Smithfield’s Town Council voted 6-1 on May 6 to approve a lower-density version of the Cottages at Battery development on 14 acres behind Royal Farms convenience store at Battery Park Road and South Church Street.

The 104-home concept reflects a 20% reduction in density from the 130 units Suffolk-based Quality Homes proposed in 2024. It’s also a 30% decrease from the 150-home concept Virginia Beach developer John Mamoudis had proposed for the land five years ago. Quality Homes acquired the land from Mamoudis in April 2024.

Mamoudis sought and received Town Council approval for multifamily residential zoning in 2020, proposing at the time to build 15 two-story multifamily buildings, each containing 10 units. Quality Homes, which sought to keep the multifamily zoning but amend the proffers to which Mamoudis had agreed, proposed instead to build 1,000- to 1,300-square-foot one- and two-story detached homes with adjoining garages.

Councilman Steve Bowman said that if the Town Council didn’t approve the lower-density revision “they by right … could revert back to what was initially offered and increase the density back to what it was,” referring to Mamoudis’ plan.

Councilman Darren Cutler cast the dissenting vote. He took issue with the written proffers’ lack of specificity regarding the development’s potential impact on enrollment at Isle of Wight County Schools.

Developer Brian Mullins told Smithfield’s Planning Commission a month earlier that the impact on the schools would also be less than the 150-unit concept already approved. Isle of Wight County Director of Community Development Amy Ring, in a March 2024 email to her town counterpart, Tammie Clary, estimated Quality Homes’ original 130-home concept would add 30 students to the school system.

Cutler asserted Quality Homes to be in “a race” with the now-93 home Grange at 10Main mixed-use development proposed for 57 acres at the western edge of Smithfield’s historic district, and with “The Promontory,” another proposed mixed-use development that would add 239 homes and five commercial parcels on 133 acres behind and adjacent to the Tractor Supply on Benns Church Boulevard.

The Promontory’s developer, Charlottesville-based Greenwood Homes, has proffered that if that development causes Smithfield Middle School to exceed capacity, it would pay up to $750,228, or $62,519 per seat. Smithfield Middle was at 82% of its capacity as of Sept. 30, according to IWCS data, which projects that the cumulative impact of 15 in-progress and proposed housing developments would cause four of the county’s five northern-end schools to exceed their ability to meet state-mandated class size maximums.

“One is going to exceed 100%,” Cutler said.

Town Attorney Bill Riddick, however, said IWCS had not responded in writing to the town’s request for comments on Quality Homes’ revised 104-home concept. Riddick previously advised that under state law, the town can only accept cash proffers specifically attributable to the proposed project.

The reduction in density allowed Quality Homes to reduce from six to two the number of special use permits that would be required. Bowman’s separate motion to approve both special use permits passed unanimously.

One of the two would waive a requirement of one recreational vehicle parking space per four units. The second would allow the garages to adjoin at the rear.

The existing multifamily zoning allows up to 12 units per acre but stipulates an eight-unit-per-acre limit for any attached housing, which is what the town has deemed the rear-adjoining garages. The attached-housing definition would also ordinarily require a minimum of three adjoining units. The second permit would reduce that requirement to two.

The 104-home concept now complies with the eight-unit-per-acre limit, eliminating the need for one of the original six special use permits that requested up to 10 units per acre for the 130-home concept.

The three other now-unneeded special use permits had sought to build the homes closer than 24 feet apart, waive yard requirements and waive parking and loading requirements.

At a public hearing that preceded the votes, two residents of the adjacent age-restricted Villas of Smithfield development expressed concern about the site’s proximity and the cumulative traffic impact from the Cottages and the 812-home Mallory Pointe development, also located on Battery Park Road, which was approved in 2021 and is now building its first phase.

A traffic study completed for Mamoudis’ 150-unit concept in 2020 had estimated 1,098 daily vehicular trips. Mullins told the commissioners last month that the 104-home concept would reduce that figure by roughly 460 trips.