The developer who wanted to bring a luxury RV park to the Danville-Pittsylvania County area but was met with strong resident opposition now plans to build a subdivision instead.
Joe Cubas, a Florida-based developer, wants to build single-family homes in the city, which will likely range from $300,000 to $350,000.
Adding more housing units to a residential area will ensure “continuity in the neighborhood,” Cubas said — unlike a luxury RV park, which many residents felt did not belong in a residential zone.
This subdivision will help address Danville’s housing shortage, especially at that price point, Councilman Lee Vogler said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“We’ve begged developers to bring us projects like this one,” he said. “That [range], $250,000 to $350,000, was really that void … that we were really trying to fill.”
According to a housing study, the Danville area has a pent-up demand for more than 600 homes.
The Danville City Council approved rezoning applications Tuesday to allow more houses per acre on parcels totaling 101 acres at Jenny Lane. The parcels were rezoned from T-R Threshold Residential, which only allows for two single-family homes per acre, to S-R Suburban Residential, which allows for three.
The council voted 8-0 to approve the rezoning application. Councilman James Buckner was absent.
This means a total of 303 units could theoretically fit in this subdivision. But City Manager Ken Larking said it would be “impossible” to actually build that many, because not all of the land is developable.
One of these parcels was considered for Cubas’ luxury RV park last year. Resident opposition, including concerns about traffic and safety, hindered the project, and it was tabled indefinitely in June.
Cubas said at Tuesday’s meeting that he has withdrawn the special use permit application for the RV park at that location.
“After meetings with the neighbors and many discussions and understanding a little better what their position was, we made the decision to withdraw the RV resort,” he said.
A special use permit for Cubas’ RV park was first denied in Pittsylvania County in November 2022. County residents came out strongly against the project, and the board of supervisors voted it down despite a recommendation for approval by the county planning commission.
Vogler said he contacted Cubas the morning after the county’s denial. He didn’t want to see the project leave the region entirely just because Pittsylvania didn’t want it, he said.
But resident opposition was equally strong in Danville, with many residents saying that they disliked the proposed location of the project, rather than the RV park itself.
Cubas is now looking at other potential locations in the city for an RV park, although he hasn’t said where.
Two residents spoke against the rezoning application for the subdivision at this week’s meeting, again with traffic concerns. Three single-family homes per acre would result in more cars on roads that are already narrow, they said.
But a traffic impact analysis is not required for this project to move forward, said Renee Burton, the city’s director of planning and zoning.
In an interview after the meeting, Cubas said he was “very, very happy” about the council’s decision.
“The feeling is incredible,” he said. “The next step in this process is to close on the properties.”
That will happen in the next few weeks, Cubas said. Then he plans to hire an engineering firm to start creating development plans and obtain permits to start building.
It is still very early in what will likely be a two- or three-year process that will be completed in phases, Cubas said.
