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Preservationists urge Crow's Nest ordinance approvals before Planning Commission meeting Date published: 1/18/2006
By MEGHANN COTTER The clock is ticking for Crow's Nest. K&M Properties wants to build 688 homes on a 3,230-acre section of the environmentally sensitive peninsula. And the McLean developer's subdivision plan is scheduled to come before the Planning Commission on Jan. 25. But preservationists are using every last ounce of time to urge the Stafford Board of Supervisors to rapidly approve several ordinances that might make developing the tract more difficult. Last night, the supervisors unanimously agreed to suspend their bylaws to hold an earlier-than-usual public hearing on an ordinance change that would require preliminary subdivision plans to include require more information about drain fields. Without that vote, a decision would have waited until March. Now, the hearing will be held Feb. 7. The amendment first came to the board in late December. But some of its wording had to be changed, so it was sent back to the Planning Commission for another public hearing. The commission recommended approval at its Jan. 4 meeting. Supervisors split last night on another Crow's Nest issue--the commission's request for more time to review a proposed sensitive-resource overlay ordinance that would require more buffers around creeks and slopes in areas with highly erodible soils. Commission Chairman Bill Cook told the supervisors the panel wanted more time to have a committee of two commissioners, a developer and an environmental specialist examine the overlay plan. "We feel that it is a good ordinance, it just needs tightening up," Cook said. By a 5-2 vote, with Supervisors Pete Fields and George Schwartz dissenting, the board granted the commission a 90-day extension, starting after its Jan. 25 meeting. Fields said he was concerned that giving the commission extra time would bog down the discussion and damage the ordinance's possibility of being adopted. Activists expressed similar frustrations. "We are really disappointed that the board chose to send it back to the Planning Commission," said Cecelia Kirkman, a member of Save Crow's Nest. "That legislation is long overdue. In the meantime, mud is sliding into the creeks." Her group is hoping that the peninsula will be turned into a state nature preserve. Several parties, including the state and county governments, have been considering ways to buy the property or trade a less valuable parcel with the developer.
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