Thursday, November 16, 2006

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Roseland rezoning filed
Project could bring up to 5,140 residential units to Chesterfield

BY JULIAN WALKER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

A rezoning application has been filed for a Chesterfield County development that is expected to have more residential units than the planned Magnolia Green project.

The Roseland project, so named for an 1800s home on the property that would be preserved for community use, would be developed on 1,394 acres in the northwestern part of Chesterfield.

The property is generally south and west of where Woolridge Road and state Route 288 meet.

The rezoning application filed this week indicates that when fully built, Roseland would have a maximum of 5,140 residential units and more than 1.5 million square feet of retail, office and commercial uses.

The developers also control an adjacent 600-acre tract that is zoned for 740 residential units.

By comparison, the 3,884-acre Magnolia Green tract, located north of Hull Street Road and west of Otterdale Road, is zoned for up to 4,886 residential units.

Current plans describe the Roseland property as being a self-contained townlike entity, rather than a subdivision, that would be developed as five distinct districts with its own charter.

"Everything about this project is different from what Chesterfield is used to," said Casey Sowers, one of the Roseland developers.

The development plans call for a town center, which would be the heart of the development, with a main street featuring shops, lofts, apartments and con- dominiums; a regional office park with retail establishments; a village with single and multifamily uses; and two other residential neighborhoods with tree-lined streets and green space.

"At Roseland, someone can leave his or her home in the morning, have coffee at the corner cafe, go to work, go for a run or bike ride, go out to dinner, all without ever getting into a car," Sowers said. "This should be the model for any large development in our county, to reduce dependency on the automobile."

Sowers expects the project would take 15 to 20 years to build once it is rezoned. He is hopeful construction will start in 2008.

Chesterfield Planning Director Kirk Turner said the county's analysis of the proposal has just begun.

Among the many issues county staff members are reviewing are what accommodations the proposal makes for Roseland's impact on schools and other county infrastructure, he said.

The project is nestled along the state Route 288 corridor where Chesterfield officials hope future commercial development, and the taxes that come with it, will be located.

Already rezoned along that corridor is the 800-plus-acre Watkins Centre project at Midlothian Turnpike and Route 288, which officials see as an industrial park that will generate more than $11 million in annual taxes when fully developed; and the 600-acre Centerpointe office park at Route 288 and Powhite Parkway.

Because of dwindling road-construction dollars from the state, county officials are looking at alternative methods of financing Chesterfield road projects.

The principals behind Roseland have proposed a community-development authority to finance road projects -- including the extension of Woolridge Road from 288 to Old Hundred Road -- and build a neighborhood elementary school and other infrastructure in and around the site.

Sowers said using the community-development authority financing method would allow for the construction of this infrastructure in the early stages of the project.

Sowers said his family has spent "seven figures" during the past two years preparing the proposal in hopes those steps will expedite the approval of Roseland.

County records indicate more than 1,110 acres, valued at $10.7 million, involved in Roseland is controlled by companies linked to real estate investor George B. "Buddy" Sowers Jr., father of Casey Sowers.

For now, people such as Marleen Durfee, executive director of the Responsible Growth Alliance of Chesterfield County, are reserving judgment.

"I appreciate this kind of development being brought forward, which incorporates some of the smart-growth principles," she said, adding that she would continue to monitor the proposal.

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