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Mullins proposal advances

With Corps of Engineers decision, Mullins plan to develop part of Chancellorsville battlefield moves closer to reality

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 6/4/2003

Corps ends talks between critics, tract's developer

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken the unusual step of ending consultations on a permit connected with John Mullins' plan to develop land on the Chancellorsville battlefield.

The consultations involve preservation groups and other interested parties that have weighed in on the project. The decision means that Mullins' plan for up to 225 homes on the land moves one step closer to reality.

In a letter last week to the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, George S. Dunlop, deputy assistant secretary of the Army, said the corps made the decision after the parties were unable to agree on the scope of the permit and whether more archaeological investigation of the site near the scene of first day of fighting during the 1863 Civil War battle is justified.

The project requires a corps permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for six road crossings of streams on the property associated with Mullins' proposed residential subdivision.

Spotsylvania County has signed off on Mullins' plans; all he needs now to proceed is the corps permit.

Dunlop wrote, "Your staff and VDHR [the Virginia Department of Historic Resources] recommended that the applicant conduct an archaeological survey on the entire 273-acre [Ashley-Orrock tract] site. This exceeds the corps authority under its regulations to require applicants to perform such investigations since the permit area for this project is limited to the road crossings and the adjacent upland."

The state agency and the advisory council, a federal agency, had recommended that Mullins preserve historically significant portions of his property outside the Ashley-Orrock tract.

The letter goes on to say that Mullins "was opposed to performing any additional surveys or preserving any of his property outside the boundaries of this site. I agree with the [corps'] Norfolk District that such measures are disproportional to the extent of the undertaking," Dunlop wrote in his May 28 letter.

Mullins has declined comment on the permit application, saying it is a matter between him and the corps.

Mullins, owner of Covenant Funeral Service on U.S. 1 in Spotsylvania, applied for the corps permit last July.

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Date published: 6/4/2003