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By MEGHANN COTTER
Stafford supervisors are putting money on the table in an effort to preserve 3,200 acres of the environmentally sensitive Crow's Nest peninsula.
Yesterday, the board authorized County Attorney Joe Howard to make K&M Properties of McLean an offer for the land. Officials would not disclose the amount, but said it would be equivalent to an appraisal done by a private company in January at the county's request. Stafford has assessed the property at about $24 million.
K&M bought the property in 1989 for $17.8 million.
Sources have said that Toll Brothers, a national home builder, offered $50 million for the land and took out an option to buy it two years ago; that contract expired.
K&M's Stafford attorney, Clark Leming, said last night that his clients believe their property is worth $60 million. "They're going to stick to their guns as far as what they think the property is worth," he said.
But K&M has always been willing to consider fair offers, Leming said.
Situated between Potomac and Accokeek creeks, Crow's Nest has one of the last remaining stands of virgin forest in the region and is home to rare plants and animals.
Its name comes from the Crow, a black three-masted schooner that was moored off the property in the mid-19th century.
Yesterday's vote was the supervisors' first public direction to buy the land, a move preservationists have lobbied for over the past several years.
"The board did the right thing and took the necessary steps," said Aquia Supervisor Paul Milde, whose district includes Crow's Nest. "The ball is back in the court of [K&M], but we are determined to save this property."
Crow's Nest activists, including Patricia Kurpiel, are delighted.
"I'm very, very pleased, and that would be an understatement," she said. "We've been waiting a long time for this offer to come." The decision came just three months after four new board members took office. But Vice Chairman Jack Cavalier, a board veteran, said the discussions and work that took place before last fall's election should not be discounted.
Numerous appeals and lawsuits have been filed in the past few years by the developer and activists.
K&M filed a new appeal yesterday. This one challenges the Planning Commission's Jan. 25 rejection of a preliminary subdivision plan to build 688 homes on 3,230 acres.
On Monday, K&M had withdrawn a separate appeal of a judge's decision about how previous litigation had affected the timeline of the developer's application with the county.
Howard said the county will make the offer to K&M in the coming weeks. He said the details about funding had not been worked out yet.
In December 2005, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant to the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust to be used toward buying Crow's Nest. Supervisors had previously committed $10 million and the state had pledged $9.5 million.
There have been several initiatives over the past decade to preserve Crow's Nest, but all have been unsuccessful.
First, it appeared that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would acquire the land.
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation then headed up an effort to buy the tract, but 18 months of negotiations fell through in January 2004.
Stafford supervisors talked about putting a bond referendum on the ballot that fall to raise money for a purchase, but the idea was tabled.
In September 2004, a $30 million state low-interest loan became available.
Last fall, supervisors discussed the possibility of condemning the peninsula, and then ordered a new appraisal of the land's value.
In other business last night, supervisors voted to require more documentation about drainfield locations on preliminary subdivision plans. Developers will have to test soil percolation on every lot they seek.
The new rules probably would make it more difficult to develop land like Crow's Nest.
The peninsula is no developer's dream: The land is rugged and cut with deep ravines, which is one reason the tract has been undeveloped to date.
If the Crow's Nest offer is accepted, it would be the second huge preservation deal in Stafford this year. Gov. Mark Warner signed a deed in January conveying 1,100 acres of Stafford's rural Widewater peninsula to the state for $6.1 million. Appraisals of that property had put the value at between $8.8 million and $11.2 million.
Milde said he suspects the board's offer on Crow's Nest may prompt a counteroffer from K&M.
"This is just a first step," he said.
But he couldn't be happier that the process has begun.
"At the end of the day, we are going to save Crow's Nest," he said.
To reach MEGHANN COTTER:
Email: mcotter@freelancestar.com
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Stafford supervisors voted yesterday to make an offer on the 4,000-acre Crow's Nest property. Crow's Nest's owner, K&M Properties of McLean, filed an appeal yesterday in Stafford Circuit Court. K&M is challenging the Planning Commission's Jan. 25 rejection of a preliminary subdivision plan that would have put 688 homes on 3,230 acres. On Monday, K&M withdrew a separate appeal of a judge's decision about how previous litigation had affected the timeline of the developer's application with the county. Two weeks ago, the full Virginia Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a decision a three-justice panel made in December 2005. The justices had refused to hear K&M's request to uphold a 1971 residential zoning designation for Crow's Nest. The 1971 plan would have included 8,000 homes, two golf courses, four marinas, an airport, a convention center, a commercial area and schools. That project never happened because the company proposing it went bankrupt. On Jan. 25, the Stafford Planning Commission voted to deny a preliminary subdivision plan to put 688 homes on In December 2005, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant |
