Riverbend Development seeks permission to build more homes at Brookhill

As Albemarle County continues work on a Comprehensive Plan intended to guide where future county residents will live, one developer has filed a request to amend a previous rezoning to allow construction of 300 additional dwelling units. 

“Brookhill’s planned residential community surrounds a proposed vibrant village town center while preserving over 100 acres of natural open space,” reads a narrative from Riverbend Development for a rezoning application filed on October 18. “The request is made in recognition of the ongoing housing crisis in our region and the need to construct more units at a variety of price points and especially more units that are affordable to households in the area. 

The Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning for Brookhill on November 9, 2016 allowing for a maximum of 1,550 residential units and 130,000 square feet of non-residential space. In all, 277.5 acres were rezoned from Residential-1 to the Neighborhood Model District. 

As of July 1, 556 of the units have been built but only 3,663 square feet of the commercial space has been constructed. A site plan for the town center area has been under review. 

Large rezonings often contain something called a Code of Development which state what could happen and where. The new version does not change any of the approved parameters and the single change is an increase in the maximum density from 1,550 units to 1,850 units. 

According to the narrative for this rezoning, the new units would all be built within the town center, an area slated for commercial development that has not materialized. 

Riverbend Development has submitted a new traffic study for the new proposal that contains other information.

• The old plan anticipated 550 single-family lots but now the proposal is for 116 single-family lots
• The old plan called for 600 apartments and the proposal is now for 958 apartments
• The previous proposal said there would be 200 townhomes, but the new total will be for 693 townhouses
• The proposal called for 100,000 square feet of general retail space but that will now be reduced to 50,000 square feet
• Riverbend Development no longer anticipates building office space but had expected to build 80,000 square feet
• Other new elements include a health and fitness club with 30,000 square feet and a brewery and tap room with 20,000 square feet
• A congregate care retirement center with 179 units has already been constructed
• An elementary school with 400 students is still anticipated

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