Return to story

A new village at Ladysmith

November 19, 2004 1:07 am

MAYBE the initial reaction to a different sort of housing develop- ment in Caroline County was not surprising.

"You're going to build what down here?" was what developer Ron Hicks heard when he described the TND, or traditional neighborhood development, proposed for a tract along U.S. 1 at Ladysmith.

"I think they're coming around now," he said, as plans for Ladysmith Village have percolated among local residents and the community has begun to take shape.

Hicks is a partner in Ladysmith Land L.L.C., which also includes James E. Jarrell Jr., James E. "Jay" Jarrell III and Ivan Cowger. The project was first proposed more than two years ago, and the partnership has negotiated a proffer package with county officials over that time.

The development is unconventional only if one's view of a conventional community is similar houses lined up along streets or cul-de-sacs and sitting on quarter-acre or larger lots. And if you're going anywhere, you're probably going by car.

With Ladysmith Village's first phase calling for 3,170 housing units on only 550 acres, its developers quickly point out that the new community isn't for everyone.

Caroline County officials, however, happen to be among the the village's chief supporters.

The proffer package offered by the developers includes:

A public library (scheduled for completion by the end of 2006).

$750,000, plus land and water and sewer lines, for a YMCA.

Graded land and roads for an adjacent elementary school in the future.

In addition, there will be miles of biking and walking trails, several ball fields and recreation areas, and plain old green space.

Caroline Supervisor Wayne Acors, whose Madison District includes Ladysmith, said the county's dealings with the developers have been cooperative and constructive.

"I was in favor of the project because it preserves the village concept we had envisioned," Acors said.

Part of Caroline's growth strategy has been not only to focus development in a central part of the county, along I-95, but also to encourage long-term buildout.

Buildout at Ladysmith Village is anticipated in 12 to 15 years, Acors said, while at nearby Pendleton, a larger community with a golf course, construction will continue for 20 to 25 years.

With 3,170 houses at Ladysmith Village and another 3,500 at Pendleton, plus 4,000 planned at the reborn Haymount subdivision on the Rappahannock River, gradual development is called key to the county's ability to accommodate such growth. Filling all those houses would much more than double Caroline's current population of about 23,000.

The town-style development that Ladysmith Village will become is the brainchild of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., the nationally known planners of some 100 "towns" such as Seaside, Fla., Belmont Forest in Loudoun County, Spotsylvania's proposed New Post and Caroline's Haymount.

Properly executed, such communities put people within a five-minute walk of least a couple of services to which they might otherwise need to drive.

The concept, in the case of Ladysmith Village, is simple: Make a copy of Fredericksburg--20 miles to the south. Well, not a carbon copy, but a place with neighborhoods, parks, central gathering spots, stores, alleys and street lamps, but no cul-de-sacs.

Like Caroline Street in Fredericksburg, Ladysmith will include a row of small businesses with living quarters above them.

Of the community's 3,170 housing units, 2,420 will be single-family homes, 300 will be townhouses and 450 will be apartments.

The community's higher density is also designed to take a bite out of sprawl. By keeping people closer together, land isn't eaten up as quickly. And by providing various services within the community, residents needn't always venture out on the region's overburdened roads.

"We're making this community pedestrian-friendly," said Chuck Ipsaro, the developers' on-site marketing representative. "If you're looking for a home in the country, this isn't it."

Plans for Ladysmith Village allow about a sixth of an acre per house. At New Post, another DPZ town, 1,548 houses are proposed for 416 acres, or about a quarter-acre each.

People have grown accustomed to subdivisions that use more land per house. Lee's Hill, for example, has 1,800 houses on 1,600 acres, almost an acre per house, and Lee's Parke, which is just getting going, will have 2,232 houses on 1,125 acres, or about a half-acre per house.

Actual lot sizes are always smaller due to space set aside for streets, amenities, common areas and commercial development.

Ladysmith Village is far enough along now that innovations are already becoming apparent.

The seven builders who have bought up the development's first 200 lots are building their models facing Founders Park, the name given to the first neighborhood and the common area that will feature an "old English" clock.

Garages are at the rear of the houses, facing what will be alleys. Not only will the alleys prevent garage doors from dominating the fronts of homes, they also will be used for trash collection--keeping trash cans out of sight.

The models are due to be completed in January or February, and a grand opening is planned for the spring. That hasn't stopped 35 to 40 buyers who are already on board with pre-construction contracts that promise May delivery.

Owners of the first homes built in Founders Park will be facing Clara Smith Street. Smith, according to local history, was a Caroline resident and the daughter of a Confederate veteran. She came up with a plan in 1928 to establish a new town called Ladysmith, borrowing the name from a diamond mine in South Africa she'd read about.

Though the town never came to be, perhaps because of the Great Depression, the name Ladysmith stuck, and Ipsaro said the developers want their new village to be the town Smith envisioned.

Ipsaro said a main objective is to avoid having look-alike houses lined up next to each other. Not only have the lots been spread out among the builders, the builders have been encouraged to offer a variety of elevations.

The builders are Aaronal Homes, Castle Builders, Hamlet Homes, Main Street Homes, Snead Custom Homes and Spear Builders. The houses are advertised as ranging from the low $200,000s to $400,000.

The small lots, and the homes themselves, will require little maintenance. That may make the town more attractive to the commuters who are expected to live there.

"Most of our traffic is coming from the Fredericksburg area," Ipsaro said, with some prospective buyers from Northern Virginia mixed in. No one is coming from Hanover County or the Richmond area, he said, probably because the housing prices haven't chased them elsewhere.

Developer Hicks points out that Ladysmith, 20 miles past the State Route 3 exit of Interstate 95, can be comparable in travel time to a traffic-snarled trip to some Route 3 subdivisions.

Those from around Fredericksburg are looking for more affordable housing, Ipsaro said, something people sought out around Fredericksburg a decade or two ago. That means that either people are willing to extend their commute farther south, or Fredericksburg is becoming a commuter destination in itself.

To reach RICHARD AMRHINE: 540/374-5406 ramrhine@freelancestar.com