The residents of the Village at Griffinsburg won their battle. A group home for the mentally disabled will not be moving to their neighborhood.
The Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board is dropping its contract to buy a house in the western Culpeper County subdivision that would have become home to four adult clients.
The RRCSB's decision, which came during a Tuesday meeting, was unanimous.
"I believe [Tuesday's] decision was responsible and the right one," said Salem District Supervisor Tom Underwood, who led the fight against locating the home in the Village at Griffinsburg.
At last week's Board of Supervisors meeting, residents from the subdivision where the two-story house in foreclosure is located complained vehemently against the purchase. Most argued that their neighborhood, about eight miles from town, was not the proper setting for such a group home.
They said they worried that such a home would cause their property values to drop and compromise neighborhood safety. One resident said the community might lose insurance coverage if the house were sold to the RRCSB.
One woman promised that she "would be the neighbor from hell" if the group home was established on her street.
The group also said that neighborhood covenants prohibited unrelated persons from living in a single-family dwelling there.
Attorney Ed Gentry, who lives in the neighborhood, had vowed to wage a legal battle against the RRCSB if the agency continued to pursue the $200,000 purchase. He said he and his neighbors were relieved that the problem had been solved.
"It was not an appropriate location," said Gentry.
Underwood agreed that the Village at Griffinsburg was "not the best location" for the home.
"I fully support the mission of the CSB and I would welcome the home in my district," said Underwood. "But the Village at Griffinsburg had lawful covenants that were contrary to the home being located there."
Underwood, a first-term supervisor, said he had received numerous angry phone calls from people on both sides of the issue.
"I have learned a lot from this process," he said. And, he added, "I don't condone some of the colorful comments made at the Board of Supervisors meeting."
Underwood blamed "misinformation and a lack of information" for much of the controversy. Residents said they did not know of the RRCSB's intention to buy the house until after the contract was signed.
RRCSB Director Brian Duncan did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment yesterday.
Donnie Johnston:
Email: djohnston@freelancestar.com