By RUSTY DENNEN
Five years ago, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation put the Widewater peninsula on its priority list for a state park.
Today, against considerable odds, that wish becomes a reality. Gov. Mark Warner is scheduled to sign a deed conveying the property in northeastern Stafford County to the state in a ceremony with local and state officials in Richmond.
The establishment of Virginia's newest state park ends a lengthy tug of war that pitted the owner, Dominion Lands, and its preservation partners against local developers who envisioned luxury waterfront houses, a marina, golf course and conference center there.
W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., Warner's outgoing secretary of natural resources and a longtime backer of the park plan, said yesterday that it's good news for Northern Virginia.
"I'm pleased the state is acquiring the property," said Murphy, a Westmoreland County resident. With population growth in the region, "this represents a major resource for recreation and outdoor enjoyment for the people who live in that area."
Gary Waugh, spokesman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which oversees Virginia's state parks, said the purchase price is $6.1 million.
Waterfront public access is at a premium in the northern part of the state, Waugh said, and was a top priority in the department's most recent outdoors plan. "There are two miles of frontage on Potomac and Aquia creeks," he said.
Securing the property is just the first step. For now, the state budget contains no money to begin developing other recently acquired park land, much less a brand-new one.
Members of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors will be among those celebrating the acquisition with Warner today.
"I think it is going to provide a great opportunity to preserve land forever and that's a very nice piece of property," said Board Vice Chairman Jack Cavalier of the Griffis-Widewater District.
"That's been on my radar screen almost the whole time I've been in office," said Cavalier, who's in his seventh year on the Board of Supervisors.
Stafford Board Chairman Bob Gibbons said the county has been trying for a decade to preserve the land. "It's a great asset for the community and for the state also," he said.
State Sen. John Chichester, who represents Stafford, was enthusiastic about the acquisition of the land, noting that he used to go duck hunting there.
"Widewater is the perfect place for a park," he said. "It's an absolutely magnificent location."
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land facilitated the sale between the state and Dominion Lands, a subsidiary of Dominion Virginia Power. The trust has been the go-between in other park transactions by locking in the property.
The Widewater acreage has been valued at up to $11 million.
Nevertheless, Dominion had decided to shelve its big development plans on the peninsula and decided to sell the land.
Since Virginia first expressed interest in a Widewater park in 2001, Dominion has maintained that its preferred buyer would be the state.
However, others who planned to develop one of the last vast, open tracts in Stafford had other ideas.
They expected Dominion or any subsequent owners of the land to bring water and sewer to Widewater and to front the money for a Widewater Parkway that would cost millions.
In 2003, Dominion successfully sued Garrett and several other landholders in Widewater in Stafford Circuit Court, nullifying contracts on water, sewer and roads.
Last March, the group affiliated with Garrett Development Corp., appealed, asking the state high court to reconsider the Circuit Court decision that voided contracts related to road and utility improvements on the peninsula.
What sealed the park deal was the resolution in September of legal wrangling over the property. That's when the Virginia Supreme Court declined to hear the Widewater developers' appeal.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com