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Why a bond referendum is the way to save bucolic Crow's Nest

A bond referendum is the best way to save Stafford's Crow's Nest peninsula

Date published: 2/27/2004

THE CAMPAIGN to save the 4,000-acre Crow's Nest peninsula from develop- ment has moved from "Should Crow's Nest be saved?" to "How do we save it?" That's because there has been remarkable support from all sides for preserving this Stafford County jewel. The Stafford Board of Supervisors, community residents, and even a representative for K&M Properties, the largest landowner on the peninsula, seem to agree: Saving Crow's Nest is important and it can be done.

The only question now is how to do it in a way that produces a win-win solution.

Good-faith efforts to negotiate a purchase of the property using a patchwork of state, federal, and private money collapsed in recent months. With the breakdown in negotiations, we need a new and secure solution that can be implemented as quickly as possible.

The best way to save Crow's Nest is for Stafford County to buy it outright. Whether you're concerned about the environment, worried about more traffic, or just looking at your tax bill, this solution makes sense and deserves your attention. It would fairly compensate the property owners, permanently protect the peninsula, and actually save taxpayers millions of dollars.

K&M Properties first suggested "cluster housing" as an option, so that development would be concentrated in some areas of the peninsula while others would be saved. This is not an adequate solution because it destroys the fragile peninsula ecosystem while still producing unacceptable congestion.

Just as important, it also creates enormous costs for the county. That's because K&M asserts it has the right to develop 3,200 units on its main Crow's Nest property, while various owners have by-right use to build another 353 units on already-platted land there.

That means the county would not receive any proffers for this development. (Proffers are cash payments usually made by developers to cover part of the costs of growth, such as new schools and safety services.)

At $20,399 per unit (the county's proffer guideline) for 3,553 housing units, the cost to Stafford taxpayers of developing Crow's Nest could be more than $72 million. The county may also be liable for additional costs based on standing agreements with previous owners of the property.

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Date published: 2/27/2004