Brought to you by Scott P. Rogers, Funkhouser Real Estate Group, 540-578-0102, scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com
Brought to you by Scott P. Rogers, Funkhouser Real Estate Group, 540-578-0102, scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com
Thursday, December 14, 2023
The Harrisonburg Planning Commission considered a request last evening for a new community proposed to be built near the intersection of Keezletown Road and Country Club Road.
This potential new community would feature 57 townhomes and 54 apartments and would be developed by Scripture Communities, the builder/developer who has also developed Stone Spring Village, Avalon Woods, Heritage Estates, Liberty Square, The Glen at Cross Keys, The Townes at Bluestone, and is currently developing The Townes at Congers Creek. Of note - I represent this builder/developer and have been involved in the planning of this potential new community.
The architectural inspiration for this new community comes from the stone and stucco of Italy and the builder plans to incorporate these elements into the exterior of all of the townhomes and apartments. Below are two renderings of the plans for the townhome section of the neighborhood...
A few other items to note about this potential new community in the City of Harrisonburg...
- The rezoning request (and other related requests) involve three separate properties -- one on Country Club Road and two on Keezletown Road.
- The total acreage of this potential new development is 12.65 acres and there are 113 potential housing units including 57 townhomes, 54 apartments, one existing single family home and one new single family home.
- One of the properties to be developed includes 1820 Country Club Road, an office space for multiple licensed counselors and other related health professionals. This office space will remain and the new community will be built on other areas of that property.
- The developer is working to preserve the many existing mature trees on the site and will be incorporating many new trees throughout the community.
- The townhomes -- likely all three story townhomes with two car garages -- will be offered for sale to home buyers.
- The apartments are intended to all be one bedroom apartments available for rent.
- Some of the features the developers are most excited about are the energy efficiency of the townhouses with six inch exterior walls, the thoughtfully designed floor plans based on years of working with townhome buyers, pedestrian and bicycle friendly travelways throughout the community, solar ready townhouses with solar orientation, electric vehicle charger ready townhomes, standard bike storage areas in the townhomes, and multiple amenity areas in the community.
Multiple people spoke in favor of this request at the Planning Commission and a few others raised concerns. The concerns that were raised were primarily related to traffic on the roads adjacent to the potential new community -- and stormwater management. The developer will be responsible for ensuring that the development does not create additional stormwater coming off the site to neighboring properties -- and the City has future plans to improve both adjacent roads, though they are not yet funded.
City planning staff recommended that the rezoning request (and other releated requests) be approved and the Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend that City Council approve the requests to allow for this development to move forward. City Council will review this request in January.
