Town Crier Articles

 

The JCC Planning Commission recommended that the BOS approve the rezoning of 365.5 acres of Eastern State north of New Town (Parcels A&B) for the DR Horton Cardinal Ridge development as “Mixed Use – Level 2 – Medium Town or Suburban Center”. (This is the same zoning designation as New Town.) Their recommendation followed the JCC staff’s evaluation of the application which found that “While the development provides more residential area (56%) than the [BOS policy] recommendation, and less non-residential area (12%), the development provides more area for public use (12%) and open space (20%).” The staff’s analysis had found that while the residential and non-residential thresholds were not met, “the proposed scale and intensity of the development is appropriate for the location.” Cardinal Ridge is designed as 1,006 residential units and up to 100,000 square feet of commercial space.

 

During the meeting Commissioners questioned the project’s scale and cumulative density impacts, cited continued Powhatan watershed deterioration concerns and ensuring the developer’s long-term responsibility, projected traffic, and transfer of land for a commercial site to the County. They also acknowledged that clustering homes close to businesses is desirable, and Cardinal Ridge’s design provides benefits to JCC through proffered land for mental healthcare facilities and a public use site, possibly for a new school. DR Horton’s representative explained that financing for the interior roads and other infrastructure improvements is proposed through creating Community Development Authority (CDA) bonds with repayment over 30 years via specific assessments for future Cardinal Ridge single family homeowners. DR Horton’s representative concluded that to do all the things that the County wants in terms of diverse housing, amenities, etc, “costs” and requires enough home sales to spread those expenses, “the scale of the project is driven by the scale of the ask.”

 

Approval of the Cardinal Ridge rezoning now moves to the Board of Supervisors. Their first action will be consideration of creating the CDA requested by DR Horton related to infrastructure funding. This entity would be a first for the County and requires a Board of Supervisors policy. The CDA concept is likely to be discussed at the February 10 BOS meeting. Once a position on the CDA is determined, subsequent BOS meetings would need to address changing the Land Use Designation for Parcels A&B (LU-20-0003) in the Comprehensive Plan, and finally DR Horton’s actual rezoning application.

 

At its December 9th meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted to change 79.56 acres of Eastern State land directly bordering New Town (Parcel C) from Public Use to “Mixed Use Level 1 Small Town or Suburban Center.” (This is a lower density than New Town’s Level 2 designation.) Per the JCC description, “Level 1 areas allow for lower intensities of development including residential densities ranging from four to eight units per net developable acre and non-residential FAR’s from 0.2 to 0.4.”  The County Comprehensive Plan chapter will be updated to reflect this new designation.
 
The action before the BOS was to determine the Comprehensive Plan land use category for this specific parcel of Eastern State land to guide its future development. In an earlier Business meeting the Supervisors had discussed the zoning options available under Mixed Use and whether developments countywide are truly meeting the integration and intermingling of uses envisioned for “mixed use” in the JCC Comprehensive Plan. The BOS wanted to ensure that this property’s land use was appropriately categorized, since the Board had deferred any designation change during its 2023 discussions on the Comprehensive Plan.
 
The Westwood Park project which is proposed for Parcel C was not on the agenda or up for a vote. However, New Town Commercial Association Vice President Scott Grafton testified in favor of the development and read a letter from NTRA President, Jack Espinal, at the hearing in support of approval of the revised Westwood Park plans (for details of these revisions see Town Crier – August 1, 2025 ) In his letter, Jack noted that residents are concerned about any new commercial development and added hardscape around New Town, given the existing vacancies, traffic and stormwater issues. He stated that the changes currently proposed by Westwood Park’s developers (reduced density, etc.) “will eliminate the vast majority of any remaining New Town opposition” to the development. (A separate email explanation for his action was sent to owners following the December 2025 NTRA Annual Meeting.)

 

 

The February 10 BOS meeting will be the decision meeting for ABVA’s proposed development of Westwood Park. At the applicant’s request, this rezoning hearing was continued from October 2025. The Westwood Park rezoning proposal provides for up to 176 residences (83 single family and 90 townhome/multifamily units) and 24,000 sq. ft of commercial space with access to the development at the end of Discovery Park Boulevard. (Note: In September 2025 ABVA made a significant update to its Proffers for the project. In Proffer 9 ABVA has reinstated its commitment to retrofit two of the three deficient BMP/Stormwater facilities in New Town in addition to making a per unit financial contribution to the stream channel restoration fund–Proffer 8.) 

 

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The larger 368 acre rezoning application, (Z-23-0008) Cardinal Ridge on the northern side of Eastern State hospital has completed four JCC Planning Department reviews. (For background, see Town Crier August 2025 and April 2024 issues.)

 

Over time, DR Horton has adjusted the proposed density of its Cardinal Ridge development to reflect housing for the Hope Family Village complex that is part of this parcel. As currently drafted, Cardinal Ridge would contain:

 

“no more than 1,006 residential dwellings (the “Residential Units”) constructed on the Property, of which no more than 450 of the Residential Units shall be apartments, no more than 262 of the Residential Units shall be multi-family, and no more than 321 of the Residential Units shall be single-family detached.  The non-residential development within the portion of the Property designated Commercial on the Master Plans shall not exceed 100,000 square feet of floor area.”

 

In this housing mix, the proffers anticipate 126 affordable housing rental units.

 

In its August 2025 proffers, DR Horton is requesting that the County approve, establish and fund “a Community Development Authority to fund the design, right of way acquisition (if any) permitting, and construction of all of the transportation improvements” required at the site.

 

These revised Cardinal Ridge proffers also add a proposed contribution to JCC’s stormwater restoration fund so that the County could address stormwater management issues with the site. 

“The Owner shall make a contribution to the County in the amount of $1,250,000.00 (the “Stream Channel Restoration Amount”) for stream channel restoration to be conducted by the County on or in the immediate vicinity of the Property”

 

JCC Staff referenced and linked this proposed DR Horton stormwater contribution to Westwood Park’s situation in its report to the BOS suggesting collectively addressing issues with the Powhatan Creek watershed. Essentially both of Eastern State’s developers are offering funds that the County could leverage and apply to obtain additional State grant funding. Combined, such funding “would come close to fully covering expected costs for the stream restoration project, as the stream exists today.”  Without all three sources of revenue, staff stated that the costs for stream restoration on the Eastern State Hospital land would exceed available County revenue and alternative plans would be needed.

 

DR Horton is working with JCC staff and VDOT to address their latest comments related to drawings, density, construction phasing and traffic. If the applicant responds soon, the Cardinal Ridge rezoning process could go to public hearing at the JCC Planning Commission’s December 3, 2025 meeting leaving the possibility that both developments would then come before the BOS at the February 10, 2026 meeting.