Date published: 12/8/2005

By MEGHANN COTTER

A legal request to the Stafford County Board of Zoning Appeals could have halted discussion of a preliminary subdivision plan for Crow's Nest.

But on County Attorney Joe Howard's advice, the Planning Commission went ahead last night with hearing public comments on the proposal anyway.

The new issue is one of many controversies plaguing K&M Properties' hopes of building 688 single-family houses on 3,230 acres the McLean company owns on the Aquia Creek peninsula, home to rare plant and animal species.

The Planning Commission heard testimony on the proposal, but postponed its own discussion until Dec. 19.

Jeff Harvey, Stafford's director of planning, said K&M's subdivision is the largest in acreage that the county has ever reviewed. Development of the property has been the subject of controversy since the late 1990s.

Preservationists want to turn the ecological sanctuary into a state nature preserve. Several groups, including federal, state and local agencies, have been trying to buy the tract or work out a land swap with the developer.

But K&M's Stafford attorney, Clark Leming, says no one has made a formal offer for the company to consider. So K&M is moving forward with the development because it wants to make use of its investment.

Yesterday, David Bailey, an environmental and land-use lawyer in Richmond, filed a zoning appeal on behalf of Stafford residents Linda and Jack Fellers, who live near Crow's Nest. Claiming that K&M's plan doesn't comply with Virginia Chesapeake Bay Act requirements, it seeks to stop all proceedings on the subdivision until the county Board of Zoning Appeals can rule on the appeal.

"Any consideration of the Crow's Nest plan tonight is illegal and beyond your authority," Bailey told the commission last night.

But Leming said a similar motion was filed last spring, and the Board of Zoning Appeals ruled that it was premature until the Planning Commission acted. He agreed with the county attorney's decision last night, saying K&M's plan is a subdivision application for the Planning Commission to consider, not a zoning matter.

"I don't think this appeal has any merit to it," Leming said.

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Date published: 12/8/2005