After 12 years on the drawing board, Embry

After 12 years on the drawing board, Embry Mill (formerly Boulder), a planned greenfield development in Virginia, has won rezoning approval from Stafford County. Among other factors, a controversy over impact fees and a recession has kept the project in limbo. In the recently revised master plan by WHA Architects of Arlington, Virginia, the first neighborhood will connect directly with a town center on an arterial road. Two additional neighborhoods are separated from this section by a wide swath of open space. Of the 952 acres, approximately 40 percent will remain undeveloped. The planned 2,246 residential units will include several hundred senior housing units, as well as live/work townhomes. Expected buildout is 10 to 25 years. According to Chris Hubbard of WHA, the long wait has been advantageous in some regards. Area builders are now more familiar with new urbanist practice, and the county has added several civic sites to the project, including two schools, a library, and a fire station.