Developer Vincent Carollo has a new conceptual plan for 1.5 acres at Washington, James and Clay streets, one that calls for a slightly higher density than the land’s former owner, Joseph Luter IV, had proposed three years ago.

Luter’s holding company, JWL34 LLC, sold eight lots in September that had been created from his 2021 purchase of the formerly town-owned land.

All eight vacant lots are now under the ownership of Carollo’s holding company, JVC LLC, according to Isle of Wight County land transfer records.

Carollo has applied for a text amendment to the downtown neighborhood residential zoning district that would waive the 5-unit-per-acre maximum density to allow four attached single-family homes under condominium-style ownership and three duplex buildings, each with two units, for a total of 10 homes.

Luter’s plan had proposed four single-family homes and one less duplex building for a total of eight homes.

Carollo’s application and included conceptual plan is included in the Smithfield Planning Commission’s Dec. 10 agenda as a “discussion item.” The Planning Commission and Smithfield’s Town Council would each need to schedule public hearings on the matter before voting on Carollo’s application since Carollo has requested a change in the language of the town’s zoning ordinance.

According to a report by Smithfield Community Development and Planning Director Tammie Clary, Carollo would need to separately apply for a special use permit for duplex dwellings, “zero-lot-line” development and a waiver of parking and loading requirements.

Zero-lot-line developments refer to attached residences such as townhouses or duplexes that share a wall and have no side yard between them. Smithfield’s Town Council had granted Luter zero-lot-line approval in 2022 for what the son of former Smithfield Foods Chairman Joseph Luter III had at the time proposed calling “Luter Acres.” The town had previously granted Luter a special use permit in 2021 to allow the two duplex buildings proposed at the time.

Carollo’s application and illustrations propose naming the 10-home development “James Parc at Smithfield.”

The conceptual plan shows access to the development from Washington Street and from the formerly dead-end Clay Street, which now connects Mason Street with James.

Carollo purchased the eight lots for $590,000. Land transfer records from June previously recorded the May sale of a 0.14-acre lot fronting Washington, also to JVC LLC, for $110,000.

Luter purchased the land, excluding the buildings the town leases to Smithfield’s Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter and to The Children’s Center, for $225,000 in 2021 and over the past three years has invested an undisclosed amount of money to fund the Clay Street extension, which the Town Council voted to accept as a town-maintained road in July.

Carollo’s conceptual plan doesn’t list a proposed sale price for the single-family homes or duplex units. Luter’s plan, as of 2022, had called for the units to sell for between $450,000 and $550,000.