Confused about neighborhoods/lot sizes in C'ville... (Crozet: transplants, to rent)

[cville4]

We're recent transplants to the area and absolutely love it here, and we decided to rent for a year or two near downtown before committing to buy (we wanted time to figure out which area we liked best). With that being said, the overall neighborhood zoning of Albemarle County makes little to no sense to us. In the Ivy area (both north and south of I-64) there are big estate homes on huge lots (2 acres+) which are surrounded by wide open spaces/farmland. As you continue further west to Crozet, suddenly there are communities everywhere with more moderately priced homes, yet the lot sizes are unbelievably small---especially when considering that it's a rural area with abundant undeveloped land. It didn't make any sense to us as to why developers would literally throw houses right on top of one another in a rural area 20 minutes or more to C'ville. It also didn't make sense as to why anyone would pay 400k+ for a home that literally was parked right on top of another 400k+ home, in which it probably would be best to use a weed eater to cut both sides of your lawn instead of a lawn mower.

Land prices don't seem to be that high out in far west Albemarle County so are there some bizarre zoning laws in place that we're not aware of? We assumed that living out in Crozet would get you a minimum of a 1 acre lot for houses 300k and up but again were surprised to see how packed in the homes were. Beautiful area, to be sure, but we were really turned off as we'd like a little bit of space if we decided to move 20-25 minutes outside of C'ville. Overall, western Albemarle is by far our favorite region of C'ville but it looks like we might end up buying land and building our own home somewhere as the communities here don't seem to fit the bill.

[lammius]

Developers will build as many units as the zoning laws allow. If the maximum allowable intensity is 2 units per acre, that's what they'll build, and none less. On a 10 acre development, they'll make a higher return selling 20 houses at $400K than 10 houses at $500K (assuming they'd get an extra $100K for the larger lot size).

As for the zoning, I'm not sure. Albemarle County may allow higher intensity near some of the village centers or I-64 ramps to focus development around existing infrastructure and to preserve undeveloped open space, but you'd have to ask them (or find a county plan on their website that has a zoning map and explanation)