By Gwen Albers

The Tidewater News

The Windsor Town Council will seek public comments Jan. 11 on a proposed 212-unit housing complex across from Windsor Middle School.

The Windsor Planning Commission unanimously recommended in November that the council approve the development, which would be built on 42 vacant acres on North Court Street next to Twin Pines Mobile Home Park.

Tentatively named Cambridge at Windsor, the development would include about 85 single-family homes priced from the low to high $200,000s, according to Vince Napolitano, president of Napolitano Homes in Virginia Beach, which is teaming up on the project with Franciscus Homes, also of Virginia Beach.

The development also would include about 85 duplexes that will sell from the high $100,000s to the low $200,000s and four, 10-unit buildings, with condominiums starting at $160,000, Napolitano said.

Town Planning and Zoning Administrator Dennis Carney said the property lies in an area zoned for agriculture and single-family homes that must be built on minimum five-acre lots. The developer needs to have the property rezoned to allow for multi-family homes.

Napolitano Homes and Franciscus Homes have indicated that the new homes would generate $51,310 in real estate taxes annually for the Town of Windsor and $226,812 to Isle of Wight County, Carney said.

Water for the homes would come from the town water system, and sewer upgrades would be needed to the county system, Carney said. A 200-foot left-turn lane would need to be developed on Route 258 for entering the development.

If the project is approved, Napolitano estimates it would be a year before construction begins.

“It’s a pretty long process,” he said. “If we are fortunate to be approved, our engineer has to do the engineering, which will take several months, and all that has to go through the approval process with the town.”

“Then we’ll have to see what the market is doing,” Napolitano added.