County-wide, including Charles Town and Ranson, there were 612 permits issued to begin new home construction in the first half of 2024, according to data provided by the Jefferson County Office of Impact Fees (a part of the county’s Department of Engineering). That number compares to 776 permits issued for all of 2023. Roger Goodwin, the Chief County Engineer, noted during a recent presentation to the County Commission that he expects the full year number for new permits issued in 2024 will exceed 1,200.
The chart at right shows the breakdown between single family homes, townhomes, duplexes, and multi-family housing (apartment units). The large bump in the number of townhome permits that started in 2023 has continued in 2024, and the overall pace is close to doubling what was permitted last year.
The county’s Office of Planning and Zoning estimates that there are currently over 6,000 buildable lots in the county without structures. Not all of these fall within large subdivision developments, but that number suggests that there is a significant reserve of already approved building lots that are likely to be added to the permit numbers over the next few years.
The size of new developments presented for concept plan reviews continues to grow as well. The most recently approved request, the Birdhill subdivision between Kearneysville and Shepherdstown, proposed 720 residential units. The larger numbers are in part due to an increase in the density, with a shift to more townhome units in these new developments.
Snapshots Of Some New Neighborhoods
Dan Ryan Builders purchased the unbuilt parcels of the Huntfield development in 2021 and has built approximately 100 units in the past 18 months with another 374 planned. The company has also already started selling homes in Kings Crossing (near the St. James Church on Charles Town Road), a development that will have 225 townhomes and 175 single family homes. The image above (captured in July 2024) shows new townhomes along Battlefield Drive. The image below (captured 18 months prior in January 2023) shows the same location just after the site work was completed.
Lennar acquired the unbuilt sections of the Norborne Glebe development and restarted construction in 2022. Current plans show an additional 239 single family houses and 450 townhouse units to be built (image below). The company recently finished construction of the outdoor pool facility (image above) to serve the community.
Stanley Martin is developing the Presidents Pointe subdivision in Ranson. The company has built approximately 400 units so far and plans for a total of 1,000 townhomes (image above) and 200 single family homes when the project is completed. The company will soon begin construction of an additional 300 to 400 units at Stone Springs, located just east of where 340 and 9 run together (image below).
DR Horton purchased the unbuilt Toll House Woods development south of Shepherdstown and began construction in 2022. About half of the 69 single family houses have started or finished construction and several are already occupied (images above & below).
