Rosegill Village plans to build

120 dwellings on 103 acres of land located on Urbanna Creek

More than 20 years after a plan was unveiled to build homes on Rosegill farm, some new activity involving former farm acreage bordering Urbanna Creek has come before Middlesex County officials.

About five weeks ago, the Middlesex Planning and Zoning Department received several pages of detailed site plan drawings from Rosegill Development LLC, based in Vienna, Va. The new plans for “Rosegill Village” show a 120-unit development proposed for 103 acres on the west side of Urbanna Road (Route 227) across the road from the existing Urbanna Harbor development. (See diagram graphic.)

When leaving Urbanna on Urbanna Road the parcel is on the right side and extends to Ivy Shores Boulevard. A sign has been at the site for several years indicating development is “coming soon.”

County Planning Director Dave Kretz said no official application accompanied the drawings sent by the developer. The Sentinel left a phone message for the listed contact, Diane Cox Basheer, but had not received a reply by press time.

Due to a new state law that went into effect July 1, 2025, the planning commission will no longer review site plans, Kretz said. Instead, site plans are now reviewed by a designated agent. Kretz is the designated agent for Middlesex. Subdivision and site plan applications are required along with fees. These have not been submitted. The parcel is already zoned for development.

Dwellings

The submitted preliminary plans show 120 dwelling units: 96 single family homes or two-unit duplexes, and 24 multi-family units. The drawings by AES Consulting Engineers in Williamsburg indicate that most lot sizes will be about 7,000 square feet (about one-sixth of an acre). The home lots will be clustered on 25 acres leaving 49 acres of open space. The rest of the land will be streets or private rights of way.

Central Water 

Plans call for water to be supplied by the Middlesex Water Authority (MWA). In fact, in 2007 the Rosegill Village developers drilled two deep wells anticipating development. These wells, which are about 650 and 680 feet deep, were purchased in 2017 by the MWA, which then laid 42 miles of water pipes to the middle and eastern parts of Middlesex.

Central sewer

Wastewater will be treated on site and then dispersed underground similar to a drain field. Rosegill Village is adhering to a proffer it made years ago to not discharge treated wastewater into Urbanna Creek.

Background

In March 2004, an ambitious Rosegill plan on a scale that was hard to imagine by some was unveiled at an Urbanna Town Council meeting. Diane Cox Basheer and Ken Thompson, whose firm was based in Northern Virginia, planned to buy the entire 860 acres of historic Rosegill and develop it in stages to meet market demand. The developers imagined 700 dwellings on 848 acres.

There was a storm of opposition, a lawsuit, and challenges by those who wanted things to stay the way they were and liked open fields. Only the 103 acre Rosegill Village site was sold. The remainder of the farm is still owned by the Scott family.