New subdivision in the works for Crozet, will bring 25 homes to western Albemarle

Preparation is underway for a new subdivision off Crozet Avenue slated to be completed by 2018.

“It’s really downtown [Crozet’s] latest community,” said Chris Syldes, director of sales for Stanley Martin Homes in Charlottesville.

Chesterfield Landing will be a 25-home by-right development on a 21-acre property across from the Meadows, an affordable senior-living community associated with the Piedmont Housing Alliance.

Stanley Martin acquired the property in September, according to Albemarle County property records.

The subdivision’s road system will form a “T” shape with cul de sacs on the north and south ends of the property.

Prices start at $448,900 and Syldes said three of the half-acre lots already have been sold.

The northeast corner of the property includes 3.5 acres of open space near Lickinghole Creek that will be donated to the county and incorporated into the Crozet trail system.

Michael Comer, an intern with Stanley Martin, said the trail system will connect Chesterfield Landing with the surrounding Crozet area.

“One of the goals of that community is to connect it to Crozet and downtown Crozet by way of that trail system,” Comer said.

Comer also said the location of the subdivision — about a mile from downtown Crozet and a third of a mile from U.S. 250 — is an important feature of the site.

“It’s also near everything that Crozet has to offer,” Comer said.

Chesterfield Landing is currently in the land development phase and is being prepared for utilities, streets and infrastructure, such as sewer and water.

The subdivision is approaching final plat approval and once a site review committee approves the plat, the developer can apply for a building permit or a grading permit to start construction.

Tim Tolson, president of the Crozet Community Association, said the subdivision will be a positive addition to the community, although it will have some impacts on traffic along Crozet Avenue.

“Like any additional subdivision, it’s going to add to the traffic,” Tolson said. “Given where it is across from the Meadows, [it will increase] the complexity of that intersection, but hopefully it will bring new people and folks that are excited about living in our community.”

Chesterfield Landing is located within the Crozet designated growth area and the master plan calls for a desired density of three to six units per acre which would require a rezoning.

Given that the property is zoned R1 residential, however, the property is being developed by-right at a density of units per acre, according to the plat.

Jeremy Swink, director of land in the southern region at Stanley Martin, said they did not seek a rezoning to a higher density because of the size and shape of the parcel.

“If you look at it, it’s fairly deep and skinny,” Swink said. “If we were going to up the density, for example, I feel like you would probably need to have two roadways with [residential] lots in the middle and on either side, and I just don’t know the property is wide enough for that.”

“We have the desire to bring half-acre lots by-right to the market, and this seems to fit the bill,” Swink added. 

The developer said the property is named after the Chesterfield Railroad, a project recommended in 1827 by the town’s namesake, Claudius Crozet, while he was the lead engineer and surveyor of the Virginia Board of Public Works. The 13-mile railroad transported coal and was located in Chesterfield County.

According to the Mid-Lothian Mines & Rail Roads Foundation, the Chesterfield Railroad was the second commercial railroad in the U.S. and operated in the 1830s and 1840s.

Not all residents feel that the name has a significant local connection, however.

“It is sort of an interesting name to pick because it doesn’t have an intuitive connection to the area and it does have an intuitive connection to another part of the state,” Tolson said.

“I understand [the] Chesterfield Railroad obviously is in the eastern part of the state so we did have some local residents that were upset about us tying the name to what they felt was in Chesterfield County, but we were tying it more to … one of the great accomplishments of Claudius Crozet,” Syldes said.

Syldes said the goal is to have the subdivision completed in 18 to 24 months.