. The flagging housing market has forced another Washington area homebuilder to seek bankruptcy protection. Crofton, Md.-based Caruso Homes, which has developed numerous subdivisions in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia in recent years, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. The company has more than $100 million in debt, due mostly to banks, and plans to emerge from court proceedings in the next “three or four months” after restructuring its liabilities, said Jeff Caruso, the builder’s chief executive. Operations will continue for Caruso during the bankruptcy protection process and the company will continue to build at various projects in Prince George’s County, Charles County, the Annapolis area and in Fredericksburg. “This is not an operational issue,” he said. “This is associated with the large land inventory we have.” Sales slowed at Caruso’s projects in Fredericksburg and other segments of Northern Virginia in late 2005, Caruso said. The company’s Maryland developments remained strong through the early part of 2007, but the credit crunch that began around the middle of 2007 “really slowed things down” for Caruso in Prince George’s County and other Maryland areas, he said. Some of Caruso’s recent projects in the Washington area include Wilshire Estates in Laurel, where homes are selling in the low $600,000 range, at Belmont Green in Ashburn and Ashton Estates in Bowie.

Copper Ridge consists of approximately 400 acres , South of Chandler Street in Culpeper, Va. The properties are owned by Angler Development.

MountainRunTrail would start at Davis Street , Culpeper Train Depot, cross the tracks along Spencer Street, run parallel to Mountain Run (Kaiser Trail) and to route 667 and the Culpeper Sports complex, with a bike trails through Caruso 's Development to Copper Ridge , to Germanna College, and to Braggs Corner, location of the new High School.

The Culpeper Newsletter documents the rate of growth in the area.

Culpeper Rappannock Bike & Horse Trail runs from Mountain Run in the town of Culpeper to the junction of the Rappannock River...about 25 miles, across At the junction of route 29 twe will build a bike overpass and at he junction of the Mountain Run and Jonas Run. There will be 2.5 miles of 4 rail black fence, 5 miles of 6 ft horse/bike/golf cart trails, bridge over the Mountain Run and connect to route 663 on Coles Hill Rd and a second bridge to route autos to Route'669 to the North .