Spotsylvania County residents, supervisors and developers gathered last night to discuss details of plans to preserve a portion of the historic Mullins farm on State Route 3.
About 65 people showed up for the meeting at Resurrection Lutheran Church--located just across the highway from the heart of the farm, which saw fierce fighting on the first day of the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Hagan opened the meeting by praising officials of Tricord Inc., who are paying $12.5 million to buy more than 225 acres of the farm from owner John Mullins. Tricord has agreed to resell 140 acres of the property to the Civil War Preservation Trust for $3 million.
"Without Mike Jones and Tricord, we would not be having this meeting, we would not be having this conversation, and we would not be able to preserve this land," Hagan said.
"These are people who genuinely want to be good neighbors, and I can't think of any better neighbors than someone who would want to help us be able to do this."
CWPT officials--who will purchase the land by the end of this year--plan to place a perpetual conservation easement on the land, creating a permanent 1,000-foot setback from Route 3 between Lick Run and Corter Avenue.
Tricord will use the remaining 87 acres to develop an age-restricted community containing 294 closely clustered homes. On adjacent land to the north, the company plans to create a three-tiered assisted-care facility, as well as a church.
The high density of homes will require a rezoning, and the supervisors voted last month for the county to serve as a co-applicant on the rezoning request. Under the county's by-right development rules 62 homes could be built on the 172 acres of residentially zoned farmland that Tricord is buying.
Several participants in last night's meeting worried that the large number of proposed homes in the Tricord project will increase traffic and cause some sprawl.
Hagan replied that an age-restricted community actually will produce lower traffic and attract fewer families with school-age children.
"So we end up with more homes, but less traffic," Hagan said. "We end up with more homes, but fewer children in our schools. Which is the better choice--to reduce the number of children in our schools and the amount of traffic, or to let it stand as is?"
Tricord President Mike Jones said he's happy to help preserve both a piece of history and the rolling green hills that surround Route 3, heading toward Orange County.
"It's a beautiful viewscape," he said. "We'll be happy to have that for years to come."
A couple of attendees asked whether existing homes on Spotswood Furnace Road will have access to county water and sewer, since those utilities will be extended to the Tricord project.
County Planning Director Ric Goss said there are no plans at this time to do so. Hagan said the supervisors don't want to extend county utilities to open areas beyond Corter Avenue but might consider doing so for existing homes.
One speaker, who later declined to give his name, suggested the county is practicing a double standard by extending water and sewer to the Tricord land but not to abutting parcels.
"If my land's adjacent to that land that's going to get water and sewer, why can't I tap into it?" he asked as the meeting broke up, adding that he appreciates Tricord's land preservation efforts.
To reach GEORGE WHITEHURST: 540/374-5438 gwhitehurst@freelancestar.com