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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.
Under the federal review process, the corps' decision to end consultations on the corps permit now triggers a 45-day review by the advisory council.
The council will make a recommendation about how it believes the corps should proceed, but the corps is not bound by the recommendation.
The Civil War Preservation Trust and several other preservation groups want the corps to take a more detailed look at Civil War history on the tract, which is within the boundaries of the county's Chancellorsville Battlefield Historic District.
The trust, which has been fighting a string of development plans on Mullins' property, contends that the corps has failed to properly review Mullins' plan to develop the 273 acres. It charges that the corps has not properly defined the permit area and has not done the necessary environmental, historical and archaeological fieldwork.
Further, it says that the corps is proceeding under a generic nationwide permit, when it should have required Mullins to proceed under a more thorough individual permit.
Under federal rules, the agency may consider any impact on historic sites as part of its permit review and can require developers to change their plans to mitigate potential damage during construction.
Mullins has agreed to provide buffers on the tract and has contracted with Cultural Resources Inc. to find the location of the Civil War-era Ebenezer McGee farmstead so that the site can be preserved with a restrictive covenant.
The Ashley-Orrock tract lies outside the most historically significant area where Union and Confederate forces first clashed on May 1, 1863, at Chancellorsville. The tract is within the Lick Run Element where Gen. Robert E. Lee crossed after that battle.
The corps maintains that there has been ample opportunity for review and comment by interested parties, and that both historic resources and the landowner must be protected.
The last time the agency ended consultations on a permit application was in 1993 with the Greensprings Plantation development project in Williamsburg.
Mullins has run up against several roadblocks in his attempts to develop his Chancellorsville property.
In 1999, he dropped plans for an office park, subdivision and golf course after rejecting corps recommendations for preserving the core battlefield.
In March of this year, Dogwood Development Group's proposed town of 1,995 homes and up to 2.2 million square feet of businesses was rejected by the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors after local residents and preservation groups across the country mobilized to fight it.
The Chancellorsville battlefield made the National Trust for Historic Preservation's List of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 1998.
Still, Mullins has steadfastly said the property will be developed.