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Aerial view of the Rappahannock River upstream from the Interstate 95 bridge. The City Council last night approved a conservation easement for more than 4,200 acres along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. |
By EMILY BATTLE
Cheers erupted last night after the Fredericksburg City Council voted 6-0 to approve a permanent conservation easement for more than 4,200 acres the city owns along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers.
It was the first of two votes the council must take to approve the easement, which is to be held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries. The council will take the second required vote April 25.
Councilman Hashmel Turner was absent from last night's meeting because his brother suffered a heart attack. His condition was not available last night.
The easement prohibits development on the river land. But after three years of work, council members have built in flexibility they think will make the easement a workable document for the region as it grows.
One of the most-discussed provisions would allow roads and utility lines to cross the river in the future. Decisions on those issues would remain in local hands, with a simple majority vote required from governing boards in Fredericksburg and the localities in which the land lies to approve them.
Mayor Tom Tomzak called the easement "a gift to our children."
"We have set a great example for regional cooperation that will hopefully be followed in the future," he said.
He said that now that Fredericksburg has made its commitment to the river, surrounding counties, the state and federal governments and other groups should follow with money to help the city take care of the river.
With the $1.6 million The Nature Conservancy has offered for the easement plus other anticipated contributions, the city plans to establish a river stewardship program to make sure the land is policed, protected and preserved for years to come.
City Councilwoman Kerry Devine said the city's approval of the easement agreement is an important first step toward talking further with county officials about funding.
"The counties have been waiting for us to make the decision on this document," Devine said. "The counties have not been willing to come on board before we have."
Before the vote on the easement document, council members voted 6-0 to create a separate Riparian Lands Stewardship Fund in the city budget. Proceeds from the easement sale and any future money the city gets for river protection would be deposited in the account.
City Manager Phillip Rodenberg said the fund would protect the $1.6 million principal in perpetuity--minus up to $200,000 that the city expects to spend to establish and run its river stewardship program for the first two years.
Rodenberg said city officials would be presenting a plan in the coming weeks for how that stewardship program would be structured. In the past he has said such a program could cost around $92,000 a year.
Councilwoman Debby Girvan said it was important that the resolution establishing the fund specifically state that the principal was to be permanently protected and added to over time. She said that was "absolutely essential for me to support the easement."
But the yearly earnings off of that money alone will not be enough to pay for the annual costs of a river steward program.
"We're going to have to have a long-term allocation of resources from this entire area," Tomzak said. "The citizens of Fredericksburg cannot bear this burden by themselves."
Tomzak and Girvan both urged county residents to lobby their supervisors to contribute to the river stewardship fund.
Girvan noted that supervisors from Spotsylvania and Stafford, as well as a lot of county residents, have publicly stated support for the easement.
"I would encourage the county residents--and there were quite a few that attended our public hearing last month--to please lobby your county representatives" to contribute to the city's river protection efforts, she said.
In comments before the vote, some area residents said they realize the city will need money from others to take care of the land, but that that shouldn't keep them from immediately approving the easement agreement.
"To imagine a strong foundation of $1.6 million to start the process of taking an agreement on paper and turning it into action on the ground that's a problem a lot of organizations would like to have," said Friends of the Rappahannock's Tom Van Arsdall.
Councilman Matt Kelly said the easement had been a long time coming, but "This is a good deal for the city. This is a good deal for the region."
To reach EMILY BATTLE:
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
