Builders in Crozet’s Old Trail development have been clearing land for a new block of homes at the intersection of Rt. 250 and Old Trail Drive across from Western Albemarle High School. The plan is for about 52 single-family detached units on 20 acres just south of the recently completed Bishopsgate Lane block. David Brockman, executive vice president of March Mountain Properties, which has owned and developed Old Trail, said the aim is for a “nice landscape border” along Rt. 250.
“We are working back and forth with the county to make a nice border both for the people who might live in that neighborhood and for the community at large,” said Brockman. “We’re trying to blend it in and make it kind of fade away. We saved some of the forested area, increased the buffer, and put a lot more berming in there so we have room to put in more landscaping. There is also a small future parcel that we could put a very small number of cottages [block 25] next to this new section, but we do not have plans for that yet.”
Brockman said the walking paths in the area just north of the construction will be preserved. “We are first and foremost focused on protecting the stream buffer, and then we put these trails through where we can,” he said. “We do have the trail that runs between [the Bishopsgate Lane block] and this future phase. That path is on the Bishopsgate side of the stream and will forever be there. We’ll have another trail connection that has a small pocket park in it which will link up, but I don’t know the route yet.”
County approval for Old Trail was conditioned on affordable housing agreements called “proffers,” which require the developer to designate 15% of its units as “affordable” under county definitions. “There will absolutely be affordable targets in this [phase],” said Brockman. “We’ve put in some great examples of affordable units for sale—like in Block 22 [off Golf Drive], there are little accessory units in the basements of those townhomes. Our proffers are allowed to be 15% on a phase-by-phase basis, and we can build an extra 15% in each phase and then bank it and carry it over, so we have some flexibility there.”
The houses in this latest phase will be built mostly by Craig Builders and Southern Development Homes in a 50/50 split. “We also have a great relationship with Arcadia Builders, Peak Builders, and Bramante Homes, and they always have an offer to come in and build a few homes on our sites,” said Brockman. “We love to have them come in with eclectic kinds of styles that work for their customers.”
Builders are currently in the midst of shaping the middle of Old Trail across from its mixed-use Village Center Shops and restaurants. “In Block 26 [bounded by Ashlar Ave. and Addle Hill Rd.], we have townhomes and villas, and along Ashlar the greenspace is actually graded with a low spot in the middle,” said Brockman. “Right about in the center I’m going to build basically a concrete stage where you can do, say, a pop-up concert, throw a blanket down on that grassy area.”
There will be villas along Addle Hill and townhomes along Golf Drive. “We hope to start breaking ground on those in the next 30 days,” said Brockman. Regarding the remaining open area directly across from Grit, he said only that “we are working with a developer in the very early stages of another lower scale, mixed-use commercial and residential project there.” Following that, Old Trail’s developers will be looking to wrap up their work here.
The Old Trail development was originally planned 13 years ago with county approval for a maximum possible buildout of 2,200 housing units and a minimum of 1,500. “In 2015 we got a zoning amendment to reduce the floor of the development to 1,000 homes because we felt like 1,500 was too much,” said Brockman. “I projected back then that we would probably finish all of the building and sales by 2027, and believe it or not, I think we’re on pace to do just that. I think we’ll end up at around 1,100 units, which I feel is a nice balance. At this point we are definitely on a mission to finish this project.”
