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Nearly 4,000 acres of watery wilderness make up Crow's Nest in eastern Stafford County, once envisioned as the site for a small city.
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The fledgling Save Crow's Nest group will hold the first of a planned series of community information meetings later this month.
"We're trying to build some awareness of where things stand," said David Croteau, spokesman for the organization, which formed last month to fight a developer's plans to build homes on the environmentally sensitive Stafford County peninsula.
"It's gotten to the point where it's not at all clear what's happening" with the land that's been proposed to become a state natural area. The group doesn't know "whether it's a stalemate or whether development is inevitable," Croteau said. "A big part of our job is to make people aware."
The meetings, and a new Web site: savecrowsnest.org, should help, he said.
The first session is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. at the Brooke Fire and Rescue Station, at the intersection of Brooke and Andrew Chapel roads.
The group formed after news reports that negotiations between the state and the owner of the property, K&M Properties of McLean, had fallen apart. The company then approached the county about reviving development plans on the nearly 4,000-acre tract.
Croteau said preservationists want to get the word out that houses springing up on Crow's Nest is a possibility.
"We want to let people know that the threat of development is real. And we want to make sure that people know they can do something about it."
Kamel Tabbara, one of the owners of K&M, said last month that there are no immediate plans to develop the property. But the company has been exploring its options.
Stafford attorney Clark Leming, who represents K&M, has discussed a cluster development plan with county officials.
Houses would be grouped in one area, while the rest of the land would be left in its natural state.
Leming said yesterday that he's still waiting to hear back from the county on that proposal.
Such a plan would require rezoning, which would mean some hefty proffers on the part of the developer.
There may be another possibility.
"I'm optimistic that something can be worked out that would permit the landowner to proceed in part in Crow's Nest, or somewhere else," Leming said.
Meanwhile, K&M Properties is awaiting a final ruling on whether Crow's Nest was vested for higher-density development. Leming sought a ruling from the county several weeks ago on whether a 1971 rezoning, later rescinded by the Board of Supervisors in 1978, could still be valid.
In December, Stafford's zoning administrator determined the higher density was not vested and the matter was appealed to the Stafford Board of Zoning Appeals. That case will be heard on March 23.
Stafford supervisors have made it clear where they stand. The board stated emphatically Jan. 20, that it opposes development on the peninsula. It wants the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation to acquire the land.
"The question is, how does that become action?" Croteau said.
Save Crow's Nest was born a few days before that January board meeting. Sixty people opposing development of the land showed up to express their concerns after reading the newspaper story.
Save Crow's Nest is not the only group involved with trying to preserve the property.
The Trust for Crow's Nest was formed two years ago to stave off development of the tract after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was unable to purchase it.
"We would still like for [K&M] to come back to the table with the state," John Mitchell, chairman of the trust, said yesterday. The trust has been raising funds to help maintain the tract in the event of a state purchase.
"I don't believe in my heart of hearts that the property ever will be developed," he said.
Tucked between Potomac and Accokeek creeks, Crow's Nest is home to rare plants and animals and a large heron rookery.
The peninsula got its name from a black, three-masted schooner known as "The Crow," which was harbored there in the mid-1800s.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com
