Virginia Beach-based Napolitano Homes expects to break ground by next spring on Smithfield’s Mallory Scott Farm housing development.

Despite a coordinated effort by local residents to oppose the project, the developer received the Smithfield Town Council’s 5-2 approval in July 2021 to construct 812 homes on more than 500 acres bordering Battery Park Road.

John Napolitano, senior vice president of Napolitano Homes, returned to Smithfield on Sept. 13 to seek the town Planning Commission’s approval of a preliminary plat that would allow him to subdivide a roughly 88-acre parcel into 135 lots as “Phase A” of what will be named the Mallory Pointe development. The town planners voted unanimously to grant Napolitano’s request.

According to Smithfield Planning and Community Development Director Tammie Clary, preliminary plat approvals are solely the domain of the Planning Commission, meaning no additional vote by Smithfield’s Town Council is needed.

The now-approved preliminary plat shows a different configuration of streets and two additional houses in Phase A than the 133 lots pictured in the 2021 conceptual plan. Napolitano, speaking to the commissioners ahead of the vote, described the change as “more efficient,” but pledged that the overall development would not exceed the 812 agreed-upon lots.

“Some of the lots in that original layout, if you really look at it, were very difficult to try and build on, so we tried to reshape those,” Napolitano said.

Of the 812 total units, 507 are to be single-family dwellings, 198 are to be two-family duplex units and 107 are to be townhouses. The 135 lots proposed for Phase A would all be single-family dwellings, according to Napolitano’s application.

The development as a whole is to include onsite parking, pedestrian and bicycle paths, sidewalks, public and private streets, two clubhouses, two swimming pools and water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure.

Napolitano said he expects to break ground by March or April.