With Mallory Pointe on track to see its first houses in 2025, its developer is asking to amend two of the conditions proffered at the time of its rezoning.

Smithfield’s Town Council approved the 812-home development off Battery Park Road in 2021 conditioned on its developer, Virginia Beach-based Napolitano Homes, agreeing to fund conversion of the T-intersection of Battery Park and Nike Park roads to a roundabout.

The Nike Park-Battery Park roundabout is one of two proposed for Isle of Wight County. Smithfield and Isle of Wight are concurrently in talks to fund a single-lane roundabout on Turner Drive to accommodate proposed new developments at Turner’s intersection with Benns Church Boulevard.

Though Napolitano had originally proffered a two-lane roundabout on Battery Park, the developer and the Virginia Department of Transportation each say only the single-lane roundabout shown on Mallory Pointe’s original conceptual plan is needed to accommodate the 7,018 additional daily vehicular trips VDOT projected in 2021 would result from the full buildout of Mallory Pointe.

The proposed change, detailed in Section 14c of Mallory Pointe’s proffer document, would strike references to the two-lane roundabout and instead call for the phased construction of a single-lane roundabout.

“This would be a reduction in the size of the roundabout,” said Smithfield Community Development and Planning Director Tammie Clary. “They are going to dedicate right-of-ways so that if a future traffic analysis does indicate that a second lane would be required the right of way would already be available.”

Phase A of Mallory Pointe, which is under construction, calls for 135 homes spread over 87 acres. The roundabout would need to be built before the completion of the 148-home Phase B.

The roundabout itself would also be built in phases with the inner traffic circle coming first, followed by a “slip lane” that would allow traffic from Nike Park to turn right onto Battery Park without traveling through the roundabout. Napolitano would be required under the new proffers to acquire the right-of-way for the slip lane prior to final site plan approval for the roughly 130-home Phase E and 145-home Phase F.

Per the revised proffers, Napolitano would at the time of construction of the first phase of the roundabout dedicate right-of-way that would allow the roundabout to be widened to two lanes “should a future traffic study determine that it is warranted or required.”

Section 14h of Mallory Pointe’s proffers are also proposed to be deleted entirely. This section had stipulated that Napolitano perform an analysis to determine whether a traffic signal at the Battery Park roundabout is warranted. According to a Nov. 6 letter to Clary from the engineering firm Timmons Group, “per the recommendation of staff from both the Town of Smithfield and Isle of Wight County, the signal warrant analysis and potential improvements stated in proffer 14H are no longer necessary due to other planned traffic and roadway improvements being initiated and performed by others.”

The letter specifically references the ongoing extension of Nike Park Road so that it connects to Carrollton Boulevard, or Route 17. The $19.7 million extension, funded through VDOT’s six-year improvement plan and the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Commission, broke ground earlier this year.

The Town Council discussed the requested proffer changes at its Nov. 18 committee meetings but won’t vote on the matter until its next regular meeting on Dec. 3.

Some council members questioned whether it would be better to leave the two-lane roundabout proffer as-is, and at Napolitano’s expense, should future traffic volumes require it. 

“Is there a reason we wouldn’t get out in front of that and have it done now?” asked Councilman Bill Harris, who joined the council for the first time on Nov. 18 after being sworn in to the office earlier that day.

Councilman Randy Pack said he too would prefer to have the roundabout paved wide enough for two lanes but striped as a one-lane circle until the second lane was needed.

That way, “the infrastructure is already there,” Pack said.

Town Manager Michael Stallings said the only scenarios in which a two-lane roundabout could be needed is if another developer were approved to build at the Battery Park and Nike Park intersection or background growth not tied to a specific development increased to a level that warranted the second lane.

Clary said per the town’s communication with VDOT, single-lane roundabouts can handle up to 25,000 vehicles per day. As of 2022, according to VDOT data, the Battery Park and Nike Park intersection saw an average of 10,000 vehicles daily, making the expected 7,018 additional trips from Mallory Pointe a 70% increase, but one that would occur gradually as the development is built in phases.

“It’s difficult to make that developer build something that is not warranted by their traffic impact analysis,” Stallings said.

Town Attorney Bill Riddick has previously advised that a 2016 change in state law prohibits municipalities from requiring developers to proffer improvements not directly related to their developments.

Stallings said a two-lane roundabout would pose its own infrastructure problems. Two-lane roundabouts require connections to four-lane roads to function, Stallings said. Battery Park and Nike Park roads are both only two lanes wide.