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Have you ever seen an entirely new town
spring up before your eyes? If you find the idea appealing,
then may we direct your eyes to Roseland. You may or may
not have heard of Roseland…yet. But chances are
great that in the coming months, years, and even decades
the name will become increasingly prominent, not only in
Chesterfield County, but throughout the entire Richmond
metro area.
What is Roseland?
We put that question to Casey Sowers. He, and his partners,
(father, George “Buddy” Sowers; brother, Christian
Sowers) and their company GBS Holding Ltd, are the developers
of Roseland and the owners of the land upon which it will
be built.
“At its core,” Sowers tell us, “Roseland
is a new town.” Indeed it is. It’s a town comprising
over 1,500 acres, located basically at the Woolridge Road
interchange with Route 288 in the western part of the county.
It’s a town where, eventually, more than 5,000 residential
units of varying styles and sizes will co-exist with a million
and a half square feet of shops, and offices. It’s
a town where one can easily walk to the store, to school,
and to any number of parks and other recreational facilities.
The developers’ vision of Roseland, which is laid
out on their website, www.roselandva.com, elaborates:
Roseland is a town that has no precedent in Chesterfield
County. A town that delivers a walkable mixed-use community.
A town that delivers jobs. A town that delivers a true
public realm. A town that delivers choice. A town that
delivers diversity. A town that delivers an economic boost
to Chesterfield
Rosleland’s Founders look beyond the short term
in order to create a sustainable place that is both a retreat
for those who live there and a destination for the surrounding
community.
 WHY ROSELAND?
Sowers says the county has many subdivisions, “But,” he
adds, “looking back in time, the places that thrive
over the centuries are more than just houses. They must
have all the ingredients of a town.”
“In times past,” he says, “Communities
sprang up without the automobile in mind. People didn’t
have cars. You couldn’t plan a municipality where
one had to drive five or ten miles to buy groceries.”
That all changed after World War II, with the trend to
move out of town and into the suburbs. And, now, it’s
changing again. People are moving back into the towns and
cities. As long ago as the early eighties, a movement began,
known as New Urbanism. One of the movement’s underlying
principles is to design neighborhoods containing both housing
and jobs, and to be “walkable.”
Sowers explains, “It’s not enough that retail,
office, recreational, and residential uses exist in close
proximity. They must also be built in the right context,
scale and proportion.”
ROSELAND – HOW WILL IT
LOOK?
So, what will the Roseland of tomorrow look like? “There
will be a wide range of residential styles, sizes, and
pricing, Sowers says. “There will be parks and schools
within walking distance, along with a variety of retail
and other services. The residents of Roseland won’t
need to leave the community.”
Based on the tenets of New Urbanism, vertical integration
is a key factor. Vertically mixed buildings, where retail
or office use fills the first, and sometimes, the second
floor, with various forms of residential use above, will
feature prominently in Roseland. “A coffee shop or
salon,” Sowers says, “will have a better chance
of success when many of their customers live right above
them.”
Horizontal integration is also important. Rather than row
upon row of houses, all very similar in size, style, and
price range, as is found in most subdivisions, in Roseland
you will find residential space existing alongside office,
retail, and civic space. Various types of residential uses
will intermingle.
Such a horizontal and vertical relationship will encourage
a wide spectrum of economic levels to share the same schools,
churches, and other amenities. As individuals and families
circumstances change such as income, family size, etc.,
they will be able to remain within the town, rather than
relocate elsewhere.
 OPEN SPACES
Open spaces are also a vital element in Roseland. The developers
envision two types of such spaces – a connected
greenway park weaving through the entire town and bringing
the various neighborhoods together, as well as formal
open spaces which will serve as destination spots for
social interaction among the residential and commercial
communities.
Roseland’s Greenway Park will allow residents to
bike or hike throughout the entire community without ever
having to use the primary vehicular roadways. More than
25% of the total land in Roseland will remain open space.
WHAT ABOUT ROADS?
One of the biggest issues in Chesterfield County is how
new residential development impacts what are often already
overcrowded roadways. Will Roseland aggravate this problem
even further?
Casey Sowers says this will not be the case for a number
of reasons. First, the community aspect of the development
will decrease the residents of Roseland’s dependency
on automobiles. “There is census data,” Sowers
says, “which finds that in a properly designed multi-use
development automobile dependency is significantly reduced.”
But, equally significant is the developer’s plan
to build Roseland’s complete roadway system up front. “Typically,” Sowers
says, “roads are phased in as a community evolves.
In Roseland, we are planning to build all of the roadways
at the outset. This will actually, in the beginning create
an excess of roadways.”
Who pays for the roads? “We do,” Sowers says. “This
could well be the biggest developer financed road building
project in Chesterfield County…ever.”
Sowers says the road building project will finally tie
up the entire road network for the area with the projected
roadways connecting to Woolridge Road, Old hundred Road,
and the proposed Watkins Center Parkway. According to Sowers,
this will alleviate traffic all the back up to Hull Street
Road.
Another exciting possibility that would help alleviate
highway traffic is a proposed light rail system. “We
already have a main line,” Sowers says, “that
runs straight to the city…from Amelia to Chesterfield
(and Roseland), into Downtown Richmond and then on to the
airport (RIC).”
 THE TIMELINE
Already, the first home is under construction in Roseland
(See box The First Folks in Town, left), in the Hallsley
community, the first of several distinct Roseland communities.
The neighborhoods of Hallsley will be tucked between
a network of preserved woodlands and public parks. And,
according to Sowers, some of Roseland’s larger
homes and larger lots will be found in Hallsley.
Sowers predicts that within five years, barring unforeseen
circumstances, “Our major park systems will be in
place, as will be our road infrastructure.” He also
says there should already be a public school or two, as
well as a combination of residential and business development. “The
main elements of Roseland will have been established.”
Looking further down the road, Casey Sowers says that this
is a twenty-year project, but he adds, “Towns evolve
over generations.”
While there is still much work to be done, including obtaining
county approval for the entire mixed-use development, already
one can sense the excitement. Something special is indeed
underway in Western Chesterfield County. Casey Sowers says, “If
we pay attention to the details…if we do it right,
we can create something really inspiring here.”
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