Battlefield site's fate up to board
In move that could preserve a Civil War touchstone, Spotsylvania County supervisors prepare to vote on rezoning of Mullins farm.
By GEORGE WHITEHURST
Date published: 11/8/2004
By GEORGE WHITEHURST
About 140 rolling green acres in Spotsylvania County where the Blue and the Gray clashed 141 years ago may move closer to being preserved tomorrow.
The Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to rezone 87 acres of the Mullins farm on State Route 3 to allow construction of an age-restricted community and a retirement home.
In return, Spotsylvania-based developer Tricord Inc. has agreed to sell 140 acres of the farm to the Civil War Preservation Trust. The national trust plans to create a 1,000-feet-wide natural buffer along Route 3.
The land, now owned by local businessman John Mullins, was the site of fierce fighting on the first day of the Battle of Chancellorsville, and preservationists have long wanted to preserve it.
For months, Mullins, Tricord officials, preservationists and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Hagan have quietly worked on a deal to set aside some of the land.
Tricord now has a contract to buy 227 acres from Mullins. The company would then sell the bulk of the land to the trust for $3 million.
To make the deal work, Tricord needs the supervisors' approval to develop Chancellorsville Hunt--an age-restricted neighborhood of nearly 300 homes.
Though the supervisors are trying to scale back large developments, several of them favor this project because it isn't aimed at families with school-age children and it will set aside open space.
"It is a unique opportunity to preserve a unique piece of property," Hagan said. "This opportunity will not come again."
Hagan hopes the board will vote favorably on the rezoning tomorrow. That would allow Mullins and Tricord to complete the land sale by the end of the year, even with the mandated 30-day appeal period for the rezoning.
"That is a timeline that was established in the contract between Tricord and Mr. Mullins," Hagan said. "If it's not done this Tuesday, the opportunity goes away."
Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust, agreed that the rezoning is the linchpin of the process.
"All we need now is the rezoning and everything will fall into place," Campi said.
Supervisor Hap Connors declined to say how he will vote tomorrow. But he has passionately supported preserving as much of the Chancellorsville battlefield as possible.
"We're going to preserve land. There's no doubt about that," Connors said. "That's why I'm supportive of this. I just want to review some outstanding issues before I cast my final vote."
Hagan described himself as optimistic that a majority of the supervisors will back the project, but made clear he's ready for the waiting to end.
"It's been a down-to-the-wire kind of thing. I'm glad that all of our rezonings don't have this much emotional investment required," he said. "It's both draining and fulfilling, I think, for everybody that's been involved."
To reach GEORGE WHITEHURST: 540/374-5438 gwhitehurst@freelancestar.com
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Date published: 11/8/2004
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