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Supervisors seeking middle ground in the county's effort to compel developers to survey and preserve historic sites. Date published: 6/23/2006
By CLINT SCHEMMER Stafford County supervisors will take a second look at a plan to require developers to do archaeological studies on historically significant property. The Board of Supervisors has tasked members Pete Fields and Paul Milde with forging a compromise between conflicting proposals by the Stafford County Historical Commission and Friends for Stafford Civil War Sites. The board split over the proposed ordinance this week after listening to testimony from commission Chairwoman Annette Dodd, Friends Director Glenn Trimmer, and representatives of the local building industry. Officials of the Fredericksburg Area Builders Association and Stafford Council for Progress as well as Trimmer criticized the ordinance as too expensive, too broad and potentially ineffective. Dodd defended it as a professional tool long needed by Stafford to research, document and protect the county's historic sites. Dodd told the supervisors she disagrees with the Friends' critique of the ordinance, noting that county officials have been refining the proposal for years. Without it, Stafford has little power to protect its heritage, which includes the prehistoric, Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. The ordinance would protect sites and artifacts, encourage more study of local history, and "foster community pride and sense of place," she said. Further, Dodd explained that there are important reasons why archaeological surveys are done and why they must follow specific procedures. "There are far more cultural and historic resources in Stafford County than those relating to just the Civil War," she said. Stafford's proposed cultural resources ordinance--which is similar to laws in the city of Williamsburg and Loudoun, Prince William, Fairfax and New Kent counties--was endorsed unanimously by the Planning Commission last month. If adopted, it would govern all applications for rezonings, conditional-use permits, grading plans and commercial and residential site plans. Under the ordinance, a landowner would have to hire an archaeologist to study his development site and write a report if county officials believe the site had important historical artifacts or features. But when it comes to the county's many Civil War sites, Trimmer said most are already known to local historians--and 80 percent of their artifacts have already been dug up by relic hunters over the past 50 years.
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