the team behind the project has heard no opposition to the project thus far.
Anderson showed conceptual designs for the school, which he said would emphasize “classical architecture,” with a vaguely Monticello-esque design.
Anderson said that with the county’s future land use map designating the parcel to be primarily for primarily economic opportunity, the applicant feels that is represented in the plans.
“We anticipate families moving here, we anticipate teachers moving here. We think this does have an economic opportunity. That’s not our main driving force, but it is something,” Anderson said.
Tuition for Hunter School students for the 2025-2026 school year is listed on the school’s website as $13,250. The school operated with $1.54 million in revenue and $1.33 million in expenses in 2024, according to its most recent public financial reports issued to the IRS.
Powhatan has some other major projects and rezonings in the works. Supervisors in February approved a rezoning of 55 acres on the north side of Anderson Highway from agricultural to light industrial to make way for a “business-ready industrial development.”
Last October, the board also approved a $2.7 billion data center campus across nearly 120 acres off of Page Road, and approved rezoning a 43-acre parcel, also north of Anderson Highway, from agricultural to light industrial and single-family residential.
The proposed campus for the new Hunter Classical Christian School campus in Powhatan. (Courtesy Powhatan County)
A 13-year-old private Christian school may soon be moving from Henrico County to Powhatan County.
Hunter Classical Christian School, which currently resides on the grounds of Derbyshire Baptist Church at 8800 Derbyshire Road in Henrico, recently earned approval to rezone around 27 acres of a 110-acre parcel at 680 Huguenot Trail in Powhatan, where it intends to spend around $38 million on building out a new campus over the next 10 years.
The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the rezoning and the conditional use permit for the new campus at its meeting last week.
Hunter Classical Christian School opened in 2012 with 26 students on a campus in Manakin Sabot. In 2021, the school moved nine miles east to its Derbyshire Road location, where the school currently has 150 students in grades K-8 and a staff of 35.
The move to Powhatan comes as the school is looking for more space after its board of directors approved a vision to expand to include students in ninth through 12th grade, with the first ninth-grade class to enroll this fall.
The 27 acres in Powhatan will house a principal school building and gymnasium, chapel, auditorium, field house, several athletic fields and associated parking areas.
Proposed square footage of the campus buildings was not immediately clear in the application. Layout of the school as shown in Hunter School’s rezoning application is subject to change during the project’s final design phase, documents state.
The new campus would be developed in phases, starting with the upper school being moved out to the campus first, and then students in lower grades. It would ideally be ready for its first students in the fall of 2029, according to a presentation presented to the board of supervisors by county director of planning Ligon Webb.
Hunter School board member Doug Albertson spoke at last week’s evening meeting, telling the county Board of Supervisors that with its expanded grade level offerings, it is simply running out of room at the Derbyshire Road location.
“We are at Derbyshire Baptist Church. We love Derbyshire. We’re going to hate leaving there, they’re going to hate having us leave there, but they don’t have the land for us to build what we want to do, and this property is wonderful,” Albertson said.
The 27-acre-parcel that will house the new campus was previously rezoned by the county in 2008 to commerce center for uses such as a conference center, amphitheater, salon/spa, inn and cottages, while the rest of the around 110-acre parcel has remained zoned for rural residential.
The property currently contains two existing dwellings at 680 and 690 Huguenot Trail. The dwelling at 690, now vacant, would remain while all other buildings would be removed or demolished, according to the school’s application. The dwelling at 680 is currently used as a public accountant’s office.
The land Hunter School has applied to rezone is currently owned by Malvern Investments, LLC under manager Timothy Benusa, according to the application. Benusa signed his consent to the rezoning by Hunter School in the application.
It is unclear if Hunter School is under contract to purchase the land. The school did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The applicant submitted 10 proffers as part of the rezoning request. Proffers include limiting school numbers to no more than 475 students and 100 staff, limited steeple and structure height and that the property owner will initially operate the campus using a private well and onsite septic system.
The applicant’s conditional use permit also includes six conditions, such as compliance with county code on limiting external noises and that the school will employ traffic control personnel if the school has 100 students or more.
The school’s application states it would widen the property’s frontage road to a consistent 24-foot width, and add a designated drop-off lane for students along the east side of the frontage road at its intersection with Huguenot Trail (Route 711).
The intersection of the frontage road in front of the campus and Huguenot Trail would also be widened to provide a four-lane configuration.
Jared Anderson, attorney with law firm Roth Jackson, is representing the school in the county approval process. He said at last week’s meeting that the team behind the project has heard no opposition to the project thus far.
Anderson showed conceptual designs for the school, which he said would emphasize “classical architecture,” with a vaguely Monticello-esque design.
Anderson said that with the county’s future land use map designating the parcel to be primarily for primarily economic opportunity, the applicant feels that is represented in the plans.
“We anticipate families moving here, we anticipate teachers moving here. We think this does have an economic opportunity. That’s not our main driving force, but it is something,” Anderson said.
Tuition for Hunter School students for the 2025-2026 school year is listed on the school’s website as $13,250. The school operated with $1.54 million in revenue and $1.33 million in expenses in 2024, according to its most recent public financial reports issued to the IRS.
Powhatan has some other major projects and rezonings in the works. Supervisors in February approved a rezoning of 55 acres on the north side of Anderson Highway from agricultural to light industrial to make way for a “business-ready industrial development.”
Last October, the board also approved a $2.7 billion data center campus across nearly 120 acres off of Page Road, and approved rezoning a 43-acre parcel, also north of Anderson Highway, from agricultural to light industrial and single-family residential.