Fight On At Brandy Station

[Dignann]

Brandy Station homes spark fight

Brandy Station Foundation will challenge battlefield development plan in court

By DONNIE JOHNSTON

Date published: 9/3/2004
Free Lance-Star

A preservation group will continue its fight to stop a small housing development from being built on part of the Brandy Station battlefield in Culpeper County.

The Brandy Station Foundation announced yesterday that it would appeal a Board of Zoning Appeals decision on the matter to Culpeper County Circuit Court. The zoning board voted unanimously two weeks ago that it did not have jurisdiction to prevent Golden Oaks Construction Co. from building two houses on the 18.9-acre parcel at the foot of Fleetwood Heights.

Although only two homes are scheduled to be built at present, the Brandy Station Foundation contends that Golden Oaks will build six more before development ends.

The preservationists argued that houses would desecrate the land and obstruct views of the battlefield area where, on June 9, 1863, what is touted as the largest cavalry engagement in the Western Hemisphere took place.

The appeals board, however, said it had no authority to prevent the development since Golden Oaks owner Clifton Schull of Jeffersonton and his company had met all the zoning requirements.

The land was zoned R-1, allowing one-acre residential lots, in 1989 as part of the county's revised comprehensive plan. The law requires that any rezoning appeal be brought to the board within 30 days.

Since 15 years had passed, the board said--on the advice of both the county legal department and a special attorney--that it was powerless to act on the matter.

Wayne Stillwell, who sold the land to Schull several months ago, told the zoning board during the appeal hearing that he had tried to sell the land to the preservationists but they did not come up with the money.

At its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, the Brandy Station Foundation board voted to continue its appeal to the circuit court because of what it called "narrow interpretation" of the issues by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

"[The foundation] believes it will benefit the Culpeper community to continue the struggle to protect this historically significant battlefield," the group and its attorney, Ed Gentry, said in a statement released yesterday.

The foundation owns a small parcel of land adjacent to the one in question. The Civil War Preservation Trust owns about 1,500 acres of the Brandy Station battlefield in the area.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/F...032004/1490392

Eric

[BerkeleyBorderGuard]

Sacred ground center of case

C. Clark Ballew
Culpeper Star Exponent
Tuesday, September 7, 2004

The crusade to save a Civil War battleground from residential development will march on to court.

Board directors with the Brandy Station Foundation, a local preservationalist group that has opposed Golden Oaks Construction Company’s plan to build two homes of a proposed eight-unit subdivision in the middle of Brandy Station Battlefield, voted to take its case to Culpeper County Circuit Court last week.

“The vote was unanimous,” BSF President Bob Luddy said. “The discussion before the vote was taken among all the Foundation members was very pro-appeal.”

There was little doubt the Civil War group would continue its appeals process, which has already included a well-publicized and highly passionate speech by historical filmmaker Ron Maxwell at the battlefield site and a defeat at the hands of the county board of zoning appeals.
On Aug. 19, BZA members decided they did not have the legal authority and jurisdiction to decide on the appeal brought forward by BSF attorney Ed Gentry.

Gentry’s appeal revolved around 10 major points, the most notable being the BSF’s position that the county board of supervisors erred in 1989 when it afforded residential zoning to the parcel in question.
The BSF has argued that the 15-year-old zoning decision failed to address the historical significance of the property as required by the state constitution. The BZA said it was not the body that could address such a charge.

Now the appeal will advance to a circuit court judge, although exactly when that decision will take place is yet to be determined.
Luddy said the BSF is hopeful that the appeal will meet a better fate in court.
“Absolutely we are confident,” he said. “We wouldn’t bother with the appeals process if we were not confident.”

C. Clark Ballew may be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or

cballew@starexponent.com


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