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Residents may decide this fall on bonds to buy tract
A bond referendum to buy Crow's Nest could appear on the ballot the same day voters decide whether George Bush or John Kerry should be president, Stafford County supervisors decided yesterday.
But a special election before the Nov. 2 general election will be impossible under the resolution supervisors passed 5-2 yesterday. And the board could decide later not to hold the referendum at all.
Save Crow's Nest, a grass-roots preservation group that had been asking for a special bond referendum separate from the presidential election, said a November vote is too little, too late.
"National issues and partisan bickering will swamp any referendum held during the general election," said Save Crow's Nest member Cecelia Kirkman.
Save Crow's Nest had asked supervisors to pass a strongly worded resolution that expressed the county's support for buying all of Crow's Nest for preservation, set out the specific language to appear on the ballot, and established a bond amount of $35 million.
The resolution supervisors passed yesterday expresses an interest in raising bond money to buy the entire 4,175 acres between Accokeek and Potomac creeks in eastern Stafford, but it does not mention a specific bond amount.
The reason, said Supervisor Gary Pash, is because the county won't know the parcel's price until it begins negotiations with the owner of Crow's Nest, K&M Properties of McLean, and the company that has a contract to buy the peninsula, luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc.
Preservationists and some county officials want to buy the environmentally sensitive land because it is home to one of the area's last stands of virgin timber and a heron rookery.
But Clark Leming, a Stafford attorney who represents both companies, said it's unlikely the two companies would even be interested in negotiating a sale to the county, bond or no.
"This is something being done unilaterally on the board's part, not something the owner or the contract purchaser have been consulted about or are participating in," he said. "The likelihood Toll Brothers would agree to anything like this is extremely remote simply because this is not their business."
And even if they are, Pash said, he would be uncomfortable publicly disclosing the amount the county would be willing to pay for the property as a part of the bond-referendum process.
"That prejudices your position at the beginning and makes it harder to get a good price," he said.
Pash and Supervisor Pete Fields voted against the resolution. Fields did not say why he voted against it.
A bond amount will have to be set by Sept. 3 to get the referendum on the November ballot. The board's action yesterday directs the county staff to prepare a referendum plan, which the board will approve and send to Circuit Court to include on the ballot.
Paul Milde, who runs another preservation group called Save CrowsNest.com, said he supports the November referendum because it gives supervisors more time to review the bond resolution, more time for preservationists to campaign for passage and will probably bring a greater turnout.
"Based on my discussions and communications with literally hundreds of Stafford residents, I believe that the voters of Stafford will approve a bond issue to purchase Crow's Nest," he said.
He also said after the meeting that he is letting his State Corporation Commission reservation on the phrase "Save Crow's Nest" expire so that Kirkman's organization may incorporate under that name if it wishes.
Supervisor Kandy Hilliard, whose district includes Crow's Nest, had asked for resolution in support of a bond referendum. She said she doesn't want the county to get stuck in the same position the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation was in last year when it tried to buy Crow's Nest for preservation.
The state was unable to convince the parcel's owner that it had the money to purchase the tract.
"If an opportunity to make an offer comes forward, I'd like to be in a position to go forward," she said.
To reach RUTH FINCH: 540/720-1622 rfinch@freelancestar.com