Major proposed development near Eastern State Hospital will not move forward

JAMES CITY COUNTY – A proposal to build a large-scale development near Eastern State Hospital is off the table.

After continued pushback from local residents, Texas-based developer D.R. Horton Inc. decided to withdraw their efforts to construct a major mixed-use development called Cardinal Ridge.

If approved, the rezoning request would have cleared the way for the construction of 770 new homes alongside 100,000 square feet of retail space on a 365-acre site off Ironbound Road.

Last December, the James City County Planning Commission voted in favor of the rezoning request. The original proposal called for an even larger development that would have included 1,006 homes and 162,000 square feet of commercial space.

A petition urging residents to vote against the Carinal Ridge proposal garnered more than 2,050 signatures, noting concerns about major increases in traffic, negative environmental impacts and loss of wildlife habitat.

A crowd of county residents packed into the Board of Supervisors meeting last Tuesday, with many planning to speak out against the development. Before the planned public hearing, however, Supervisor John McGlennon made the surprise announcement that the developers would not be moving forward with the proposal.

“We will be doing some things a little bit differently this evening,” McGlennon said. “I wanted to let folks know that the applicants for Cardinal Ridge have withdrawn their application.”

McGlennon did not provide any additional details, and the supervisors quickly shifted their focus to other matters.

Expanded Elderly & Disabled tax exemption approved

Later in the meeting, supervisors voted to approve a policy that will increase the real estate tax exemption for senior and disabled county residents.

The county’s Elderly & Disabled real estate exemption previously waived property taxes on the first $150,000 of a home’s value for qualifying residents. That amount will now increase to the first $200,000 in value.

The policy applies only to households with a combined annual income of $55,000 or less and a total combined net worth of $200,000 or less, not including the value of their house and land.