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Stafford's offer for Crow's Nest is $33 million less than the owner believes the land is worth

By MEGHANN COTTER

Date published: 3/23/2006

Stafford County will offer a developer a little more than $27 million for Crow's Nest, a county official said yesterday.

That's the amount the 3,230-acre tract between Potomac and Accokeek creeks in eastern Stafford was appraised for in January by a firm hired by the county.

But an attorney for K&M Properties, which owns Crow's Nest, said his client believes the land is worth $60 million. The McLean developer is going to court in a bid to win approval of its plans to build 688 homes on the site.

The property is home to some rare plant and animal species. The company's efforts to develop the land have repeatedly met opposition from activists who want to see it preserved.

Stafford supervisors agreed Tuesday to make an offer for the land, but did not disclose the amount.

The $27 million figure was reported on the Web site of Save Crows Nest, one of the groups fighting to protect the land. A county official confirmed that number to The Free Lance-Star yesterday, but asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing negotiations.

Clark Leming, an attorney for K&M, said the company is confident it can prove the land is worth much more than the county is offering.

Lee Butzine, an accredited senior appraiser for the American Society of Appraisers, said it is not unusual for raw land in a dynamic market to be appraised at conflicting values. A lot depends on who hired the appraiser, he said.

Appraisers consider a property's highest and best use and project the cash flow that would come back from developing it.

"In any appraisal, the best way you can get a value is to find very similar sales," he said.

But large rural tracts usually don't have many comparable properties nearby. K&M's plan is the largest subdivision, area-wise, Stafford County has ever reviewed.

Despite the gap in prices, Aquia Supervisor Paul Milde, whose district is home to Crow's Nest, is confident the environmentally-sensitive peninsula will be saved.

"This gives [K&M] an opportunity to start the process, if they choose to do that," he said.

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Date published: 3/23/2006