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Neck gets growth warning

Workshop on Northern Neck's future look provided some insights on how the region could preserve its natural beauty

Date published: 4/21/2005

By ROB HEDELT

DON'T BE surprised if signs turn up in the Northern Neck one of these days opposing unrestricted development and senseless sprawl, maybe even with messages like "Don't Fredericksburg the Neck!" or "Don't Chancellor Colonial Beach!"

Last week, at a gathering of Neck officials discussing their region's future, the Fredericksburg region, State Route 3 west and Salem Church were singled out as examples of how growth can rob a region of the beauty and nature that draws visitors and pleases folks who call it home.

The session was organized by officials at George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Westmoreland County.

The park is preparing to draw up its own plan for the near future and the workshop was part of a pilot project to work with community leaders identifying the most significant planning issues that face the park outside its fence line.

To that end, sessions were designed to get the attention of elected officials, community leaders and other "stakeholders" in the region's future.

Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute in D.C. told officials that development and growth doesn't have to be bad.

McMahon, who predicted after the session that the Northern Neck had "maybe five years" before large developers now in Northern Virginia turn their attention to the largely undeveloped peninsula, had a simple message.

To get better development, find a broad public and political consensus on how the community should look and function, and then stick to it.

In a rambling talk that often had leaders shaking their heads as he flashed up slides of congested, sign-filled, rag-tag development from Pigeon Forge, Tenn., to the State Route 3 corridor in Spotsylvania, McMahon gave the attendees a sobering message.

"The image of a community has a fundamental impact on its well being," he said, noting that people have been drawn to the Northern Neck by the beauty of its waterfront, its forests, its farms and the many other largely undisturbed resources.

Let development overrun the region, and surround spots like George Washington's Birthplace the way Salem Church was enveloped by growth in Spotsylvania, and the region loses the feel that made it special.

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Date published: 4/21/2005