Smithfield’s Planning Commission has received a zoning application for “The Cottages at Battery,” a 130-home development slated for 14 acres behind the Royal Farms convenience store at Battery Park Road and South Church Street.

The commissioners are scheduled to discuss the matter on Sept. 10 and will, at a future meeting, need to have a public hearing prior to voting on a recommendation to Smithfield’s Town Council.

Developer Brian Mullins of Suffolk-based Quality Homes Inc. proposed the development last year. The town previously approved Virginia Beach-based developer John Mamoudis’ plans in 2020 to build 150 condominiums across 15 multifamily buildings at the same site, but those plans stalled. In April of this year, Mullins purchased the land from Mamoudis.

A month prior to the land changing hands, the Town Council approved Mullins’ requested rewording of the town’s zoning ordinance to allow him to request special use permits for elements of his proposal that don’t conform to the multifamily residential zoning he seeks.

Mullins’ application, dated Aug. 28, seeks seven special use permits and a Planning Commission waiver that would allow non-contiguous open space. His concept calls for 130 detached roughly 1,000- to 1,300-square-foot one- and two-story houses under condominium-style ownership, where residents would own the homes’ interiors but the surrounding land and exterior of each house would be owned and maintained by a homeowners association.

The first special use permit would exempt Mullins from a zoning requirement of one recreational vehicle parking space per four dwelling units.

The second would allow homes to be 17 feet apart, down from the minimum 24 feet the ordinance specifies.

The third would allow less than the minimum three attached units required under the town’s definition of attached residential zoning.

The fourth would waive yard requirements to allow for a “zero lot line” development to facilitate the communal ownership of the land surrounding each house.

The fifth would allow 34-foot corner lots, down from the 35 feet required.

The sixth would allow a density of 10 units per developable acre, up from the specified eight-unit-per-acre maximum for attached residential zoning, though up to 12 units per acre are allowed for multifamily zoning. According to Smithfield Planning and Community Development Director Tammie Clary, the attached residences – some of which would have abutting garages – must conform to the lower attached residential density unless granted a waiver.

The seventh would waive parking requirements to allow three parking spaces per unit and a total of 11 visitor spaces.

The Planning Commission non-contiguous space waiver specifies the development would have six acres of common space and 2.9 acres of active recreation space.

According to a project narrative by AES Consulting Engineers included with Mullins’ application, an average unit sale price has not been established, though all prices are to be “market based and comparable to and competitive with other similar type condominium and townhouse developments under construction within the Smithfield and Isle of Wight market.” A clubhouse and pool is included in the development plans and would be visible from the development’s main entrance off Battery Park Road.

Though the 130 homes proposed reflect a 13% reduction in density from the 150 units currently approved, Isle of Wight County Director of Community Development Amy Ring, in a March 15 email to her town counterpart, Clary, estimated the number of students generated by Mullins’ proposal would still exceed current capacity at Smithfield Middle School.

Ring’s memorandum estimates the development would add up to 30 students to the county’s school system, including four who would attend SMS.

“As you are aware, the middle school is currently at capacity, so the development generates a capacity expansion need of four additional seats. As you recall, this would be in addition to the capacity need generated by the recently approved Grange development,” Ring wrote, referencing an Oct. 19, 2023, letter from Ted Figura Consulting to Grange at 10Main developer Joseph Luter IV and his design team estimating the 267-home Grange mixed-use development the Town Council approved in December for 57 acres at the western edge of the town’s historic district would add 93 students, including 14 at SMS.  The Grange alone, as of last year, was projected to cause a one-student capacity deficit at SMS, which increases to a 38-student capacity deficit factoring in all other approved northern-end developments in the county.

The AES project narrative estimates a higher number of students, at 49, but contends “there is sufficient capacity to accommodate the new students projected.”

A traffic study by AES Consulting estimates the Cottages development would add 909 vehicular trips per day on Battery Park Road, down 17% from the 1,098 expected in 2020 for the 150-home development. The 909 vehicles would reflect a 9% increase over the 10,000 average daily vehicular trips Battery Park Road saw in 2022, according to Virginia Department of Transportation data. Battery Park Road can also expect to see an increase of 500 to 650 additional cars per hour traversing the intersection of Battery Park and Nike Park roads when the 812-home Mallory Pointe development is fully built out, according to a traffic analysis submitted with that development’s rezoning application in 2021.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sept. 10 at 8:10 p.m. to correct that developer Brian Mullins is seeking an amendment to the existing conditional multifamily zoning, not attached residential zoning, though he’d petitioned earlier this year for changes to the attached residential criteria.