An area of land in York County is currently in the process of being developed into a living community.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation closed a deal Friday with developer Harrison and Lear, Inc. for 306 acres of the Carr’s Hill Tract property located along Waller Mill Road in York County, said Jonathan Skinner, vice president of acquisitions and development for Harrison and Lear, Inc.
Skinner said the plan is to develop a new 326-lot residential development for single-family homes that will be sold in a price range between $200,000 and $400,000. The project is predicted to take approximately three to four years but will serve a number of the incoming families in the area.
There are a few main draws to developing that portion of land, Skinner said.
First, the land is considered within Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle, which is desirable to many people relocating to the area, Skinner said. He added the area has many people who come to retire from New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Homes in the development would also be zoned for York County Public Schools which Skinner said is a very desirable district. The new homes will help with the influx of military families who are locating to the area from the lower Peninsula as well as other families coming to the area for the educational value.
“These families are coming regardless of what we do,” Skinner said. “We are trying to meet the demand that is already occurring.”
But that’s not the first time the Carr’s Hill Tract has been considered for development.
The land has decades of history of negotiations and possibilities between the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and potential developers, starting in 1983 when the Foundation bought the property for $3.1 million, according to WYDaily archives.
According to reports from 2007, the foundation had originally agreed to develop 65 acres with developer Centex Homes.
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A letter from York County to the Foundation in 2007 stated the approved preliminary plan for the original development was no longer valid because the property would be provided public water through the city of Williamsburg, but a requirement of approval was that water be provided through the city of Newport News.
The project also fell through because of financial issues during the recession, Skinner noted.
Skinner clarified that he was never involved in the project.
Skinner added that Colonial Williamsburg has retained more than 100 acres of the property.
“Colonial Williamsburg owns real property in the City of Williamsburg and York and James City counties,” Joseph Straw, spokesman for Colonial Williamsburg, wrote in an email. “From time to time, we may market for sale property that is not considered necessary to support our core educational mission.”
The land is still home to some historic locations that are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, the foundation donated three conservation easements on 230 acres of land to the Williamsburg Land Conservancy, according to the Historic Virginia Land Conservancy, formerly known as Williamsburg Land Conservancy, website.
Those conservation easements prohibit land development in particular parts of the area, protect woodlands and wetlands and preserve the site of the Benjamin Powell Plantation.
Skinner said he didn’t believe the development would impact any of the historic properties because of the 306 acres purchased, only 179 are being developed. The area also has gone through the permitting process for wetlands and archaeological protection on the property.
The master plan was approved in July 2018 and in February of 2019, the developers received their environmental and archaeological permit approval, Skinner said.
Nearly a year later in January 2020, York County approved a proposal from Colonial Williamsburg to adjust the boundary lines to change the property from seven parcels of land to three.
The developer has started timbering the area and will continue the design and engineering work that has been in process since 2016.
Skinner said the project will continue forward and eventually a home builder will be chosen to construct the new community.
